page_title: History of Xinjiang
section_title: Han military protectorate
hierarchical_section_title: History of Xinjiang / Han military protectorate
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 汉武
context_page_description: Xinjiang historically consisted of two main geographically, historically, and ethnically distinct regions with different historical names: Dzungaria north of the Tianshan Mountains; and the Tarim Basin south of the Tianshan Mountains, currently mainly inhabited by the Uyghurs. They were renamed Xinjiang in 1884, meaning "new frontier," when both regions were reconquered by the Chinese Qing dynasty after the Dungan revolt.
  The first inhabitants came from the west. The oldest Tarim mummies, found in the Tarim Basin, are dated to the 2nd millennium BCE, when the Indo-European Tocharians inhabited the Tarim Basin. In the first millennium BCE the Tarim Basin was inhabited by the Indo-European Yuezhi nomads. In the second century BCE the region became part of the Xiongnu empire, a confederation of nomads centered on present-day Mongolia.
  The Tarim Basin was first referred to as "Xiyu" under the Han dynasty, which drove the Xiongnu out of the Tarim Basin in 60 BCE in an effort to build and secure the profitable Silk Road, maintaining a variable military presence until the early 3rd century CE. From the 2nd to the 5th century local rulers controlled the region.
context_section_description: This is the beginning of what Millward calls the 'classical period.' In the 20th century, China changed many of the place names of Xinjiang back to the original Chinese names of 2000 years earlier. They saw this as a patriotic act restoring the greatness and borders of the Han dynasty. Millward notes that from a 'modern nationalist perspective' the Han unified the Chinese empire, at least its furthest western extents.
  The Han expansion into Xinjiang is well supported by 'rich' textual sources and the material evidence, from archaeological artifacts excavated in the Taklamakan Desert and trade items across Eurasia. These point to the influence of Chinese culture and Han settlements in the region, and the exchange of luxury items between China, India, and the west lends credence to the view that Xinjiang was the center of Silk Road trade.
  In 139 BCE the Emperor Wu of Han dispatched the former palace attendant Zhang Qian to form an alliance with the Yuezhi people in order to combat the Xiongnu. He was captured by the Xiongnu, and held prisoner for a decade. After his return, his knowledge of the lands of the west was the main information the Han had of this region. Between 133 BCE and 89 CE, the Hand and the Xiongnu fought a series of battles, known as the Han–Xiongnu War.
  In 102 BC the Han defeated Dayuan, who had not been willing to supply the Han with Ferghana horses, in the War of the Heavenly Horses. After a series of victories against the Xiongnu, the Chinese penetrated the strategic region from the Ordos and Gansu corridor as far as Lop Nor. Between 120 BCE and 60 BCE, fighting between Han and Xiongnu continued. At that time, the Tarim Basin was inhabited by various peoples, including Tocharians (in Turfan and Kucha) and Indo-Iranian Saka peoples around Kashgar and Khotan.
  In 60 BC Han China established the Protectorate of the Western Regions at Wulei (烏壘; near modern Luntai) to oversee the Tarim Basin as far west as the Pamir. The Tarim Basin and Indo-European kingdoms were controlled through military colonies by the Han dynasty, but the Han "never had a foothold in Zungharia (northern Xinjiang), which the Xiongnu and the Wusun dominated for this whole period."
  During Wang Mang's usurpation (8–25 CE), and the civil war in the central Han territory, the Han left the Tarim basin, and the Northern Xiongnu re-established their overlordship. At the end of the 1st century, Han China conducted several expeditions into the region, re-establishing militaru colonies "and bullied the Tarim city-states into renewing their vow of allegiance to Han," from 74–76 and 91–107. From 107 to 125 the Han left the Tarim Basin again, leaving it to the Xiongnu. From 127 to c.150 it was controlled again by the Han, whereafter the Tocharian-speaking Kushan Empire (30-375) took control of the western and northern Tarim Basin. The Kushan played a role in introducing Buddhism to the Tarim Basin and China, and in translating Buddhist texts into Chinese and other languages.
caption: The Han empire (dark orange) under administrative units control during Emperor Wu's reign (r. 141–87 BC), and sphere of influence (light orange)
exif: {}