Tokharians

Tocharians

"Tocharian donors", 6th-century AD fresco from the Kizil Caves
Regions with significant populations
Tarim Basin in 1st millennium AD (modern Xinjiang, China)
Languages
Religion
Buddhism and Manichaeism
Related ethnic groups
Other Indo-European peoples, Indo-Iranian peoples

The Tocharians or Tokharians (/təˈkɛəriənz/ or /təˈkɑːriənz/) were Indo-European peoples who inhabited the medieval oasis city-states on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China) in ancient times. Their , a branch of the Indo-European family, are known from manuscripts from the 6th to 8th centuries AD. These people were called "Tocharian" by late-19th century scholars who identified them with the Tókharoi described by ancient Greek sources as inhabiting Bactria. Although this identification is now generally considered mistaken, the name has become customary.

Agricultural communities first appeared in the oases of the northern Tarim around 2000 BC, with the earliest Tarim mummies dating from c. 1800 BC. Some scholars have linked them with the Afanasevo culture of eastern Siberia (c. 3500 – 2500 BC). By the 1st century BC, these settlements had developed into city-states, overshadowed by nomadic peoples to the north and Chinese empires to the east. These cities, the largest of which was Kucha, served as waystations along the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan desert. From the 9th century, the people of the oases intermixed with the Uyghurs of the Kingdom of Qocho and shifted to the Old Uyghur language.