Kumul Prefecture

Kumul Prefecture
哈密地区
قۇمۇل ۋىلايىتى
—  Prefecture  —
Hami prefecture (red) in Xinjiang province (orange) and China
Country China
Province Xinjiang
County-level divisions
Area
 • Total 140,749 km2 (54,343.5 sq mi)
Population
 • Total 541,836
 • Density 3.8/km2 (10/sq mi)
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)
Website Kumul(Hami) Prefecture Government

Kumul Prefecture, also known as Hami Prefecture (simplified Chinese: 哈密地区; pinyin: Hāmì Dìqū; Uyghur: قۇمۇل ۋىلايىتى‎, ULY: Qumul Wilayiti, UPNY: K̡umul Vilayiti?) is located in eastern Xinjiang, China. It has an area of 140,749 km² and 492,096 inhabitants (2000).

Contents

History

The Ming Dynasty established this region as Kumul (Hami) Prefecture in 1404 after the Mongol kingdom Qara Del accepted its supremacy. But it was later controlled by Oirat Mongols. Since the 18th century, Kumul became the center of the Kumul Khanate, a semi-autonomous vassal state within the Qing Empire and the Republic of China as part of Xinjiang. The last ruler of the khanate was Maqsud Shah.

Demographics

Of its inhabitants, 68.95% are Han, 18.42% are Uyghur, 8.76% are Kazakh, 2.97% are Hui, with the remainder belonging to other nationalities.

Administrative divisions

# Name Hanzi Hanyu Pinyin Uyghur
(kona yezik̡)
Uyghur Latin
(yengi yezik̡)
Population (2003 est.) Area (km²) Density (/km²)
1 Kumul City (Hami City) 哈密市 Hāmì Shì قۇمۇل شەھىرى Qumul Shehiri 400,000 81,794 5
2 Yiwu County 伊吾县 Yīwú Xiàn ئارا تۈرۈك ناھىيىسى Ara Türük Nahiyisi 20,000 19,821 1
3 Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County 巴里坤哈萨克自治县 Bālǐkūn Hāsàkè Zìzhìxiàn ئاپتونوم ناھىيىسى باركۆل قازاق Barköl Qazaq Aptonom Nahiyisi 100,000 37,304 3

Mineral resources

A newly discovered nickel mine in Hami is estimated to contain reserves of over 15.8 million tons of the metal, it therefore ranks as China's second largest nickel mine. Around 900,000 tons of nickel has already been detected.

Some local copper and nickel mining enterprises are reported to have begun operation, with Xinjiang Nonferrous Metals Group mining company running its nickel smelter crude production furnace at Hami Industrial Park.

The Hami area is known for its large amount of high quality raw resources with 76 kinds of metals already detected. The major mineral resources of this area include coal, iron, copper, nickel, gold.

References