Christians of the Church of the East (so-called Nestorians) lived in the Tarim before the Qarakhanids and went on living there under them: the Qarakhanids were tolerant, and Gardizi reports two churches working in Khotan about 1050 (Iranica 'Chinese Turkestan iii').
The Church has a metropolitan see at Kashgar (Persia record; Iranica 'Kashgar'), and the Turkic Christians of the Tarim answer to it. Marco Polo finds Nestorians at Yarkand in 1273 or 1274 (later evidence). Under the Qara Khitai the Christian communities grow (Togan). In the north-east the Uyghurs of Qocho have Christian communities, and whether Kucha and Karashahr have any is not recorded.
In 1200 the church is a small minority among Muslims in the west and Buddhists in the east: priests and a church or two in each larger town, under the prince's tolerance, with no land or power of its own recorded. Kuchlug, when he rules (1211 to 1218), makes Muslims in the towns he takes become Nestorians or Buddhists or wear Khitan dress (Juvaini, via Wikipedia).
Who holds it
- Name
- not known (no metropolitan of Kashgar is named for 1200 in the sources read)
- Title
- The metropolitan of Kashgar (the Church of the East's see for the Turkic lands of the Tarim), with the priests of the local churches
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Turkic and Iranian-speaking Christians; no families named
- Confidence
- low
Iranica 'Chinese Turkestan iii' (two churches working in Khotan about 1050, Gardizi; Christians active before the Qarakhanids; the Qara Khitai age sees them grow), Iranica 'Kashgar' (a Nestorian metropolitan see, cited from a 13th-century list), Iranica 'Yarkand' and Wikipedia (Polo finds Nestorians at Yarkand in 1273 or 1274: later evidence), the Persia map's Khanate of Kashgar (the see of a metropolitan). No church of 1200 is described.
Overlord
The metropolitan of Kashgar within the Church; the princes of the oases as tolerant rulers.
What it holds
- Churches at Khotan (two, about 1050) and probably Yarkand: not described for 1200
- No land or revenue is recorded
How it was acquired
Christian communities of the Tarim predate Islam here; the sees are of the Church's older organisation.
Allies and rivals
Protected by the princes' tolerance; the Muslim majority of the west and the Buddhist majority of the north-east are the neighbours. The Qara Khitai, themselves Buddhists, let the Christian communities grow (Togan).
How things stand that morning
Not recorded.
Wealth
None recorded.
Threats
- Later: Kuchlug's forced conversions and the Mongol conquest
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1211 to 1218Kuchlug, ruling the Tarim, orders a conquered town's Muslims to become Nestorians or Buddhists or wear Khitan dress; the people chose Khitan dress (Juvaini, via Wikipedia 'Kuchlug'; the town is not named there).Depends on: Kuchlug's rule. Stopped by: His fall in 1218.
Places of note
- Khotan churches: Two churches working about 1050.
- Yarkand: Nestorians reported in 1273 or 1274.
Where the sources disagree
- Sheet asks for 'the Nestorian church of the Tarim'. Evidence is two sources for Khotan (c. 1050) and one for Yarkand (1273, later). Nothing places a church at Aksu, Kucha or Karashahr.
Evidence: One report of about 1050 and later travellers; the 1200 state is inferred.
On the map: Points only; the churches are not placed.
Primary sources for Tarim oases
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of the Liao, chapter 30, on the Western Liao, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1344). The only Chinese official notice of the Qara Khitai, a few pages at the end of juan 30. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- History of the World Conqueror: the Qara Khitai (Gur Khans) and the Uyghurs of Beshbaliq, Ala al-Din Ata-Malik Juvayni (begun about 1252 to 1253, ends with 1260). Juvayni's chapters on the Uyghur kingdom (its origin legend, Beshbaliq and Qocho, and the idiqut Barchuq's murder of the Qara Khitai resident before his submission to Chinggis Khan in 1209) and on the Gur Khans of the Qara Khitai are the fullest Muslim account of the Tarim and Zhetysu around 1200: the gurkhan Zhilugu's court at Balasagun, his tax collectors in the oasis towns and in Samarkand, his relations with the Khwarazmshah Tekish and then Muhammad, and the arrival of the Naiman prince Kuchlug in 1208. Read online
- Old Uyghur contracts, land sales, loans and administrative documents from the Turfan oases (mostly thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with some earlier; dated by animal years and rarely to a reign). Sale deeds, loans, leases, slave sales, wills and tax lists from Turfan, Qocho and Beshbaliq, the only internal evidence for everyday life, land tenure, prices and officials in the Uyghur kingdom whose idiqut was a vassal of the Qara Khitai in 1200.
- Journey to the West of the Perfected Changchun (Qiu Chuji), Li Zhichang (李志常) (about 1228, from the journey of 1220 to 1224). A dated eyewitness itinerary across the steppe and the Tarim twenty years after 1200: the Kereyit country and the Ongud frontier, the Naiman mountains, the Uyghur towns of Beshbaliq and the Tarim with their Buddhist and Christian communities, Almaliq of the Qarluq, and Samarkand. Read online
Sources and studies
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Chinese Turkestan iii. From the Advent of Islam to the Mongols' (I. Togan)
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Kashgar'
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Yarkand'
- Wikipedia, 'Kuchlug'
- Wikipedia, 'Qocho'
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.