The Uyghur Khaganate
A Turkic steppe empire called the Uyghurs rules Mongolia for a century from its capital Ordu-Baliq, rescues the Tang dynasty from rebellion and adopts Manichaeism, before falling to the Kyrgyz in 840.
- The Uighur Empire according to the T'ang Dynastic Histories — Colin Mackerras, Australian National University Press (1972)
- An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples — Peter B. Golden, Otto Harrassowitz (1992)
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
- Uyghur Nation: Reform and Revolution on the Russia–China Frontier — David Brophy, Harvard University Press (2016)
In 744 the Uyghurs, a confederation of Turkic tribes, overthrew the Second Turk Khaganate and took over the Mongolian steppe. Their rulers built a walled capital, Ordu-Baliq, in the Orkhon valley, an unusual city for nomads, full of merchants and craftsmen.
- An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples — Peter B. Golden, Otto Harrassowitz (1992)
- The Uighur Empire according to the T'ang Dynastic Histories — Colin Mackerras, Australian National University Press (1972)
When the An Lushan rebellion shook Tang China in 755, Uyghur cavalry helped the emperor retake his capitals, and the Tang paid them back with silk, princesses and a lucrative horse trade. In 762 the khagan Bögü met Manichaean priests and made their faith, an Iranian religion of light and darkness, the state religion, a rare case of a steppe empire adopting a scriptural religion.
- The Uighur Empire according to the T'ang Dynastic Histories — Colin Mackerras, Australian National University Press (1972)
- An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples — Peter B. Golden, Otto Harrassowitz (1992)
In 840, weakened by famine and internal strife, the khaganate was destroyed by the Kyrgyz. Uyghur groups fled south-west, to Gansu and to the oases of the eastern Tarim Basin, where they founded new kingdoms and mixed with the settled peoples already there.
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
- An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples — Peter B. Golden, Otto Harrassowitz (1992)
The Uyghur Khaganate was a great independent Uyghur state, the start of more than a thousand years of Uyghur history in Central Asia, long before Chinese rule.
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
- Uyghur Nation: Reform and Revolution on the Russia–China Frontier — David Brophy, Harvard University Press (2016)
The ancient Uyghurs (Huihe) were one of many peoples in the northern frontier who submitted to and allied with the Tang, part of the long formation of a unified multi-ethnic China. Beijing rejects the idea of an independent "East Turkestan" history.
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
- The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land — Gardner Bovingdon, Columbia University Press (2010)
The khaganate was a real steppe empire, but the link to modern Uyghurs is indirect: the name was revived in the twentieth century for the settled Turkic Muslims of the Tarim oases, whose ancestors included Uyghurs, other Turks, and Iranian- and Tocharian-speaking peoples.
- Uyghur Nation: Reform and Revolution on the Russia–China Frontier — David Brophy, Harvard University Press (2016)
- An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples — Peter B. Golden, Otto Harrassowitz (1992)
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
Why it matters today
The khaganate gives Uyghurs a proud ancient name and an image of a powerful, literate people who dealt with China as an equal and even saved its dynasty. Uyghur nationalists date their statehood to 744, while Chinese official histories stress that the Uyghurs were vassals and allies within China's orbit. Historians add that today's Uyghurs descend from many oasis peoples, not only from these steppe Uyghurs.