Moghulistan
Encyclopedia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
that included parts of modern-day Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
, and the Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
Autonomous Region of Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
(Eastern Turkestan). An independent khanate
Khanate
Khanate, or Chanat, is a Turco-Mongol-originated word used to describe a political entity ruled by a Khan. In modern Turkish, the word used is kağanlık, and in modern Azeri of the republic of Azerbaijan, xanlıq. In Mongolian the word khanlig is used, as in "Khereidiin Khanlig" meaning the Khanate...
existed in the area from the mid-14th century until the late 17th century.
Etymology
"Moghulistan" simply means "Land of the Moghuls," or MongolsMongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
(the term Mughal is Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
for Mongol) in reference to the eastern branch of the Turco-Mongol
Turco-Mongol
Turko-Mongol is a modern designation for various nomads who were subjects of the Mongol Empire. Being progressively Turkicized in terms of language and identity following the Mongol conquests, they derived their ethnic and cultural origins from steppes of Central Asia...
ian Chagatai
Chagatai Khans
The Chagatai Khans were the heads of the Chagatai ulus from Chagatai Khan's inheritance of the state in 1227 to their removal from power by the Dzungars and their vassals in 1687...
Khans
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
who ruled it.
When the Mongols conquered most of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
in the 13th century (for details see Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
), they were minorities in many of the regions they had subdued, such as Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. As a result, the Mongols in these regions quickly adopted the local culture. For example, in the Persian Ilkhanate
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
the Mongol khans adopted Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
after less than half a century, while the khans of the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
embraced Chinese court customs. In contrast, the Mongols and their subordinates who settled in what came to be known as Moghulistan were in origin the steppe nomads from Mongolia. Because of this, they were much more resistant to changing their way of life; they retained their primarily nomadic lifestyle for several centuries and were among the last of the Mongols that converted to Islam to do so. During the 14th century its inhabitants were known as "Jats" and the area they occupied was called "Jatah." This term is also used by numerous people in South Asia in Pakistan and parts of western India.
Geography
Since the Moghuls were nomads of the steppe, the boundaries of their territories seldom stayed the same for long. Still, Moghulistan in the strictest sense was centered in the IliIli
-Acronyms:* ILI: I Laugh Inside* Integrating Lifestyle Innovations, a home automation company specialising in the design and supply of systems in New Zealand to the world.* Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent...
region. It was bounded on the west by the province of Shash and the Karatau Mountains, while the southern area of Lake Balkhash
Lake Balkhash
Lake Balkhash is one of the largest lakes in Asia and 12th largest continental lake in the world. It is located in southeastern Kazakhstan, in Central Asia, and belongs to an endorheic basin shared by Kazakhstan and China, with a small part in Kyrgyzstan. The basin drains into the lake via seven...
marked the northern limit of Moghul influence. From there the border gradually sloped in a southeastern direction until it reached the eastern portion of the Tian Shan
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....
Mountains. The Tian Shan then served as the southern border of Moghulistan. This region was primarily steppe country and was where the Moghuls usually resided. Because of the Moghuls' nomadic nature, the towns of Moghulistan fell into decline during their rule, if they managed to remain occupied at all.
Besides Moghulistan proper, the Moghuls also almost always controlled these other provinces:
- Alti-Shahr: Alti-Shahr, meaning "Six Cities" in reference to the western, then Muslim Uyghur cities of Yarkand, KashgarKashgarKashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
, KhotanKhotanHotan , or Hetian , also spelled Khotan, is the seat of the Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. It was previously known in Chinese as 于窴/於窴 and to 19th-century European explorers as Ilchi....
, Aksu, Uch-TurpanUqturpan CountyUqturpan County is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Aksu Prefecture. According to the 2002 census, it has an area of 9,012 km² with a population of 180,000....
, and Yangi HisarYengisar CountyYengisar County is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China. It is under the administration of the Kashgar Prefecture. It contains an area of 3,373 km2. As of the 2002 census, it had a population of 230,000....
. The borders of Alti-Shahr were better defined than those of Moghulistan, with the Tien Shan marking the northern boundary, the Pamirs the western, and the Kunlun Shan the southern. The eastern border usually was slightly to the east of KuchaKuchaKuchaor Kuche Uyghur , Chinese Simplified: 库车; Traditional: 庫車; pinyin Kùchē; also romanized as Qiuzi, Qiuci, Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu from the traditional Chinese forms 屈支 屈茨; 龜玆; 龟兹, 丘玆, also Po ; Sanskrit: Kueina, Standard Tibetan: Kutsahiyui was an ancient Buddhist kingdom...
.
Aside from the towns which were at the foot of the mountains, nearly all of the Tarim BasinTarim BasinThe Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...
was desert. As a result, the Moghuls generally stayed out of the region and it was a poor source of manpower. The Dughlat amirs administered these towns in the name of the Moghul khans until 1514. After that the Moghuls directly governed Alti-Shahr and, when they lost Moghulistan itself shortly after, it formed the bulk of the remainder of their possessions. The capital city of Alti-Shahr was usually Yarkand or Kashgar.
- Uyghurstan: This region was named after the UyghursUyghur peopleThe Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
, who maintained a mainly Buddhist kingdom there separate from the Muslim Uyghurs up until almost the 15th century. The Uyghur khans had voluntarily become Mongol vassals during the reign of Genghis KhanGenghis KhanGenghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
and as a result were allowed to retain their territories. As the Mongol EmpireMongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
was split up in the middle of the 13th century, UyghurstanEast TurkestanEast Turkestan is a controversial political term with multiple meanings depending on context and usage...
was assigned to the ChagatayidsChagatai KhanateThe Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
. The power of the Uyghur khans slowly declined under the Mongol yoke until the last recorded khan was forcibly converted to Islam in the 1380s or 90s. After that it seems to have been subjected to direct Moghul rule, and a separate Moghul Khanate was established there in mid-15th century.
Uyghurstan was bordered by Alti-Shahr to the west, the Tien Shan to the north, the Kunlun Shan to the south, and the principality of Hami
Kumul
Kumul or Hami is an oasis in Hami Prefecture, Xinjiang ; it is also the name of a modern city and the surrounding district...
to the east. The primary town of Uyghurstan was Turpan. In 1513 Hami became a dependency of Uyghurstan and remained so until the end of Moghul rule. As a result, the Moghuls became direct neighbors of Ming China
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
.
Besides Moghulistan, Alti-Shahr and Uyghurstan, several other regions were also temporarily subjected to Moghul rule at one time or another, such as Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, Ferghana and parts of Badakhshan
Badakhshan
Badakhshan is an historic region comprising parts of what is now northeastern Afghanistan and southeastern Tajikistan. The name is retained in Badakhshan Province which is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, in the far northeast of Afghanistan, and contains the Wakhan Corridor...
.
History
Main article: Chagatai KhanateChagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
Buddhist, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
and Shamanist nomads of the Issyk Kul and Isi areas rebelled against the Chagatai Khan Tarmashirin
Tarmashirin
Tarmashirin Khan was the khan of the Chagatai Khanate following Duwa Timur.Tarmashirin is famous for his campaign in India in 1327 before he was enthroned. He destroyed every army on his way to Delhi. The Delhi Sultan gave him a large tribute to spare his life...
and shifted allegiance from his realm to a new Borjigin
Borjigin
Borjigin , also known as the Altan urug , were the imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors....
Khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
, Changshi
Changshi
Changshi was one of the last effective khans of the Chagatai Khanate. His father was prince Ebugen who was the son of Duwa, the Chagatai Khan....
, in the 1330's upon his conversion to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. This Khan ruled a region of nomadic tribesmen and oasis
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
-dwellers from the 14th to the 17th century.
Moghulistan, which had formed the eastern portion of the Chagatai Khanate, became independent in 1347 under the Chagatayid named Tughlugh Timur
Tughlugh Timur
Tughlugh Timur was the Khan of Moghulistan from c. 1347 and Khan of the whole Chagatai Khanate from c. 1360 until his death. He is believed to be the son of Esen Buqa...
. Tughlugh Timur also later converted to Islam but conversion amongst the general population was slow to follow. In the late 14th century Timur invaded Moghulistan at least five times but was unable to completely subjugate the Moghuls. During the 15th century the Moghuls had to deal with several enemy incursions by the Oirats
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...
, Timurids and Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...
. Yunus Khan (1462-1487) profited from the weakness of his neighbors and took Tashkent in 1482. Towards the end of Yunus' reign, his son Ahmad Alaq
Ahmad Alaq
Ahmad Alaq , was Khan of eastern Moghulistan from 1487 to 1503. He was the second son of Yunus Khan. His mother was Shah Begum, fourth daughter of Badakhshan prince Lali, who was considered to be the descendant of Alexander the Great....
founded a breakaway Khanate in Uyghuristan.
In the mid-16th century Moghulistan came under increasing pressure from the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
. Although the Moghul Khans did their best to maintain order, eventually the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs became the dominant forces in the region. Henceforth the Moghul khans were mostly restricted to the Tarim basin. In the late 16th and 17th centuries power in the Moghul states gradually shifted from the Khans to the khojas
Khoja (Turkestan)
Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...
, who were influential religious leaders in the 16th century of the Sufi Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...
order. At the same time the Kyrgyz began to penetrate into Alti-Shahr as well. The Khans were finally overthrown in the late 17th century, bringing an end to Chagatayid rule in Central Asia, and by the time Moghulistan was overrun by the Dzungar Mongol wave they had also become fully Muslim.
See also
- Chagatai KhanateChagatai KhanateThe Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
- Turpan Prefecture
- East TurkestanEast TurkestanEast Turkestan is a controversial political term with multiple meanings depending on context and usage...
- Moghul
- Moghol