Introduction
The Uyghur lives in Xinjiang today. Their earliest recorded ancestors were known as Dingling 丁零 tribe around 3rd century BC (Qin dynasty).In the past, the ancestors of Uyghur were called by various names such as Chile 敕勒 (Jin dynasty), Yuanhe 袁紇(Northern Wei dynasty), Weihe 韋紇, a tribe of Tiele 鐵勒 (Sui dynasty), Huihe 回紇 (Tang dynasty). They were also known as Gaoche (high cart) because they used carts with high wheels,. For simplification in this article, these tribes are collectively called proto-Uyghur.
Homeland
The Uyghur's original homeland is mainly in the south of Lake Baikal between the Selenga and Orkhon river basins in western Mongolia.
Whereas, the Mongol's homeland is in eastern Mongolia that eventually expanded their empire across the whole of greater Mongolia (present-day Outer and Inner Mongolia).
Early kingdoms
During the earliest days, proto-Uyghur tribes lived under the rule of various Xiongnu kingdom, Mongolic kingdom and also Turkic Khaganate.A Huihe king Kutluk Boyla founded the Uyghur Khaganate in 646 AD. This kingdom destroyed the Second Turkic Khaganate in 744 AD, united all the proto-Uyghur tribes and called themselves Uyghur 回鶻 in 788 AD. The capital was in Ordu-Baliq on western bank of Orkhon River.
Migration to Xinjiang
The Kyrgyz, another Turkic tribe, destroyed this kingdom in 840 AD. This event triggered a massive migration of ethnic Uyghur to the southwest which split into three groups.
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| Migration paths of Uyghur tribes |
The first group migrated into Pamir Mountains and formed the Kara-Khanid Khanate in 840 AD. They mixed with Karluk, another Turkic tribe, and became the ancestors of the Uyghur in Tarim Basin in southern Xinjiang.
The second group migrated into Turpan in Xinjiang to form the Qocho kingdom in 843 AD and called themselves Qocho tribe. These are the ancestors of the Uyghur in Turpan Depression in eastern Xinjiang.
The third group migrated into Gansu province in China and formed the Gansu Uyghur kingdom in 894 AD. They became the modern-day Yugur tribe aka Yellow Uyghur.
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| Uyghur in Xinjiang |
Today, most Turkic tribes in the west are Muslims except for the Yellow Uyghur who are Buddhists.
Relationship with Uzbek people
The Mongols expanded their empire to include the previous territory of the Kara-Khanid Khanate and surrounding areas. The modern Uyghur language is descended from the Chagatai language formed during Chagatai Khanate (1222-1680 AD) which is one of the initial four Khanates of the Mongolian empire.The Chagatai Khanate split into Western and Eastern Khanates in 1346 AD. The border of Western Chagatai Khanate is approximately modern-day Uzbekistan whereas the border of Eastern Chagatai Khanate is approximately Xinjiang province. Refer to the map below.
The ethnic Uzbek has a higher admixture with the Tajik people (Western Iranian people) than the ethnic Uyghur. In other words, the Kara-Khanid Uyghur group also has some admixture with the Western Iranian people who are the natives of Pamir Mountains in Central Asia but not as much as the Uzbek people.
Northern and Southern Xinjiang
Before 1757 AD, most Uyghurs live in Tarim basin in southern Xinjiang whereas most western Mongols lived in Dzungar basin in northern Xinjiang.From 1840-1980 AD, the Han Chinese began to migrate in large numbers to northern Xinjiang to fill up the empty land due to the massacre of the western Mongols by the Manchu during 1755-1757 AD.
Most of the Han Chinese came from Gansu province and migrated to northern Xinjiang concentrating in the largest cities of Urumqi, Karamay, Shihezi and Hami.
By 1980 AD, the Han Chinese has become the ethnic majority in northern Xinjiang whereas the Uyghur remain the ethnic majority in southern Xinjiang.
Uighur subgroups
The Uighur subgroups are
- Yugur in Gansu province
- Qochor
- Kara-Khanid Uighur in southern Xinjiang
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| Yugur |
Altaic people
Altaic group includes the Mongols, Manchu, Koreans and their respective origins can be found on other articles in this blog.
Conclusion
Uyghurs are not the natives of Xinjiang province as falsely reported in many western articles and nationalistic Turkic articles. They came from western Mongolia and migrated to Xinjiang during the 9th century. The original Turkic people were of Mongoloid race and not Caucasoid race. |
| Kara-Khanid Uighur |
The real natives of Xinjiang are non-related tribes such as Tocharian in Tarim Basin who spoke Indo-European language; the details of which are beyond the scope of this blog.
Strictly speaking, neither the Han Chinese nor the Uyghurs are native to the region of Xinjiang province once you know their true origins.
Related links
Ethnic origin of Mongolian
- Chinese history Shiji《史記》
- Chinese history Weilue《魏略》
- http://www.academia.edu/4314856/The_Research_on_the_Identification_Between_Tiele_and_the_Oghuric_Tribes
- Migration and Inequality in Xinjiang: A Survey of Han and Uyghur Migrants in Urumqi. By Anthony Howell and C. Cindy Fan
- https://kknews.cc/history/n52jke2.html
- https://kknews.cc/history/jqv4rp.html
- https://kknews.cc/history/lz9j2nb.html
- https://kknews.cc/history/p86nkk8.html
- https://kknews.cc/history/3e8kx4a.html
Last updated: 13 July 2021
Copyright © eastasiaorigin.blogspot 2018-2021. All rights reserved.
Copyright © eastasiaorigin.blogspot 2018-2021. All rights reserved.
I focused on the Uyghur because they are the most misunderstood Turkic tribe as to their true origin. I won't be doing the rest unless there is high demand and because there is less controversy with the other Turkic tribes.
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