History of Xinjiang

Turkification of the Tarim Basin

Date	9th and 10th centuries
Location	Tarim Basin in Xinjiang
Result	Turkic victory, complete Turkification of the Tarim Basin, extinction of Indo-European peoples in the Tarim Basin

Belligerents

Caucasian Indo-European Buddhist and Eastern Iranian Sakas (Kingdom of Khotan)

Mongoloid Turkic Buddhist Uyghurs (Kingdom of Qocho)

Mongoloid Turkic Muslim Karluks (Kara-Khanid Khanate)

Commanders and leaders

Satok Bughra Khan
Ali Arslan
Musa
Yusuf Qadir Khan

Islamification of the Tarim Basin

Date	14th-16th centuries
Location	Tarim Basin in Xinjiang
Result	Chagatai Muslim victory, complete Islamicisation of all Turks in the Tarim Basin, extinction of Buddhism among Turks in the Tarim Basin

Belligerents

Turkic Buddhist Uyghurs (Kingdom of Qocho and Qara Del)

Commanders and leaders

Khizr Khwaja
Mansur

The recorded history of the area now known as Xinjiang dates to the 2nd millennium BC. There have been many empires, primarily Han Chinese, Turkic, and Mongol, that have ruled over the region, including the Yuezhi, Xiongnu, Han dynasty, Gaochang, Kingdom of Khotan, Sixteen Kingdoms of the Jin dynasty (Former Liang, Former Qin, Later Liang, and Western Liang), Turkic Khaganate, Tang dynasty, Tibetan Empire, Uyghur Khaganate, Kara-Khanid Khanate, Kingdom of Qocho, Qara Khitai, Mongol Empire, Yuan dynasty, Chagatai Khanate, Yarkent Khanate, Dzungar Khanate, and Qing dynasty. Xinjiang was previously known as "Xiyu" (西域), under the Han dynasty, which drove the Xiongnu empire out of the region in 60 BCE in an effort to secure the profitable Silk Road, but was renamed Xinjiang (新疆, meaning "new frontier") when the region was reconquered by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in 1759. Xinjiang is now a part of the People's Republic of China, having been so since its founding year of 1949.