Kashgar is located at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, it has been under the rule of the historically Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of a number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.
Han dynasty The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese
Han dynasty envoy travelled the
Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west. Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the
Xiongnu, Yutian (
Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar) and a group of states in the
Tarim Basin almost up to the foot of the
Tian Shan range.
Ptolemy speaks of
Scythia beyond the
Imaus, which is in a "Kasia Regio", probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country's people practised
Zoroastrianism and
Buddhism before the coming of
Islam. In the
Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the
Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms. The
Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region: More particularly, in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:
The Kushans under
Kanishka the Great The
Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of
Yuezhi or
Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis: However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region: From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition: The first passage continues:
Three Kingdoms to the Sui dynasty and King Yule (Zhong) of Kashgar in 73 AD These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin. The
Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu ('Tax Control' − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu ('Excellent Rest Stop' − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin. However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the
Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. It is not confirmed whether this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220–265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms. Chapter 30 of the
Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the
Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as
Kucha,
Khotan,
Kangju,
Wusun, Kashgar,
Yuezhi,
Shanshan and
Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times. in 1992 In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute:
Karashahr,
Turpan,
Shanshan, and
Kucha. Some wooden documents from
Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time. In 422, according to the
Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar. The "Songji" of the
Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court. In 439, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute. The kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435–440). In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute, and again in 455. An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452–466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible. In 507, Kashgar sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months. In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. It is alleged that
Qutayba ibn Muslim in 712-715 had conquered Xinjiang. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the
Kara-Khanid Khanate. The fall of Kashgar to Qutayba ibn Muslim is claimed as the
start of Islam in the region by
Mustafa Setmariam Nasar and by an article from Al-Qaeda branch
Al-Nusra Front's English language "Al-Risalah magazine" (), second issue (), translated from English into Turkish by the "Doğu Türkistan Haber Ajansı" (East Turkestan News Agency) and titled Al Risale: "Türkistan Dağları" 1. Bölüm (The Message : "Turkistan Mountains" Part 2.) In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the
Battle of Talas. The
An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.
Turkic rule According to the 10th-century text ''
Hudud al-'alam'' "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the
Qarluq, or from the
Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the
Chigils formed the
Karakhanids. The Karakhanid
Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to
Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist
Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered
Khotan. The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the
Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent. Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the
Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the
suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a
Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables.
Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.
Mongol rule The
Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by
Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the
Chagatai Khans.
Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls
Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous
Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan
Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy. In 1389–1390
Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar,
Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan
Sultan Said, was destroyed by
Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the
Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful
Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (
Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and
Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the
Oirats of
Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The
Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.
Qing conquest ) in 1761. From
Ten Thousand Nations Coming to Pay Tribute. The
Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the
Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a
Manchu garrison. Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards
Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the
Afghan king
Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to
Beijing to discuss the situation of the
Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the
Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms. The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the
Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by
Jahanghir Khoja;
Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828. The
Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under
Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of
Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called. The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of
Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new
Khoja revolt under
Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was briefat the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to
Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under
Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveller
Adolf Schlagintweit.
Dungan Revolt The
Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in
Gansu then spread rapidly to
Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the
Tarim Basin.
Dungan troops based in
Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of
Sadik Beg, a
Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by
Buzurg Khan, the heir of
Jahanghir Khoja, and his general
Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik's request by the
ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar. Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, seized control of Kashgar,
Yangihissar,
Yarkand, and four other towns, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler. Yakub Beg subsequently proclaimed himself emir of
Yettishar (). With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg, the manufacturing industries of Kashgar supposedly declined. Yakub Beg entered into relations with the
British and
Russian Empires, and signed respective treaties with each. However, he failed to receive meaningful assistance from the two
great powers when he was in need of their support against the Qing. Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg's rule until May 1877, when he died in
Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the
Qing general
Zuo Zongtang during the
Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.
Qing rule There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, and "laxity" set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men in the period after Yakub Beg's rule ended. It is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in
Turpan. Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880 to 1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang when Chinese men married Uyghur women. Because they were viewed as "outcast", Islamic cemeteries banned the Uyghur wives of Chinese men from being buried within them. Uyghur women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as
Hindus,
Armenians,
Jews,
Russians, and
Badakhshanis (
Pamiris) intermarried with local Uyghur women. The local society accepted the Uyghur women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Uyghur prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar. There was a general
anti-Russian sentiment, but the inflamed local Uyghur populace started a brawl with the Russians on the pretence of protecting their women. Even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local population confronted with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, and the Chinese then sought to end tensions by preventing the Russians from building up a pretext to invade. After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision. The locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers – even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side (they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol). The
Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service. including 667 in Kashgar. The earthquake was followed by a major
aftershock a few days later, measuring 6.8. The British Empire had a consulate from 1890 to 1948 in Kashgar. Though a British consulate, it was staffed and funded by the
Indian Political Department of
British India. The consulate was not fully recognised by the Qing until 1908. It was upgraded to a consulate-general in 1911.
Republic of China (1913–1933) First East Turkestan Republic Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934.
Ma Shaowu, a
Chinese Muslim, was the
Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general,
Ma Zhancang.
Battle of Kashgar (1933) Uyghur and Kyrgyz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and
Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General
Ma Zhancang. They were defeated. Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveller, who held the title
Sayyid (descendant of
Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on 26 August 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uyghur leader
Timur Beg killed and beheaded on 9 August 1933, displaying his head outside of
Id Kah Mosque.
Han Chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into
Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han Chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division; presumably they had converted to Islam.
Battle of Kashgar (1934) The 36th division General
Ma Fuyuan led a
Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on 6 February 1934, attacking the
Uyghur and
Kyrgyz rebels of the
First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general,
Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his
Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the
Uyghurs and
Kyrgyz since 22 May 1933. In January 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uyghur attacks, launched by
Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on 13 January 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uyghur forces. From 1,700 to 2,000 Uyghur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February 1934, in revenge for the
Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uyghur forces from the city to
Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General
Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on 7 April 1934, gave a speech at
Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uyghurs to be loyal to the
Republic of China government at
Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on 16 March 1934.
Republic of China (1934–1949) People's Republic of China in the centre of Kashgar, during celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region On 31 October 1981, an incident occurred in the city due to a dispute between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in which three were killed. The incident was quelled by an army unit. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men
carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the
2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42 per cent of the city's residents lived in the old town. As the plan was undertaken, residents have been removed from their homes in order to demolish large sections of the old city and replace these areas with new developments. The
European Parliament issued a
resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilised elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability. Following the
July 2009 Ürümqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a
Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a
series of attacks including bombings by the
Turkistan Islamic Party killed dozens of people. By May 2012, two-thirds of the old city had been demolished. According to the Chinese government, demolition and rebuilding was necessary because houses in the old city were "extremely vulnerable to earthquakes and fire"; the
2003 Bachu earthquake had destroyed thousands of buildings in the region. Some critics disputed the vulnerability of old city buildings to earthquakes and said the rebuilding was done partially in order to fulfil the political goal of eroding Uyghur culture. Over the last two decades, similar demolition of historic architecture followed by their replacement by more commercialised properties have also been ongoing in the rest of China, often with inadequate consultation of local residents. The
Uyghur Human Rights Project have called the destruction of the old city part of a campaign of
cultural genocide. In July 2014, the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir,
was assassinated in Kashgar by Uyghur extremists. On 21 October 2014,
Aqqash Township (Akekashi) was transferred from
Shufu County to Kashgar. ==Climate==