page_title: Shule Kingdom
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Shule Kingdom / Economy
caption_attribution_description: English: Added Wadi Hammamat: from Al-Qusair to Qift.
context_page_description: The Shule Kingdom was an ancient Iranian oasis kingdom of the Taklamakan Desert that was on the Northern Silk Road, in the historical Western Regions of what is now Xinjiang in Northwest China. Its capital was Kashgar, the source of Kashgar's water being a river of the same name. Much like the neighboring people of the Kingdom of Khotan, people of Kashgar spoke Saka, one of the Eastern Iranian languages.
  Although a vassal of the Chinese Tang Dynasty from the 7th century, Shule was conquered by the Tibetan Empire in the late 8th century and was eventually incorporated into the Kara-Khanid Khanate during the Islamicisation and Turkicisation of Xinjiang.
context_section_description: As it was on the Northern Silk Road, Shule traded mostly through the Yumen Pass and the Pamir Mountains.
  The Northern Silk Road that passed through Kashgar split off into the northern Tarim Basin route which ran from Kashgar over Aksu, Kucha, Korla, through the Iron Gate Pass, over Karasahr, Jiaohe, Turpan, Gaochang and Kumul to Anxi. The southern Tarim Basin route ran from Kashgar over Yarkant, Karghalik, Pishan, Khotan, Keriya, Niya, Qarqan, Qarkilik, Miran and Dunhuang to Anxi.
caption: The capital of the Shule Kingdom, Kashgar, is marked
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