Yarkent Khanate

Part of a series on the
History of Xinjiang
Ancient period Yuezhi Xiongnu Han protectorate Kingdom of Khotan Former Liang Former Qin Later Liang Western Liang Gaochang Turkic Khaganate Western Regions Western Turkic Khaganate
Medieval period Tang protectorate Tibetan Empire Uyghur Khaganate Kara-Khanid Khanate Kingdom of Qocho Qara Khitai Mongol Empire Yuan dynasty Chagatai Khanate Kara Del Moghulistan Yarkent Khanate Dzungar Khanate Kumul Khanate Qing rule
Modern period Republic of China First East Turkestan Republic Second East Turkestan Republic People's Republic of China

The Yarkent Khanate was a state ruled by the Genghisid Chagatais, the majority of whose subject population was Turkic in Central Asia.

Capital

Yarkent served as the capital for the Khanate, and was also known as the Yarkent State (Mamlakati Yarkand), from the establishment of the Yarkent Khanate to its fall (1514–1705). The previous dughlat state of Mirza Abu Bakr Dughlat (1465-1514) of Kashgaria also used Yarkent as the capital of state.

History

The Khanate was predominantly Uyghur; some of its most populated cities were Hotan, Yarkent, Kashgar, Yangihissar, Aksu, Uchturpan, Kucha, Karashar, Turpan and Kumul. It enjoyed continued dominance in the region for about 200 years until it was conquered by the Dzungar Khan, Tsewang Rabtan in 1713.

In the first half of the 14th century the Chagatai Khanate collapsed; its eastern part became Moghulistan, which was created by Tughluk Timur Khan in 1347 with the capital centered in Almalik, around the Ili River Valley. The reigning dynasty of the Yarkent Khanate originated and came from this state, which existed for more than a century and eventually split in 1462 into two parts: the mostly nomadic Moghulistan north of Tengri tagh and an independent state with its capital in Aksu, south of Tengri tagh, under Dust Muhammad. It comprised all the settled lands of Eastern Kashgaria, as well as regions of Turpan and Kumul, and was known by the time as Uyghurstan (according to Balkh and Indian sources of the 16th and 17th centuries).

In 1514 Sultan Said Khan, descendant of Tughluk Timur Khan, overthrew Mirza Abu Bakr Dughlat state in Western Kashgaria with capital in Yarkand and put an end to the Dughlat Emirs' dominance in the cities of Kashgaria, who had controlled them since 1220, when most of Kashgaria had been granted to the Dughlat by Chagatai Khan himself. The conquest of the Dughlats allowed the Yarkent state to become the foremost power in the region. On the western part of the collapsed Chagatai Khanate, the Empire of Timur emerged in 1370, and became the dominant power in the region until its conquest in 1508 by the Shaibanids. Meanwhile, the Yarkent Khanate was conquered by the Buddhist Dzungar Khanate in the Dzungar conquest of Altishahr ^[1] from 1678 to 1713.

List of rulers

• List of khans of the Yarkent Khanate

Culture

The collection of Uyghur Twelve Muqam

Gallery

Literature

Saray Mehmet, Doğu Türkistan Tarihi (Başlangıçtan 1878’e kadar), Bayrak Matbaacılık, İstanbul-1997

Kutlukov M, About foundation of Yarkent Khanate (1465-1759) , Pan publishing house, Almata,1990

References