Karashahr (Yanqi) fills the fertile basin round Lake Bosten at the eastern end of the Tarim, one march from the Turfan depression, and was Uyghur ground from the ninth century.
Its lord in 1200 is not recorded. Of all the northern oases it is the most likely to lie in the idiqut's circle: it shares his religion and language, sits on the one road to Turfan, and Wikipedia lists it in Barchuq's realm after 1208. This map still draws it with the Tarim, as the brief directs, and treats the border with Qocho as the pass between Karashahr and Turfan; whether the Karashahr lord is the idiqut's officer or his own master is open.
Who he is
- Title
- Prince or governor of Karashahr (Yanqi); an Uyghur line or an officer of the idiqut; not pinned
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Not known.
- Confidence
- low
Wikipedia 'Karasahr' (conquered by the Uyghurs in the mid-9th century; no ruler listed after 789), Wikipedia 'Qocho' (Karashahr a capital in 856; no 12th-century status), 'Barchuq Art Tegin' (Kucha and Karashahr named in his realm 1208 to 1235), Zieme 2014 (Karashahr among the early Uyghur settlements). Nothing for 1200.
Overlord
The idiqut of Qocho or the gurkhan; not pinned.
What it holds
- Karashahr and the Yanqi basin, with Bohu and Hejing
- Lake Bosten and its fisheries and reed beds
- Korla and the Konche river, with the passes to Turfan
- The Buddhist sites of the basin (record Karashahr sangha)
How it was acquired
Not recorded. Uyghur since the mid-9th century.
Allies and rivals
East: the idiqut of Qocho at Turfan and Beshbaliq (tau sheet). West: Luntai and Kucha. North: the Yulduz and Kaidu herders on the Tian Shan pastures.
How things stand that morning
Quiet; nothing recorded.
Wealth
Irrigated grain and fruit, the fish of Lake Bosten, reeds, horses on the Yulduz pastures above, and the toll where the northern road meets the road to Turfan.
Military
Household and local militia; nothing recorded.
Threats
- Gurkhan's tax-gatherers
- Later: Barchuq's break of 1209 and the Mongols
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.
- 606 AH (from 6 July 1209)If Karashahr is in the idiqut's reach, it follows Barchuq into the Mongol camp (Wikipedia lists it in his realm).Depends on: Barchuq's revolt. Stopped by: Karashahr being independent of Qocho.
Places of note
- Karashahr: Lord's seat.
- Korla: Town on the Konche river downstream.
Where the sources disagree
- The tau sheet's Qocho record may claim Karashahr; where the two records differ, this sheet's anchors set the border at the pass between Karashahr and Turfan.
Evidence: The basin's Uyghur character is attested; its 1200 ruler is not.
On the map: The eastern limit is the line the compilers use for the Karashahr-Turfan border, not a known frontier.
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
- Wikipedia, 'Karasahr'
- Wikipedia, 'Qocho'
- Wikipedia, 'Barchuq Art Tegin'
- P. Zieme, 'The West Uigur Kingdom: Views from Inside' (2014)
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Chinese Turkestan iii. From the Advent of Islam to the Mongols' (I. Togan)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.