History of Xinjiang

Xinjiang historically consisted of two main geographically, historically, and ethnically distinct regions with different historical names: Dzungaria north of the Tianshan Mountains; and the Tarim Basin south of the Tianshan Mountains, currently mainly inhabited by the Uyghurs. They were renamed Xinjiang () in 1884, meaning "new frontier," when both regions were conquered by the Manchu Qing dynasty after the Dungan revolt (1862–1877).

The first inhabitants of Xinjiang, specifically from southern and western Xinjiang formed from admixture between locals of Ancient North Eurasian and Northeast Asians descent. The oldest Tarim mummies, found in the Tarim Basin, are dated to the 2nd millennium BCE. In the first millennium BCE Indo-European-speaking Yuezhi nomads migrated into parts of Xinjiang. In the second century BCE the region became part of the Xiongnu empire, a confederation of nomads centered on present-day Mongolia, which forced the Yuezhi out of Xinjiang.

Eastern Central Asia was referred to as " Xiyu" () under the control of the Han dynasty, from which the Xiongnu surrendered to in 60 BCE (Han–Xiongnu War), maintaining a variable military presence until the early 3rd century CE. From the 2nd to the 5th century local rulers controlled the region. In the 6th century, the First Turkic Khaganate was established. In the 7th-8th century Tang, Turks and Tibetans warred for control, and the Tang dynasty established the Anxi Protectorate of Xinjiang and Central Asia.

This was followed by the Uyghur Khaganate in the 8th-9th century. Uyghur power declined, and three main regional kingdoms vied for power around Xinjiang, namely the Buddhist Uyghur Kara-Khoja, the Turkic Muslim Kara-Khanid, and the Iranian Buddhist Khotan. Eventually, the Turkic Muslim Kara-Khanids prevailed and Islamized the region. In the 13th century it was part of the Mongol Empire. After that, the Turkic people prevailed again.

In the 18th century, the area was conquered by the Manchu Qing dynasty. In 1884, after the Dungan Revolt (1862–77), the area was renamed Xinjiang. It is now a part of the People's Republic of China.

Etymology

Xinjiang consists of two main geographically, historically, and ethnically distinct regions with different historical names: Dzungaria north of the Tianshan Mountains; and the Tarim Basin south of the Tianshan Mountains.

In ancient China, the Tarim Basin was known as "Xiyu" or "Western Regions", a name that became prevalent in Chinese records after the Han Dynasty took control of the region in the 2st century BCE. It soon was traversed by the Northern Silk Road.

For the Uyghurs, who took control of northern Xinjiang in the 8th century, the traditional name of the Tarim Basin in southern Xinjiang was Altishahr, which means "six cities" in the Uyghur language. The region of Dzungaria in northern Xinjiang was named after its native inhabitants, the Dzungar Mongols.

The name "East Turkestan" was created by the Russian Sinologist Nikita Bichurin to replace the term "Chinese Turkestan" in 1829, both being used to refer to the Tarim Basin.

In 1759 the Qing China conquered the region. In 1884 Qing China, took over the State of East Turkistan, known as Kashgaria, or "Yette Sheher" and renamed it Xinjiang () or roughly "New territory." In the late 19th century, there was a proposal to restore the old administration of Xinjiang into two provinces, the areas north and south of Tianshan. It was never adopted.

Ethnic identity

At the time of the Qing conquest in 1759, Dzungaria was mostly inhabited by the Oirat Mongol-speaking Dzungar people, while the Tarim Basin was inhabited by sedentary Muslim Uyghur people. They were governed separately until 1884.

The Qing dynasty was well aware of the differences between the former Buddhist Mongol area to the north of the Tianshan and Turkic Muslim south of the Tianshan, and ruled them in separate administrative units at first. However, Qing people began to think of both areas as part of one distinct region called Xinjiang. The very concept of Xinjiang as one distinct geographic identity was created by the Qing, and it was originally not the native inhabitants who viewed it that way. During Qing rule, there was not much sense of "regional identity" held by ordinary Xinjiang people. Rather, Xinjiang's distinct identity was given by the Qing. It had distinct geography, history, and culture, while at the same was still Chinese territory, settled by Han and Hui, distinct from the rest of Central Asia, and largely multicultural.

Genetic studies

The earliest Tarim Basin people of southern and western Xinjiang appear to have arisen from a mixture between locals of Ancient North Eurasian and Northeast Asians descent. The Tarim mummies have been found in various locations in the western Tarim Basin such as Loulan, the Xiaohe Tomb complex, and Qäwrighul. These mummies have been previously suggested to be of Tocharian origin, but recent evidence suggest that the mummies belonged to a distinct population unrelated to Indo-European pastoralists, such as Afanasievo.

The modern Uyghurs are now a mixed hybrid of East Eurasian and West Eurasian. James A. Millward described the original Uyghurs as physically East Eurasian, giving as an example the images in the Bezeklik Caves at temple 9, of the Uyghur patrons, until they began to mix with the Tarim Basin's previous inhabitants.

Genetic studies show that modern Tarim Uyghurs descend from the original Dzungharian Uyghurs, the Tocharian-speaking peoples of the northeast Tarim and Iranian-speaking peoples of the southwest Tarim. Consequently, relatively fair hair and eyes (e.g. blonde hair and blue eyes) are not uncommon among Uyghurs. Genetic analyses suggest that the West Eurasian (West Asian and European) genetic component in the modern Uyghur population ranges from 30 to 60%; the West Eurasian contribution to the maternal DNA of modern Uyghurs averages 42.6% and the contribution to paternal DNA ranges from 43.9% to 61.2%.

One study by Xu ''et al.'' (2008), using samples from Hetian (Hotan) only, found Uyghurs have about an average of 60% European or West Asian (Western Eurasian) ancestry and about 40% East Asian or Siberian ancestry (Eastern Eurasian). From the same area, it is found that the proportion of Uyghur individuals with European/West Asian ancestry ranges individually from 40.3% to 84.3% while their East Asian/Siberian ancestry ranges individually from 15.7% to 59.7%.
Li et al. (2010) analyzed the remains of Xiaohe individuals found at the Xiaohe Tomb complex (2nd millennium BCE) for Y-DNA and mtDNA markers. The study found that while Y-DNA corresponded to ancient Siberian populations, the mtDNA haplotypes were an admixture of East Asian and European origin. The initial admixture may have taken place in Southern Siberia, which was settled by the Indo-European Andronovo and Afanasevo cultures, as well as Paleo-Siberian cultures.

A study by Li ''et al.'' used a larger sample of individuals from a wider area and found a higher East Asian component of about 70% on average, while the European/West Asian component was about 30%. Overall, Uyghur show relative more similarity to "Western East Asians" than to "Eastern East Asians". The authors also cite anthropologic studies which also estimate about 30% "Western proportions", which are in agreement with their genetic results. They summarized their study evidence: "In conclusion, we argue that the Uyghurs' genetic structure is more similar to East Asians than to Europeans".

Local inhabitants at Sampul cemetery (Shanpula; ) around , from the archaeological site of Hotan in Lop County, where art such as the Sampul tapestry has been found, buried their dead from roughly 217 BCE to 283 CE. The analysis of mtDNA haplogroup distribution showed that the Sampula inhabitants had a large mixture of East Asian, Persian and European characteristics. According to Chengzhi et al. (2007), analysis of maternal mitochondrial DNA of the human remains has revealed genetic affinities at the maternal side to Ossetians and Iranians, an Eastern-Mediterranean paternal lineage.

Early inhabitants (2nd–1st millennium BCE)

Tarim mummies

The well-preserved Tarim mummies of southern and western Xinjiang originated from admixture between locals of Ancient North Eurasian and Northeast Asians descent. The Tarim mummies have been found in various locations in the western Tarim Basin such as Loulan, the Xiaohe Tomb complex, and Qäwrighul. These mummies have been previously suggested to be of Tocharian origin, but recent evidence suggest that the mummies belonged to a distinct population unrelated to Indo-European pastoralists, such as Afanasievo.

The '' Shan Hai Jing'' (4th-2nd century BCE) describes the existence of "white people with long hair" or ''Bai'' (), who lived beyond the northwestern border. These are thought to have referred to the Yuezhi people. According to J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair, " ch a description could accord well with a Caucasoid population beyond the frontiers of Ancient China," possibly the Yuezhi.

Mallory and Mair relate the earliest Bronze Age settlers of the Tarim and Turpan basins to the Afanasevo culture. The Afanasevo culture (''c.'' 3500–2500 BCE) displays cultural and genetic connections with the Indo-European-associated cultures of the Eurasian Steppe yet predates the specifically Indo-Iranian-associated Andronovo culture (''c.'' 2000–900 BCE) enough to isolate the Tocharian languages from Indo-Iranian linguistic innovations like satemization. Han Kangxin, who examined the skulls of 302 mummies, found the closest relatives of the earlier Tarim Basin population in the populations of the Afanasevo culture situated immediately north of the Tarim Basin and the Andronovo culture that spanned Kazakhstan and reached southwards into West Central Asia and the Altai.

Victor H. Mair's team concluded that the mummies are Caucasoid, likely speakers of Indo-European languages such as the Tocharians:

Physical anthropologists propose the movement of at least two Caucasian physical types into the Tarim Basin. Mallory and Mair associate these types with the Tocharian and Iranian (Saka) branches of the Indo-European language family, respectively. However, archaeology and linguistics professor Elizabeth Wayland Barber cautions against assuming the mummies spoke Tocharian, noting a gap of about a thousand years between the mummies and the documented Tocharians: "people can change their language at will, without altering a single gene or freckle." confirm a second Caucasian physical type at Alwighul (700–1 BCE) and Krorän (200 CE) different from the earlier one found at Qäwrighul (1800 BCE) and Yanbulaq (1100–500 BCE). Mallory and Mair associate this later (700 BCE – 200 CE) Caucasian physical type with the populations who introduced the Iranian Saka language to the western part of the Tarim basin.

Recent genetic evidence by Zhang et al. 2021 rejected much earlier speculations, and concluded that the earliest Tarim population originated largely from local Asian populations.

Yuezhi

Various nomadic tribes, such as the Yuezhi, Saka, and Wusun are conjectured to be part of the migration of Indo-European speakers who were settled in Central Asia at that time. The Ordos culture (6th to 2nd centuries BCE) in northern China east of the Yuezhi, whose excavated skeletal remains have been predominantly Mongoloid.

The first reference to the nomadic Yuezhi was in 645 BC by Guan Zhong in his Guanzi (Guanzi Essays: 73: 78: 80: 81). He described the Yuzhi (), or Niuzhi (), as a people from the north-west who supplied jade to the Chinese from the nearby mountains of Yuzhi () at Gansu.

The nomadic tribes of the Yuezhi are documented in Chinese historical accounts, in particular the 2nd–1st century BC "Records of the Great Historian", or ''Shiji'', by Sima Qian. According to Han accounts, the Yuezhi "were flourishing" during the time of the first great Chinese Qin emperor, but were regularly in conflict with the neighboring Xiongnu tribe to the northeast.

Xiongnu rule (2nd–1st c. BCE)

At the beginning of the Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220), the region was subservient to the Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic people based in modern Mongolia. The Xiongnu were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Chinese sources report that Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 BC, founded the Xiongnu Empire.

In 209 BC, three years before the founding of Han China, the Xiongnu were brought together in a powerful confederation under a new chanyu, Modu Chanyu. This new political unity transformed them into a more formidable state by enabling formation of larger armies and the ability to exercise better strategic coordination. After their previous rivals, the Yuezhi, migrated into Central Asia during the 2nd century BC, the Xiongnu became a dominant power on the steppes of north-east Central Asia, centered on an area known later as Mongolia. The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of Siberia, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang. Their relations with adjacent Chinese dynasties to the south east were complex, with repeated periods of conflict and intrigue, alternating with exchanges of tribute, trade, and marriage treaties (heqin).

The reason for creating the confederation remains unclear. Suggestions include the need for a stronger state to deal with the Qin unification of China that resulted in a loss of the Ordos region at the hands of Meng Tian or the political crisis that overtook the Xiongnu in 215 BC when Qin armies evicted them from their pastures on the Yellow River.

After forging internal unity, Modu Chanyu expanded the empire on all sides. To the north he conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the Dingling of southern Siberia. He crushed the power of the Donghu people of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria as well as the Yuezhi in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu, where his son, Jizhu, made a skull cup out of the Yuezhi king. Modu also reoccupied all the lands previously taken by the Qin general Meng Tian.

Under Modu's leadership, the Xiongnu threatened the Han dynasty, almost causing Emperor Gaozu, the first Han emperor, to lose his throne in 200 BC. By the time of Modu's death in 174 BC, the Xiongnu had driven the Yuezhi from the Hexi Corridor, killing the Yuezhi king in the process and asserting their presence in the Western Regions.

Han military protectorate

This is the beginning of what Millward calls the 'classical period.' In the 20th century, China changed many of the place names of Xinjiang back to the original Chinese names of 2000 years earlier. They saw this as a patriotic act restoring the greatness and borders of the Han dynasty. Millward notes that from a 'modern nationalist perspective' the Han unified the Chinese empire, at least its furthest western extents.

The Han expansion into Xinjiang is well supported by 'rich' textual sources and the material evidence, from archaeological artifacts excavated in the Taklamakan Desert and trade items across Eurasia. These point to the influence of Chinese culture and Han settlements in the region, and the exchange of luxury items between China, India, and the west lends credence to the view that Xinjiang was the center of Silk Road trade.

In 139 BCE the Emperor Wu of Han dispatched the former palace attendant Zhang Qian to form an alliance with the Yuezhi people in order to combat the Xiongnu. He was captured by the Xiongnu, and held prisoner for a decade. After his return, his knowledge of the lands of the west was the main information the Han had of this region. Between 133 BCE and 89 CE, the Han and the Xiongnu fought a series of battles, known as the Han–Xiongnu War.

In 102 BC the Han defeated Dayuan

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