page_title: Altishahr
section_title: Geography and relation to Xinjiang
hierarchical_section_title: Altishahr / Geography and relation to Xinjiang
context_page_description: Altishahr is a historical name for the Tarim Basin region used in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term means the "six cities" in Turkic languages and refers to oasis towns along the rim of the Tarim, in what is now southern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Six cities was synonymous with Kashgaria.
context_section_description: Altishahr refers to the Tarim Basin of Southern Xinjiang, which was historically, geographically and ethnically distinct from the Dzungarian Basin of Northern Xinjiang. At the time of the Qing conquest in 1759, Dzungaria was inhabited by steppe dwelling, nomadic Dzungar people, Oirat Mongols who practiced Tibetan Buddhism. The Tarim Basin was inhabited by sedentary, oasis dwelling, Turkic-speaking Muslim farmers, now known as the Uyghur people. The two regions were governed as separate circuits before the region became independent. Xinjiang was made into a single province in 1884.
caption: Physical map showing the separation of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Taklamakan) by the Tian Shan Mountains
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