East Turkistan

East Turkistan: see Xinjiang.

or Turkestan

Historical region, Central Asia. This somewhat broad geographic region—situated between Siberia (Russia) to the north and Tibet (China), India, Afghanistan, and Iran to the south—derived its name from its inhabitants, who were predominantly of Turkic ancestry. The total area of more than 1,000,000 sq mi (2,600,000 sq km) was bisected by the Pamir and Tien Shan ranges, forming West and East Turkistan. West Turkistan, which included what is now Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan, came under Russian rule in the 19th century. East Turkistan came to be included in what is now the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang.

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East Turkestan, also known as East Turkistan, Uyghuristan, and Uyghurstan (Uyghur: Sherqiy Türkistan; Uyghuriye), refers to the eastern part of the greater Turkestan region of Central Asia, and is concurrent with the present-day Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. The area is largely inhabited by the 8 million Uyghurs, a Muslim Turkic-speaking people.

History

The area was part various Khanates before it became part of China's Tang Dynasty until the 9th century. The local empire, Kara-Khanid Khanate ruled from 840 to 1212. The region had been ruled as a section of the Chagatai Khanate, from the Mongol invasion of Central Asia of the 13th Century. In the late 17th Century it experienced fragmentation and annexation by Mongol groups. It again became part of China during the Qing Dynasty with the defeat of the Dzungars from 1757 to 1759.

Geography

Greater Turkestan is subdivided into West (former Soviet Union countries) and East Turkestan (administered as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China). The Tian Shan (Tengri Tagh) and Pamir mountain ranges form the rough division between the two Turkestans.

Centers of culture

The area contains some of the great cities of Turkic culture, notably Kashgar, Hotan, Turfan, Yarkand, Ili (Ghulja), Kumul, Aqsu, Kucha and Altay.

References

See also

• First East Turkestan Republic
• Second East Turkestan Republic
• East Turkestan independence movement

• Dzungars
• History of Xinjiang
• Moghulistan/Mughalistan

External links

• Ansari, Fahad The Plight of the Uighurs: China’s Muslims Suffering As Much As the Tibetans Islamicawakening.com (Retrieved on 04/08/2008)
• El-Kaissouni, Azizudin East Turkistan: China’s Forgotten Muslims IslamOnline.net (Retrieved on 04/08/2008)
• MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base
• East Turkestan Islamic Movement (China, separatists), Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) background information, Updated November 2005
• East Turkestan - Arabic