The history of Kashgar begins in the first millennium BC, when the tribes of Yuezhi, Usuns and Sakas were roaming around the vast expanses of the Taklamakan Desert and the piedmont slopes of the Pamir. Wandering from one encampment to another in the oases, they eventually began founding small settlements, which later were developed into cities on the Silk Road. + Timeline of Kashgar Year City nameDynasty Notes≈ 2nd cent.BCShuleShule Kingdom≈ 177 BCXiongnu60 BCWestern Han dynasty1st cent.ADXiongnu, Yuezhi 74Eastern Han dynasty107Northern Xiongnu127Eastern Han dynasty150Kushan323Kucha, Rouran384Former Qin≈450Hephthalite Empire492Gaoche≈504Hephthalite Empire≈552First Turkic Khaganate, ≈583Western Turkic Khaganate, 648Tang dynasty651Western Turkic Khaganate, 658Tang dynasty670Tibetan Empire679Tang dynasty686Tibetan Empire692Tang dynasty790Tibetan Empire791Uyghur Khaganate840KashgarKara-Khanid Khanate8931041Eastern Karakhanid1134Karakhitai Khanate(Western Liao dynasty)12151218Mongol Empire1266Chagatai Khanate1348Moghulistan(Eastern Chagatay)13871392Timurid dynasty1432Chagatay1466Dughlats1514Yarkent Khanate1697Dzungar Khanate1759Qing dynasty1865Emirate of Kashgaria1877Qing dynasty1913Republic of China1933East Turkestan Republic1934Republic of China1949-presentKashiChina Capital of an independent political entity
Iranian period Archaeological and anthropological evidence shows that before the arrival of Turks, the region was primarily populated by Indo-European speakers of the Iranian branch.Dani, A. H. et al. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris: UNESCO Pub. p.283. The old inhabitants of the region were the Iranian Saka. The Khotanese Saka language is a variety of Eastern Iranian languages, attested from the ancient Buddhist kingdoms of Khotan, Kashgar and Tumshuq in the Tarim Basin, in what is now southern Xinjiang. It is a Middle Iranian language.britanica The two kingdoms differed in dialect, their speech known as Khotanese and Tumshuqese.
The nomadic people of Central Asia, known to the Chinese as the Sai (or Saka), migrated to the Tarim Basin and formed the kingdom of Khotan. They were likely the same group known as Sakas to Persians, Greeks, and Indians. Iranian Saka tribes established several states, including Hsiu-hsün and Chüan-du northwest of Kashgar. Documents in Saka language dating from the 7th to 10th centuries have been found in Khotan and Tumshuq, suggesting the prevalence of Saka dialects in the region.Dani, A. H. et al. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris: UNESCO Pub. p.283.
Additionally, the Tibetans referred to Kashgar as 'Ga-hjag', similar to the name of a language (Kanchaki) spoken near Kashgar in the 11th century. This further supports the idea that the Kashgar area was also home to a Saka dialect.Dani, A. H. et al. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris: UNESCO Pub. p.283.
The indigenous name of the city was probably Kāš, to which the East Iranian -γar (‘mountain’) was attached.Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. “Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica.” Iranicaonline.org, 2024. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kashgar-kasgar-town-in-xinjiang. In the early 3rd century, Kashgar became a major power center in the "Western Regions". However, by the mid-3rd century, as per an inscription by Shapur I, Kashgar was likely the easternmost point of the Persian Sasanian Empire. Chinese records from the 4th to 6th centuries describe Kashgar as a wealthy region with numerous large cities.Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. “Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica.” Iranicaonline.org, 2024. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kashgar-kasgar-town-in-xinjiang.
The ruler of Kāš in the late 8th century, according to the Middle Persian Manichean text Mahrnāmag (Müller, lines 75-76), was called xšy∂ (‘ruler’ in Sogdian), with the title “Head of Auditors” and the name lyfwtwšy, which is possibly Chinese.Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. “Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica.” Iranicaonline.org, 2024. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kashgar-kasgar-town-in-xinjiang.
By the 6th century, it was under Hephthalite rule and later fell under the control of the First Turkish Kaghanate.
Han dynasty
The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled 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 BCE the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Hotan), 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 Triple System of Orography in Ptolemy's Xinjiang", pp. 530–531. Étienne de la Vaissière.(2009) Exegisti monumenta: Festschrift in Honour of Nicholas Sims-Williams. Eds W. Sundermann, A. Hintze and F. de Blois Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden. The country's people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.
In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BCE and 23 CE, 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 CE), 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
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:
Then the first passage continues:
Three Kingdoms to the Sui dynasty 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. So, we cannot be sure that 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 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, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.
According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, 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 (Weishu, ch. 5), 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, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).
In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).
Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.
Tang dynasty
The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.
Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from Indi] to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.
At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.
In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.
In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.
In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.
After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676–678 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.
In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.
In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.
In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.