There is legendary and documentary evidence that indicates that Indians from
Taxila and the Chinese were among the first settlers of Khotan. In the first century BC, Kashmir and Khotan on the two sides of the Karakoram range formed a joint kingdom, which was ruled by either Scythian or Turki (Elighur) chiefs. Towards the end of the first century AD, the kingdom broke up into two parts: Khotan being annexed by the Chinese and Kashmir by
Kanishka. Some modern scholars believe the Kingdom of
Zihe () in Chinese historical records was situated at Shahidulla. This is not universally attested.
16th century In late 15th century,
Mirza Abu Bakr Dughlat from the
Dughlat tribe founded an independent kingdom for himself from the fragmentation of
Moghulistan. The kingdom encompassed Khotan and Kashgar. However, he was deposed in the 1510s by
Sultan Said Khan who founded the
Yarkand Khanate. While attempting to flee to Ladakh, Abu Bakr was intercepted and killed. His tomb is located about north of modern-day town of Xaidulla.
19th century 's map of the territory of Ladakh (1865); Johnson's route to Khotan and back marked in red ,
Raskam, Aktagh to a peak on Kunlun mountains In the nineteenth century, Shahidulla became the centre of a
multi-pronged game between
Kashmir, the
British Indian Empire, China,
Kashgaria and the
Russian Empire. About 120
Kirghiz nomad families lived in Shahidulla in forty tents. Their head-man was called Turdi Kul. The British regarded the Kirghiz as Chinese subjects and believed that they "always" paid taxes to Yarkand. Yet there is evidence that this may not have occurred till 1881, and the Chinese considered them to be living beyond their boundaries. The Kirghiz faced periodic raids from the Kanjutis of
Hunza, who controlled the Yarkand River valley (called "Raskam") and had protection from China. The Kanjutis also carried off people and sold them into slavery. The
Dogra ruler of
Jammu, Raja
Gulab Singh, then a vassal of the
Sikh Empire, conquered Ladakh in 1834. According to
Francis Younghusband, all the area up to Shahidulla was immediately taken under control by the Dogras. This was apparently of no consequence to the Chinese in Turkestan (present day
Xinjiang) as they viewed the northern Kunlun range as their border. In 1846, Gulab Singh came under the suzerainty of the British, who established him as the Maharaja of
Jammu and Kashmir. The British were inclined to view the Karakoram range as the natural boundary of the Indian subcontinent and they viewed the Maharaja's claim to Shahidulla with trepidation. This left the tract between the Karakoram and Kunlun ranges as a no-man's land. Since regular trade caravans passed through the area, which were open to robber raids, securing it became important to the Dogra regime in Jammu and Kashmir. A fort at Shahidulla was apparently constructed by the Dogras at an uncertain date.
George Hayward later described it as 'a stone fort and several ruined huts'. Around 1864, when the Chinese authority in Turkestan was overthrown by the Kokand chieftain
Yakub Beg, the Dogra governor of Ladakh stationed a garrison of troops at the fort. Described as a
chauki (police post), it had a contingent of 25 men including customs officials. The post was abandoned in 1866, apparently due to the difficulty of maintaining it at a great distance. In 1865, the British surveyor
W. H. Johnson, tasked with surveying all the Ladakhi territory "up to Chinese frontiers", received an invitation for a visit from the then chief of
Khotan named Haji Habibullah. Johnson spent a few weeks in Khotan and returned via Sanju Pass and Shahidulla. The border of Ladakh he drew was along the northern Kunlun range (on which the Kilian and Sanju passes lay). It included the Karakash valley along with Shahidullah in Ladakh. Soon afterwards, Habibullah of Khotan was deposed by Yakub Beg, who took control of the entire Yarkand region (
Kashgaria). He is also said to have stationed Kokandi troops at the fort in Shahidullah. In 1873,
Douglas Forsyth was dispatched by the British on a diplomatic mission to Yakub Beg. The Forsyth Mission recognised Shahidullah as part of the "Khan's [Yakub Beg's] dominion", and placed the boundary of the British Empire at Ak-tagh, south of the Suget Pass. (See Map 1) From this time onwards, the British officials began to reject Dogra claims to Shahidulla. In 1877, Yakub Beg died and the Chinese reasserted their authority in Turkestan (renaming it as
Xinjiang—"new dominion"). They however stuck to their original posts (
karawals) on the north side of the Kilian and Sanju passes, and showed no interest in occupying Shahidulla. As late as 1889, the Turdi Kol reported that Chinese officials told him that Shahidulla was "British territory". In 1889,
Francis Younghusband, who was tasked with finding measures to counteract a potential Russian advance in the area, proposed that the Chinese be encouraged to occupy all the no man's land between the British and Russian territories and serve as a buffer zone. This was agreed by the British administration, and the British envoy in Peking was instructed to discuss the matter with the Chinese government. Simultaneously, Younghusband was sent on a second mission to Yarkand to "induce" the Chinese officials to expand and fill out the no man's land. The means which he used to induce them are not precisely known, but by the end of his mission, the Chinese officials showed a firm commitment to occupy Shahidulla, and even all the area up to the Karakoram Pass. It appears that they stationed troops at the Shahidulla fort during the summer months of 1890, but the troops viewed this fort with distaste. In 1892, the Chinese knocked down the Shahidulla fort and built a new fort at Suget Karaul (), about 10 km. southeast of Shahidulla closer to Suget Pass. Younghusband reported that the Chinese were asserting authority all the way to the Karakoram range, and described the site of the new fort as the closest place to the Karakoram range with the availability of grass and fuel.
20th and 21st centuries , 1980) By the early 20th century, the Shahidullah region was under Chinese control and considered part of
Xinjiang Province, and has remained so ever since. Xaidulla is well to the north of any territories claimed by either India or Pakistan, while the Sanju and Kilian passes are further to the north of Xaidulla. A Sinkiang–Tibet road (or "Aksai Chin road", now part of
G219) was laid by China in the 1950s, which runs from
Yecheng in the
Tarim Basin, south through Xaidulla, and across the
Aksai Chin region, controlled by China but claimed by India, into northwestern
Tibet. ==Current status==