Karasahr or Karashar ( ug, قاراشەھەر, Qarasheher, 6=Қарашәһәр), which was originally known, in the

Tocharian languages The Tocharian (sometimes ''Tokharian'') languages ( or ), also known as ''Arśi-Kuči'', Agnean-Kuchean or Kuchean-Agnean, are an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family spoken by inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, the Tocharians. The ...

as ''Ārśi'' (or Arshi) and Agni or the Chinese derivative Yanqi ( zh, s=焉耆, p=Yānqí, w=Yen-ch'i), is an ancient town on the Silk Road and the capital of

Yanqi Hui Autonomous County Yanqi Hui Autonomous County (Uyghur: Qarasheher, Karashahr) is an autonomous county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. It has an area of . According to the 20 ...

in the

Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture Bayingolin (; often abbreviated to Bayingol; also as Bayinguoleng) is an autonomous prefecture for Mongol people in the southeast of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Western China. It borders Gansu to the east, Qinghai to the southeast and ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

. it had a population of 29,000,www.xzqh.org
growing to 31,773 persons in 2006; 16,032 persons of which were Han, 7781 people

Hui The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...

, 7154 people Uyghur, 628

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

and 178 other ethnicities and an agricultural population of 1078 people. The town has a strategic location, being located on the

Kaidu River The Kaidu River (; Uyghur: قايدۇ دەرياسى ;), also known under its ancient name Chaidu-gol, is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China and an important source of water for the region. The Kaidu River is responsible f ...

(known in ancient times as the Liusha), China National Highway 314 and the Southern Xinjiang Railway and is an important material distribution center and regional business hub. The town administers ten communities. It has a predominately Muslim population and contains many mosques. CEM-36-NW-corner

Geography

The modern town of Yanqi is situated about west of the shallow Lake Bosten. The lake is about east to west and north to south with a surface area of about , making it one of the largest lakes in Xinjiang. It has been noted since Han times for its abundance of fish. The lake is fed by the

and the Konqi River flows out of it past

Korla Korla,The official spelling according to also known as Kurla, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or from Mandarin Chinese as Ku'erle or Kuerle, is the second largest city in Xinjiang. It is a county-level city and the seat of ...

and across the Taklamakan Desert to Lop Nur. There are numerous other small lakes in the region. The city, referred to in classical Chinese sources as Yanqi, was located on the branch of the

Silk Route The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

that ran along the northern edge of the

Taklamakan Desert The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and T ...

in the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...

History

The earliest known inhabitants of the area were an Indo-European people who apparently referred to themselves and the city as ''Ārśi'' (pronounced "Arshi"). Their language, since it was rediscovered in the early 20th century, has been known as "

Tocharian A The Tocharian (sometimes ''Tokharian'') languages ( or ), also known as ''Arśi-Kuči'', Agnean-Kuchean or Kuchean-Agnean, are an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family spoken by inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, the Tocharians. The l ...

" (a misnomer resulting from an assumed relationship to the Tukhara of Bactria). The people and city were also known as ''Agni'', although this may have been a later

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

, derived from the word for "fire" in an Indo-Iranian language such as Sanskrit (cognate to English "ignite"). The 7th century

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monk

Xuanzang Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...

transliterated ''Agni'' into Chinese as ''O-ki-ni'' 阿耆尼 ( MC ZS: *''ʔɑ-ɡiɪ-ɳˠiɪ''

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

: ''Āqíní''). ''Ārśi'' was bordered by related Tocharian cultures, many of which also spoke related languages: ''Kuča'' (or ''Kucha''), ''Gumo'' (later ''Aksu'') to the west, ''

Turfan Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015). Geonyms The original name of the cit ...

'' (''Turpan'') to the east and to the south, ''Krorän'' (''Loulan''). In China,

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

sources describe Yanqi (''Ārśi'' / ''Agni'') as a relatively large and important neighboring kingdom. According to ''

Book of Han The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. ...

'', the various states of the "

Western Regions The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; ) was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of Yumen Pass, most often Central Asia or sometimes more sp ...

", including Yanqi, were controlled by the nomadic

Xiongnu 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. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...

, but later came under the influence of the Han dynasty, following a Han

show of force A show of force is a military operation intended to warn (such as a warning shot) or to intimidate an opponent by showcasing a capability or will to act if one is provoked. Shows of force may also be executed by police forces and other armed, non ...

against

Dayuan Dayuan (or Tayuan; ; Middle Chinese ''dâiC-jwɐn'' < LHC: ''dɑh-ʔyɑn'') is the Chinese

( Fergana) in the late 2nd century BCE. From the 1st century BCE onwards, many populations in the Tarim Basin, including the ''Ārśi'' underwent

conversion to Buddhism Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...

and, consequently, linguistic influence from

Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European language family (with over 400 languages), predominantly spoken in the geographical subre ...

, such as

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

, Bactrian, Gandhari and Khotanese (Saka). The city of ''Ārśi'' became commonly known as ''Agni'', almost certainly derived from the Sanskrit अग्नि "fire". Names such as ''Agnideśa'' (अग्निदेश) and ''Agni-visaya'', both of which are Sanskrit for "city of fire", are also recorded in Buddhist scriptures. Soldiers from Karasahr, 8th century

According to the '' Book of the Later Han'', General Ban Chao went on a punitive campaign against Yanqi in 94 CE after they attacked and killed the Protector General Chen Mu and Vice Commandant

Guo Xun Guo Xun (, d. 75) was a military officer under the Han Dynasty of China. He was an associate general of Ban Chao, as he and Ban Chao were sent to the Western Regions for a diplomatic expedition by Dou Gu. In 75, he was killed along with Chen Mu ...

in 75 CE. The king of Yanqi was decapitated and his head displayed in the capital. Later rebellions were subdued by Ban Chao's son

Ban Yong Ban Yong (, died c. 128 CE), courtesy name Yiliao (宜僚), was the youngest son of the famous Chinese General, Ban Chao, and the nephew of the illustrious historian, Ban Gu, who compiled the ''Book of Han'', the dynastic history of the Former Han ...

in 127 CE. :It has "15,000 households, 52,000 individuals, and more than 20,000 men able to bear arms. It has high mountains on all four sides. There are hazardous passes on the route to Qiuci (

Kucha Kucha, or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; ug, كۇچار, Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; sa, कूचीन, translit=Kūcīna), was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road ...

) that are easy to defend. The water of a lake winds between the four mountains, and surrounds the town for more than 30 '' li'' 2.5 km" ''Agnideśa'' became a tributary state of Tang China in 632 CE. In 644, during the Tang expansion into the Tarim Basin,

Emperor Taizong of Tang Emperor Taizong of Tang (28January 59810July 649), previously Prince of Qin, personal name Li Shimin, was the second emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. He is traditionally regarded as a co-founder of the dynasty ...

launched a military campaign against Yanqi after the kingdom allied itself with the Turks. The Four Garrisons of Anxi was established with one based at Yanqi. According to ''

Book of Zhou The ''Book of Zhou'' (''Zhōu Shū'') records the official history of the Xianbei-led Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties of China, and ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. Compiled by the Tang dynasty histori ...

'' (636 CE) the kingdom of Yanqi (Karashahr) was a small country with poor people and nine walled towns, and described the country and their custom thus: : Marriage is about the same as among the Chinese. All the deceased are cremated and then buried. They wear mourning for seven full days, after which they put it off. The adult men all trim their hair to make a head decoration. Their written characters are the same as those of India. : : It is their custom to serve "Heavenly God(s)" but they also show reverence and trust in the doctrines of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

. They especially celebrate these days: The eighth day of the second month, and the eighth day of the fourth month. All the country abstains and does penance according to the teachings of Śākya, and follows His Way. : : The climate is cold, and the land good and fertile. For cereals, they have rice, millet, pulse, wheat, and barley. For animals, they have camels, horses, cows, and sheep. They raise silk-worms but do not make silk, merely using he silk fiberfor padding. It is their custom to relish grape wine, and also to love music. It is some ten ''li'' north of a body of water, and has an abundance of fish, salt, and rushes. In the fourth year of the period Pao-ting, its king sent an envoy to present its renowned horses. Turkish dignitaries visiting king Varkhuman, One of them is labeled as coming from Argi, Karashahr in modern Xinjiang

Turkish dignitaries visiting king Varkhuman, One of them is labeled as coming from Argi, Karashahr in modern Xinjiang

By the mid-9th century, the area had been conquered by the

Uyghur Khaganate The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; otk, 𐱃𐰆𐰴𐰕:𐰆𐰍𐰕:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, Toquz Oγuz budun, Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that e ...

and the

were fading from use. ''Agnideśa'' became widely known by the

Uyghur Turkic The Karluk or Qarluq languages are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family that developed from the varieties once spoken by Karluks. Many Middle Turkic works were written in these languages. The language of the Kara-Khanid Khanate was known ...

name ''Karasahr'' (or ''Karashar''), meaning "black city". The influence of Islam grew, while older religions such as Buddhism and

Manichaenism Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (AD ...

declined. Between the mid-13th century and the 18th century, Karasahr was part of the

Chagatai Khanate The Chagatai Khanate, or Chagatai Ulus ( xng, , translit=Čaɣatay-yin Ulus; mn, Цагаадайн улс, translit=Tsagaadain Uls; chg, , translit=Čağatāy Ulusi; fa, , translit=Xânât-e Joghatây) was a Mongol and later Turkicized kh ...

. Karashahr may have been known to late medieval Europeans as ''Cialis'', ''Chalis'', or ''Chialis'', although ''Korla'', ''Krorän'', and other city names are instead favored by some scholars. In the early 17th century, the Portuguese Jesuit lay brother

Bento de Góis Bento de Góis (1562 – 11 April 1607), was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and explorer. His name is commonly given in English as Bento de Goes"Bento de Goes", in: or Bento de Goës;Gallagher (trans.) (1953), pp. 499–500. in the past, it has ...

visited the Tarim Basin on his way from India to China (via

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

and Kashgar). De Góis and his traveling companions spent several months in the "Kingdom of Cialis", while crossing it with a caravan of Kashgarian merchants (ostensibly, tribute bearers) on their way to Ming China. The travelers stayed in Cialis City for three months in 1605, and then continued, via

Turpan Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015). Geonyms The original name of the cit ...

and

Hami Hami (Kumul) is a prefecture-level city in Eastern Xinjiang, China. It is well known as the home of sweet Hami melons. In early 2016, the former Hami county-level city was merged with Hami Prefecture to form the Hami prefecture-level city with t ...

(all parts of the "Kingdom of Cialis", according to de Góis), to the Ming border at Jiayuguan. Kaidu river yanqi xinjiang

The British traveller

Francis Younghusband Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, (31 May 1863 – 31 July 1942) was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer. He is remembered for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia; especially the 1904 British ...

briefly visited Karasahr in 1887 on his overland journey from

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He described it as being "like all the towns hereabouts, is surrounded by a mud wall, and the gateways are surmounted by the usual pagoda-like towers. There is a musketry wall round outside the main wall, but it is now almost in ruins. Inside the wall are some

yamen A ''yamen'' (''ya-men''; ; Manchu: ''yamun'') was the administrative office or residence of a local bureaucrat or mandarin in imperial China. A ''yamen'' can also be any governmental office or body headed by a mandarin, at any level of gover ...

s, but only a few houses. Outside, to the south, are a few shops and inns." An early-20th-century traveler described the situation in Karashahr as follows: :"The whole of this district round Kara-shahr and Korla is, from a geographical and political point of view, both interesting and important; for whilst all other parts of Chinese Turkestan can only be reached either by climbing high and difficult passes—the lowest of which has the same elevation as Mont Blanc—or traversing extensive and dangerous waterless deserts of sand-hills, here we find the one and only convenient approach to the land through the valleys of several rivers in the neighbourhood of Ili, where plentiful water abounds in the mountain streams on all sides, and where a rich vegetation makes life possible for wandering tribes. Such Kalmuck tribes still come from the north-west to Tal. They are Torgut nomads who pitch their yurts round about Kara-shahr and live a hard life with their herds ... :Just as these Mongols wander about here at the present day, so the nomadic tribes of an earlier period must have used this district as their entrance and exit gate. The Tochari (Yue-chi) inyin: Yuezhi on their way from China, undoubtedly at that time passed through this gate to get into the Ili valley ..."

Rulers

(Names are in modern Mandarin pronunciations based on ancient Chinese records) *Shun (舜) 58 *Zhong (忠) 88 *Guang (廣) 91 *Yuan Meng (元孟) 94–127 *Long An (龍安) 280 *Long Hui (龍會) 289 *Long Xi (龍熙) 306 *Long Jiushibeina (龍鳩屍卑那) 385 *Tang He (唐和) 448 *Che Xie (車歇) 449 *Qu Jia (麴嘉) 497 *Long Tuqizhi (龍突騎支) 605 *Long Lipozhun (龍栗婆准) 644 *Long Xuepoanazhi (龍薛婆阿那支) 645 *Long Xiannazhun (龍先那准) 649 *Long Tuqizhi (龍突騎支) 650 *Long Nentu (龍嫩突) 651 *Long Yantufuyan (龍焉吐拂延) 719 *Long Chang'an (龍長安) 737 *Long Tuqishi (龍突騎施) 745 *Long Rulin (龍如林) 767–789? / Tang general – Yang Riyou 789

Footnotes

References

Sources

* Hill, John E. (2004). ''The Peoples of the West from the Weilue'' 魏略 ''by Yu Huan'' 魚豢'': A third century Chinese account composed between 239 and 265 CE''
Draft annotated English translation
* * Puri, B.N. (2000) 987 ''Buddhism in Central Asia''. (reprint ed.) Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. * * Stein, Aurel M. (1990) 912 ''Ruins of Desert Cathay: Personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China'', 2 vols. (reprint ed.) Delhi, IN: Low Price Publications. * Stein, Aurel M. (1980) 921 ''Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in central Asia and westernmost China'', 5 vols. (orig ed.) London & Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. (reprint ed.) Delhi, IN: Motilal Banarsidas

* Stein Aurel M. (1981) 928 ''Innermost Asia: Detailed report of explorations in central Asia, Kan-su and eastern Iran'', 5 vols. (orig ed.) Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. (reprint ed.) New Delhi, IN: Cosmo Publications. *

External links

Silk Road Seattle - University of Washington
(The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full-text historical works, maps, photos, etc.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Karasahr County seats in Xinjiang Central Asian Buddhist kingdoms Central Asian Buddhist sites Populated places along the Silk Road Populated places in Xinjiang Ancient peoples of China Former countries in Chinese history Township-level divisions of Xinjiang Tocharians Yanqi Hui Autonomous County