Altishahr

Altishahr (Traditional spelling: آلتی شهر; Uyghur Cyrillic alphabet: Алтә-шәһәр Uyghur Latin alphabet: Altä-shähär or Altishähär,Modern Uyghur alphabet: ئالتە شەھەر) is a historical name for the Tarim Basin region used in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term means the "six cities" in Turkic languages and refers to oasis towns along the rim of the Tarim, in what is now southern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Six cities (Altishahr) was synonymous with Kashgaria.

Altishahr is derived from the Turkic word alti, which means six, and Persian word shahr, for city. The term was used by Turkic-speaking inhabitants of the Tarim Basin in the 18th and 19th century. Other local words for the region included Dorben Shahr, the "four cities" and Yeti Shahr, the "seven cities".

Altishahr was adopted by some Western sources in the 19th century. Another Western term for the same region is Kashgaria. Qing sources refer to the region primarily as Nanlu or the Southern Circuit. Other Qing terms for the region include Huijiang (the "Muslim Frontier"), Huibu (the "Muslim Tribal Area), and Bacheng (the "Eight Cities"). or Nanjiang.

Altishahr refers to the Tarim Basin of southern Xinjiang, which was geographically, historically, and ethnically distinct from the Dzungarian Basin of northern Xinjiang. At the time of the Qing conquest in 1759, Dzungaria was inhabited by steppe dwelling, nomadic Dzungar people, Oirat Mongols who practiced Tibetan Buddhism. The Tarim Basin was inhabited by sedentary, oasis dwelling, Turkic speaking Muslim farmers, now known as the Uyghur people. The two regions were governed as separate circuits until Xinjiang was made into a single province in 1884.

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