page_title: Uyghurs
section_title: Uyghur Khaganate (8th–9th centuries)
hierarchical_section_title: Uyghurs / History / Uyghur Khaganate (8th–9th centuries)
caption_attribution_description: English: Uighur Khagan ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche: Uyghur Hakanliri
context_page_description: The Uyghurs, alternately Uighurs, Uygurs, or Uigurs, are a Turkic-speaking minority ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are considered to be one of China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities. The Uyghurs are recognized by the Chinese government only as a regional minority within a multicultural nation. The Chinese government rejects the notion of the Uyghurs being an indigenous group.
  The Uyghurs have traditionally inhabited a series of oases scattered across the Taklamakan Desert within the Tarim Basin. These oases have historically existed as independent states or were controlled by many civilizations including China, the Mongols, the Tibetans and various Turkic polities. The Uyghurs gradually started to become Islamized in the 10th century and most Uyghurs identified as Muslims by the 16th century. Islam has since played an important role in Uyghur culture and identity.
  An estimated 80% of Xinjiang's Uyghurs still live in the Tarim Basin.
context_section_description: The Uyghurs of the Uyghur Khaganate were part of a Turkic confederation called the Tiele, who lived in the valleys south of Lake Baikal and around the Yenisei River. They overthrew the First Turkic Khaganate and established the Uyghur Khaganate.
  The Uyghur Khaganate stretched from the Caspian Sea to Manchuria and lasted from 744 to 840. It was administered from the imperial capital Ordu-Baliq, one of the biggest ancient cities built in Mongolia. In 840, following a famine and civil war, the Uyghur Khaganate was overrun by the Yenisei Kirghiz, another Turkic people. As a result, the majority of tribal groups formerly under Uyghur control dispersed and moved out of Mongolia.
caption: An 8th-century Uyghur Khagan
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