Kucha, the Kusan of Mahmud al-Kashgari, is an oasis where the rivers off the Tian Shan water a wide plain, and was the great Buddhist kingdom of the Tarim.
In the eleventh century the Muslim geographers called it the frontier of the Uyghurs and the Song court received twelve tribute missions from it, the last in 1096 with a jade Buddha, from a king the Chinese called an Uyghur of Kucha. Its cave temples at Kizil and Kumtura and its twin monastery at Subashi lie within a day's ride. In 1200 it is a Turkic Buddhist oasis under a prince whose name is not known.
The Kucha Muslim shrine that claims Islam came under Song Lizong (1224 to 1264) shows the town is not yet Muslim.
Who holds it
- Title
- Prince or governor of Kucha (see Prince of Kucha)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Not known.
- Confidence
- low
Iranica 'Kucha', Chinese Wikipedia (Xinjiang), Wikipedia 'Qocho', 'Barchuq Art Tegin', 'Kuqa'. No 12th-century ruler.
Lord in 1200
A local prince, probably Uyghur or Turkic, under the gurkhan; not known.
Overlord
The gurkhan; possibly also the idiqut of Qocho by custom. Not pinned.
What the town holds
- The town and oasis of the Kucha river
- The monasteries and cave temples within a day's ride
How it was acquired
Uyghur since the ninth century; the Kara-Khanids are said to have taken it by 1096 (Wikipedia 'Qocho'), which the Song tribute of that year contradicts.
Allies and rivals
Bay and Aksu west; Luntai and Karashahr east; the sangha is its ally.
How things stand that morning
Not recorded; no event for 1199-1200.
Military
No figures.
Council
Not recorded for 1200.
Communities
Buddhists (Mahayana, with the older Sarvastivada tradition fading; Iranica); Turkic speakers, the Kucha language long gone; Muslim merchants likely; Nestorians possible.
Fairs and markets
Not recorded; the weekly bazaar is the oasis custom but no date is known for 1200.
Militia
Not recorded.
Walls and castle
Not recorded for 1200.
Trade and crafts
Grain, fruit, vines and wine; copper, iron and sal ammoniac of the hills (Tang evidence); the northern road tolls; pilgrims.
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.
- 1224 to 1264A local tomb inscription dates the arrival of Islam here (Iranica 'Kucha').Depends on: Local tradition. Stopped by: Nothing.
Places of note
- Kucha: Oasis town.
Where the sources disagree
- Wikipedia 'Qocho' says Kucha was lost to the Kara-Khanids by 1096; Iranica says the 1096 tribute came from 'Qiuci-Uighurs'. Unsettled.
Evidence: Frontier status and Song tribute to 1096 are attested; the 12th century is a gap.
On the map: Tierra drawn from modern counties.
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, 'Kucha'
- Chinese Wikipedia, 'Xinjiang lishi' (history of Xinjiang)
- Wikipedia, 'Qocho'
- Wikipedia, 'Kuqa, Xinjiang'
- Wikipedia, 'Kucha'
- Wikipedia, 'Barchuq Art Tegin'
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.