Uyghurs

Lore & Background

The Uyghurs are genetically related to West Eurasians, East Asians, Siberians, South Asians and can trace their ancestry to various peoples and cultures, such as the Tocharians, Uyghur Khanate, Qocho, Kara-Khanid Khanate, and Qara Khitai, that had inhabited or migrated to the region. They were historically influenced and often ruled by neighboring Chinese, Mongol, Tibetan, and Turkic civilizations. Originally followers of many belief systems, inhabitants of the region were gradually converted to Islam after the 10th century, especially under the Chagatai Khanate. By the 16th century, most of them identified as Muslims and no longer recognized symbols of their Buddhist past. Islam continues to play an important role in Uyghur culture and identity. Prior to the 20th century, the Uyghurs did not have a common unifying ethnonym. The name 'Uyghur' was used to refer to the non-Muslim inhabitants of Qocho, mainly Buddhists, who resisted conversion to Islam until the 16th century. The name fell out of use afterward and the region inhabited by the modern Uyghur people came under the rule of the Qing dynasty following the Dzungar–Qing Wars in the 18th century. Settlers of various ethnicities were relocated to Dzungaria, which was later combined with the Tarim Basin to the south to become Xinjiang Province. Until 1921, the inhabitants of the Tarim Basin identified themselves by terms such as yerlik ('locals'), Musulman khalq ('Muslim people'), or by regional designations including Kashgarlik and Yarkandlik. In the twentieth century, under the influence of movements advocating autonomy, the need for a common ethnic designation emerged. In a conference held by the Soviet Union, Turkic intellectuals from all over the Tarim Basin gathered in Tashkent and adopted the ethnonym 'Uyghur' for their people, although they were aware of the differences between the modern and ancient Uyghurs. The extent of the Uyghur Khaganate's territory did not reach the entire area inhabited by modern Uyghurs such as western Kashgaria. Later Chinese governments continued to use the name 'Uyghur' as an umbrella category for the people of the Tarim Basin.

Reader's Guide

More Uyghurs live in the Tarim Basin than in northern Xinjiang. Several thousand reside in Taoyuan, Hunan. Significant diasporic Uyghur communities exist in Turkic countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkey, in addition to smaller ones elsewhere. Since 2014, the Chinese government has been accused of subjecting Uyghurs in Xinjiang to widespread persecution, including arbitrary arrest and detention, forced sterilization, and forced labor. The Chinese government denies the accusations.

Did You Know?

• The name 'Uyghur' was revived in 1921 at a conference in Tashkent, Soviet Union, where Turkic intellectuals adopted it as the modern ethnonym.
• The Karluk Turkic speaking group in modern-day Xinjiang lacked well-established ethnic endonyms before the 20th century; they identified as 'Muslims' or 'Sarts' or by their oasis of origin.
• The term 'Uyghur' originally referred to non-Muslim inhabitants of Qocho, mainly Buddhists, who resisted conversion to Islam until the 16th century.
• The Yugur people, who speak a Neo-Uyghur language belonging to the Siberian Turkic branch, are genetically very distinct from the Uyghurs, who speak a Karluk Turkic language.