The Yarkent Khanate, the Khojas and the Twelve Muqam
A Chaghatayid dynasty rules the southern oases from Yarkent, Sufi khojas gain great power, and court musicians, by tradition led by Queen Amannisa Khan, shape the Twelve Muqam.
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
- The Making of a Musical Canon in Chinese Central Asia: The Uyghur Twelve Muqam — Rachel Harris, Ashgate (2008)
- The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History — Rian Thum, Harvard University Press (2014)
- Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNESCO (2008)
In 1514 Sultan Said Khan, a descendant of Genghis Khan through his son Chaghatai, took Kashgar and made Yarkent the capital of a kingdom covering the southern oases of the Tarim Basin. Its people were settled Turkic-speaking Muslims who called themselves by their oasis, Kashgarliq or Yerliq, or simply Muslims; the shared literary language was Chaghatai Turkic.
- 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)
Uyghur tradition credits Amannisa Khan (1526–1560), a poet and musician who became queen, with collecting and arranging the melodies that became the Twelve Muqam, suites of sung poetry, instrumental pieces and dances. Rachel Harris shows that the canon performed today owes much to twentieth-century reconstruction, but the tradition has deep roots, and UNESCO recognised the Uyghur Muqam as intangible heritage in 2005.
- The Making of a Musical Canon in Chinese Central Asia: The Uyghur Twelve Muqam — Rachel Harris, Ashgate (2008)
- Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNESCO (2008)
From the late 1500s, Naqshbandi Sufi masters known as khojas gained political power, split into rival “White Mountain” and “Black Mountain” factions. The White Mountain leader Afaq Khoja invited the Buddhist Dzungar Mongols in around 1680, and the oases became their tributaries. The Dzungars’ collapse, and the khojas’ rivalry, opened the way for the Qing.
- Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang — James A. Millward, Columbia University Press (2007)
- The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History — Rian Thum, Harvard University Press (2014)
Why it matters today
The Yarkent Khanate is remembered as a high point of Uyghur culture: a Turkic Muslim kingdom in the oases, with poetry, music and Sufi saints. Amannisa Khan is a national heroine, the Twelve Muqam is the Uyghurs' great musical treasure, and the shrine of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar was one of the most visited places in the region.