Turkic Uyghur people in history

The Uyghurs are a Turkic-Muslim minority in the People`s Republic of China (PRC), their native language belongs to a Turkic language family and is written on the basis of Arabic graphics, and regard themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations.

The Uyghurs living in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, closely related in language, culture and ethnicity to their Kazakh, Uzbek, and Turkmen neighbors. They are a small group in terms of China’s population of 1.3 billion, numbering 8.3 million.

The Uyghurs and their forebears are an ancient people who have lived in Central Asia since the first millennium BC.

The Uyghurs and their ancestors established their reign under the rule of the Huns (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD), the Jurjan (3rd century to 5th century AD), and the Turkish empires (522 to 744 AD).

The medieval Uyghurs became a political entity in the mid-8th century when they established their steppe empire as the inheritors of the ancient Türk steppe tribal confederation.

Since as early as 10th century they have been following the moderate form of Sunni Islam which is organically mingled with their local traditions and ancient worldviews.

They ruled their empire for a century from their capital city in the heart of the Mongol steppe. Their empire ended when rival Kirgiz tribes attacked it, and the Uyghur aristocracy fled south into the borderland areas between China and the steppe.

The Uyghurs established their own states throughout history; these included the Uyghur Äli (744 to 840 AD), the Ïdïqut Uyghur (605-840 to 1250), the Uyghur Qarakhan (10th to 13th century), the Uyghur Chaghatay (13th to 16th century), the Yärkänt Uyghur Khanate (1514-1678), the Qumul and Turpan Uyghur Baks (from the end of the seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century), and finally the Yakup Bak (1820-1877), which lasted until the Qing invasion.

Two groups of diaspora Uyghurs built new states in Gansu and the Tarim Basin. The Gansu Uyghurs stayed in that region but never exerted any real power as a state. The Uyghurs who migrated to the Tarim Basin were more successful, building an independent kingdom that maintained a stable rule over the mixed population of city dwellers and nomads who lived in the far-flung oases of the area.

Medieval Uyghur life and culture flourished until the Mongol invasion, at which time Uyghur-land underwent two hundred years of war and division.

When Khubilai lost control of the Tarim Basin, most of the Uyghur aristocracy moved to China. The Uyghur diaspora refashioned their identity a third time in China as members of the conquest government and the cultural literati.

The Uyghur minority attempted to secede from China with the establishment of the East Turkestan Republic in 1945, but the People’s Liberation Army (the military force of the Chinese Communist Party or CCP) re-gained power over the region of Xinjiang following WWII.
Turkic Uyghur people in history

Cotton in ancient time

Around 200 BC, official documents recorded the existence of cotton cloth in what is now Yunnan. Recent archaeological research on mummies found in the Tarim Basin has also uncovered cotton textiles, dating from the first millennium BCE, whose origin may be traced to India.

Excavations at Mohanjo-Daro (about 3000 BC ) have unearthed bits of cotton cloth and twine. From those ancient days India has been a manufacturing nation and exporter of fine cotton fabrics to all nations of civilized world.

In the 1st century AD, the Arabs and Greeks are reported to have transported raw cotton and cotton goods from Patiala, Ariaka, Barygaza (probably Bharuch in Gujarat), and Masalia (Masulipatnam in Andhra Pradesh) as well as Gangitiki muslin from Bengal.

Cotton trees of India excited the admiration of Greek historians. Herodotus writes, "There are trees which grow wild, the fruit of which is a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep.The Indians make their clothes of this tree wool.”

The greatest demand for cotton cloth came from the Mongol armies stationed in the northern regions; they needed uniforms made of some kind of warm, light-weight and resilient material. In the course of their conquests and movements through Central, West, and South Asia, the Mongols must have perceived the value of cotton textiles: cotton cloth's strength, durability, and effectiveness as a padded fabric against winter chill, or as a light, absorbent textile againstsummer heat.
Cotton in ancient time

Ancient people of Yuezhi

Chinese sources of the second century BC mention another group of early Xinjiang people, the Yuezhi, who inhabited the region around Dunhuang and the Gansu Corridor for millennia. The Yuezhi people were considered to be part of the nomadic tribes of Indo— European decent who provided jade stones to the Chinese Sang dynasty.

They defeated the Wusun in the west and killed their King Nandoumi. It is thought that the Yuezhi extended their rule to the northwest part of Gansu and the southwest part of Mongolia.

In 176 BC Yuezhi was driven out from western Gansu by Xiongnu under Chanyu Modu. Chanyu Jizhu attacked them again in 162 BC.

The attacks by the Xiongnu prompted the majority of the Yuezhi to migrate westward to the vicinity of Ili River and a smaller group to move south to settle among the highland Qiang peoples in Nan-Shan.

The Yuezhi reached Bactria (present-day northwest Afghanistan and Tajikistan) about 135 B.C. There their disparate tribes were united by Kujula Kadphises in the first century BC. Gradually wresting control of the area from Scytho-Parthian, the Yuezhi move south into the northwest Indian region traditionally known as Gandhara and established a capital near Kabul.
Ancient people of Yuezhi