Uyghur
ئۇيغۇر‎

Three Uyghur girls at a Sunday market in Khotan
Regions with significant populations
China (Xinjiang) 8,399,393 (2000) [1]     Kazakhstan 223,100 (2009) [2]     Kyrgyzstan 49,000 (2009) [3]     Russia 3,696 (2010) [4]     Ukraine 197 (2001) [5]
Uyghur, Mandarin Chinese
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Karluks, and other Turkic peoples

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

The Uyghurs (Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر‎, ULY: Uyghur ;^[6][ʔʊjˈʁʊː]; simplified Chinese: 维吾尔; traditional Chinese: 維吾爾; pinyin: Wéiwú'ěr Persian: ترک خر) are a Turkicethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. An estimated 80% of Xinjiang's Uyghurs live in the southwestern portion of the region, the Tarim Basin.^[7] Outside Xinjiang, the largest community of Uyghurs in China is in Taoyuan County, in south-central Hunan province.^[8] Outside of China, significant diasporic communities of Uyghurs exist in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Smaller communities are found in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey.^[9]

[edit] Name

Uyghur is often pronounced /ˈwiːɡər/ by English speakers, though an acceptable English pronunciation closer to the Uyghur people's pronunciation of it would be /uː.iˈɡʊr/.^[10] Several alternate romanizations also appear: Uighur, Uygur, and Uigur. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region provincial government recommends that the generic ethnonym [ʊjˈʁʊː], adopted in the early 20th century for this Turkic people,^[11] be transcribed as "Uyghur."^[12]

The meaning of the term Uyghur is unclear. However, most Uyghur linguists and historians regard the word as coming from uyughur (uyushmaq in modern Uyghur language), literally meaning 'united' or 'people who tend to come together'. Chinese Tang dynasty annals refer to them by the ethnonyms Huí Hú or Huí Hé.^[13] The etymology cannot be accurately determined, for historically the groups it denoted were not ethnically fixed, since it denoted a political rather than a tribal identity,^[14] or was used originally to refer to just one group among several, the others calling themselves Toquz Oghuz.^[15] According to Yin Weixian, the Turkic runic inscriptions record a word uyɣur, which was first transcribed into Chinese as Huí Hé (回紇), but later, in response to an Uyghur request, changed to Huí Hú (回鶻) in 788 or 809. The earliest record of an Uyghur tribe is from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). At that time the ethnonym Gaoche (in Uyghur: Qangqil, قاڭقىل) (Chinese: 高車; pinyin: Gāochē; literally "wheelwagon") to the Tura (Chinese: Tiele) tribes. Later, the term Tiele (Chinese: 鐵勒; pinyin: Tiělè; Turkic: Tele) itself was used.^[16] The first use of Uyghur as a reference to a political nation occurred during the interim period between the First and Second Göktürk Khaganates (552-744). In modern usage, Uyghur refers to settled Turkic urban dwellers and farmers of Kashgaria or Uyghurstan who follow traditional Central Asian sedentary practices, as distinguished from nomadic Turkic populations in Central Asia. The Bolsheviks reintroduced the term Uyghur to replace the previously used Turk or Turki.^[17][18]

edit] Identity

A Uyghur naan baker

Throughout history, the term Uyghur has taken on an increasingly expansive definition. Initially signifying only a small coalition of Tiele tribes in Northern China, Mongolia, and the Altay Mountains, it later denoted citizenship in the Uyghur Khaganate. Finally it was expanded to an ethnicity whose ancestry originates with the fall of the Uyghur Khaganate in the year 842, which caused Uyghur migration from Mongolia into the Tarim Basin. This migration assimilated and replaced the Indo-Europeans of the region to create a distinct identity,^[19] as the language and culture of the Turkic migrants eventually supplanted the original Indo-European influences. This fluid definition of Uyghur and the diverse ancestry of modern Uyghurs are a source of confusion about what constitutes true Uyghur ethnography and ethnogenesis.

Uyghur activists identify with the Tarim mummies, but research into the genetics of ancient Tarim mummies and their links with modern Uyghurs remain controversial, both to Chinese government officials concerned with ethnic separatism, and to Uyghur activists concerned that research could affect their claims of being indigenous to the region.^[20][21] Victor Mair has stated that the Uyghur peoples arrived at the Tarim Basin after the Orkon Uighur Kingdom (present-day Mongolia) fell around 842.^[19]

The first use of Uyghur as a reference to a political nation occurred during the interim period between the First and Second Göktürk Khaganates (630-684).^[22]

[edit] Origin of modern nationality

"“The Uighurs are the people whom old Russian travellers called Sart (a name which they used for sedentary, Turkish-speaking Central Asians in general), while Western travellers called them Turki, in recognition of their language. The Chinese used to call them Ch'an-t'ou ('Turbaned Heads') but this term has been dropped, being considered derogatory, and the Chinese, using their own pronunciation, now called them Weiwuerh. As a matter of fact there was for centuries no 'national' name for them; people identified themselves with the oasis they came from, like Kashgar or Turfan.”"^[23]

Owen Lattimore, (1973) "Return to China's Northern Frontier.

The term "Uyghur" was not used to refer to any existing ethnic group in the 19th century; the "Uigur" people were referred to in the past tense, as an "ancient" people who no longer existed. For instance, a late 19th century encyclopedia titled The cyclopædia of India and of eastern and southern Asia said that "Chinese Tartary" (Xinjiang) was at the time "occupied by a mixed population of Turk, Mongol, and Kalmuk".^[24] The inhabitants of Xinjiang were not called Uyghur before 1921/1934. Westerners called the Turkic speaking Muslims of the Oases "Turki", and the Turkic Muslims in Ili were known as "Taranchi". The Russians and other foreigners used the names "Sart",^[25] "Turk", or "Turki"^[26][27] for them. These groups of peoples identified themselves by the oases they came from, not by an ethnic group.^[28] Names such as Kashgarliq to mean Kashgari were used.^[29] The Turkic people also just used "Musulman", which means "Muslim", to describe themselves.^[30][31]

Uyghur Khaganate, and reapplied it to all non-nomadic Turkic Muslims of Xinjiang,^[32] following a 19th century proposal from Russian historians that modern-day Uyghurs were descended from the Turpan Kingdom and Kara-Khanid Khanate, which had formed after the dissolution of the Uyghur Khaganate.^[33] Historians generally agree that the adoption of the term "Uyghur" is based on a decision from a 1921 conference in Tashkent, which was attended by Turkic Muslims from the Tarim Basin (Xinjiang).^[32][34][35] There, "Uyghur" was chosen by them as the name of their own ethnic group, although the delegates noted that the modern groups referred to as "Uyghur" were distinct from the old Uyghur Khaganate.^[36] According to Linda Benson, the Soviets and their client Sheng Shicai intended to foster a Uyghur nationality in order to divide the Muslim population of Xinjiang, whereas the various Turkic Muslim peoples themselves preferred to identify as "Turki", "East Turkestani", or "Muslim".^[25] According to Dru Gladney, the modern Uyghur nationality is not directly descended from the old Uyghur Khaganate, in spite of the name.^[37]

On the other hand, the ruling regime of China at that time, the Kuomintang, grouped all Muslims, including the Turkic-speaking people of Xinjiang, into the "Hui nationality".^[38][39] They generally referred to the Turkic Muslims of Xinjiang as "Chan Tou Hui" (turban-headed Muslim).^[25][40][41] Westerners traveling in Xinjiang in the 1930s, like George W. Hunter, Peter Fleming, Ella K. Maillart, and Sven Hedin all referred to the Turkic Muslims of the region not as Uyghur, but as "Turki", in their books. Use of the term "Uyghur" was unknown in Xinjiang until 1934, when the governor Sheng Shicai came to power in Xinjiang. Sheng adopted the Soviets' ethnographic classification rather than that of the Kuomintang and became the first to officially promulgate the use of the term "Uyghur" to describe the Turkic Muslims of Xinjiang.^[33][36][42] After the Communist victory, the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong continued the Soviet classification, using the term Uyghur to describe the modern ethnic group.^[25]

Another ethnic group, the Buddhist Yugur of Gansu, by contrast, have consistently been called by themselves and others the "Yellow Uyghur" (Säriq Uyghur).^[43] Scholars like Joana Breidenbach say that the Yugur's culture, language, and religion are closer to the original culture of the original Uyghur Karakorum state than is the culture of the modern Uyghur people of Xinjiang.^[44] Linguist and ethnographer S. Robert Ramsey has argued for inclusion of both the Yugur and the Salar as subgroups of Uyghur (based on similar historical roots for the Yugur and on perceived linguistic similarities for the Salar). These groups are recognized as separate ethnic groups, though, by the Chinese government.^[45]

Pan-TurkicJadidists and East Turkestan Independence activistsMuhammad Amin Bughra (Mehmet Emin) and Masud Sabri rejected the Soviet imposition of the name "Uyghur" upon the Turkic people of Xinjiang. They wanted instead the name "Turkic ethnicity" (Tujue zu in Chinese) to be applied to their people. Masud Sabri also viewed the Hui people as muslim Han chinese and separate from his own people.^[46] The names "Türk" or "Türki" in particular were demanded by Bughra as the real name for his people. He slammed Sheng Shicai for his designation of Turkic muslims into different ethnicities which could sow disunion among Turkic muslims.^[47]

In current usage, Uyghur refers to settled Turkic urban dwellers and farmers of the Tarim Basin and Ili who follow traditional Central Asian sedentary practices, as distinguished from nomadic Turkic populations in Central Asia. However, the Chinese government has also designated as "Uyghur" certain peoples with significantly divergent histories and ancestries from the main group. These include the Loplik people and the Dolan people, who are thought to be closer to the Oirat Mongols and the Kyrgyz.^[48][49]

edit] Gallery

[edit] History

Some historians believe that there is no clear and direct link between Modern Uyghurs and the old Uyghur Khaganate.^[50] According to Tang Dynasty history Xin Tangshu, the ancient Uyghurs who founded the Uyghur Khaganate dispersed after the fall of the Khaganate; some went to live amongst the Karluks, and some moved to Turpan and Gansu.^[51] Yugor, the easternmost state was the Ganzhou Kingdom (870–1036), with its capital near present-day Zhangye in the Gansu province of China. The modern Yugur people are believed to be descendants of the Old Uyghur people. The second Uyghur kingdom, the Kara-Khoja Kingdom was founded in the Turpan area with its capital in Gaochang.

In the tenth century, the Karluks, Yaghmas, Chigils and other Turkic tribes founded the Kara-Khanid Khanate, or the Karakhans (Black Khans) Dynasty, in Semirechye, Western Tian Shan, and Kashgaria, and later conquered Transoxiana. In the twelfth century, the Kara-Khitan Khanate defeated the Kara-Khanids and took over their territory, forcing the remaining Kara Khanids into vassalage.

Kara Khanid Khanate in 1000

Kara Khitai Khanate in 1200

The Mongol Empire later conquered the Kara Khitan Khanate, and the Chagatai Khanate was founded in its place. The Chagatai Khanate was a Mongol ruling khanate controlled by Chagatai Khan, second son of Genghis Khan. Chagatai's ulus, or hereditary territory, consisted of the part of the Mongol Empire extending from the Ili River (today in eastern Kazakhstan) and Kashgaria (in the western Tarim Basin) to Transoxiana (modern Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan). The area of the Chagatai Khanate were the modern Uyghurs lived came to be known as Moghulistan, which meant "land of the Mongols". The area came to be ruled by various Khanates whose Khans were descended from Chagatai Khan. Eventually the Naqshbandi Sufi Khojas usurped power from the Chagataid Khans in Kashgar. As the Buddhist Oirat Mongol Zunghar Khanate grew in power, it conquered and took control over the territoty of the Chagatai Khans. The Aqtaghlik Khojas became vassals to the Zunghars while the Qarataghlik Khojas sided with the Qing Chinese against the Zunghars and Aqtaghliks.

Chagatai Khanate (Moghulistan) in 1490

The Qing dynasty, with the support of the Uyghur Kumul Khanate and the Uyghur Qarataghlik Khojas conquered Xinjiang in the 18th century from the Zunghar Khanate and the Zunghar allied Aqtaghlik Khojas.^[52] In Beijing, a community of Uyghurs was clustered around the Mosque near the Forbidden City, having moved to Beijing in the 1700s.^[53] In the Dungan revolt of 1864, Andijani Uzbeks from the Kokand Khanate under Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg expelled Qing Dynasty officials from parts of southern Xinjiang and founded an independent Kashgaria kingdom, called Yettishar (English: "country of seven cities"). Under the leadership of Yakub Beg, it included Kashgar, Yarkand, Hotan, Aksu, Kucha, Korla, and Turpan. Large Qing Dynasty forces under Chinese General Zuo Zongtang attacked Kashgaria in 1876. After this invasion, the region, which had been known as the Xiyu special administrative area, was reorganized into a province named "Xinjiang", which when literally translated means "New Territory".

In 1912, the Qing Dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. By 1920, Pan-Turkic Islamists had become a challenge to Chinese warlord Yang Zengxin (杨增新) who controlled Siankiang. Uyghurs staged several uprisings against Chinese rule. Twice, in 1933 and 1944, the Uyghurs successfully regained their independence (backed by the Soviet Communist leader Joseph Stalin): the First East Turkestan Republic was a short-lived attempt at independence around Kashghar, and it was destroyed by Chinese Muslim army under General Ma Zhancang and Ma Fuyuan at the Battle of Kashgar (1934). The Second East Turkistan Republic was a Soviet puppet Communist state that existed from 1944 to 1949 in what is now Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.

Map of Xinjiang, the prefectures with Uyghur majority are in blue

Mao declared the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. He turned the Second East Turkistan Republic into the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, and appointed Saifuddin Azizi as the region's first Communist Party governor. Many Republican loyalists fled into exile in Turkey and Western countries. The name Xinjiang was changed to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where Uyghurs are the largest ethnic group, mostly concentrated in the southwestern Xinjiang.^[54] (see map, right)

Uyghur identity remains fragmented, as some support a Pan-Islamic vision, exemplified by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, while others support a Pan-Turkic vision, such as the East Turkestan Liberation Organization. A third group would like a "Uyghurstan" state, such as the East Turkestan independence movement. As a result, "[n]o Uyghur or East Turkestan group speaks for all Uyghurs, although it might claim to", and Uyghurs in each of these camps have committed violence against other Uyghurs who they think are too assimilated to Chinese or Russian society or are not religious enough.^[55] Mindful not to take sides, Uyghur leaders like Rebiya Kadeer mainly try to garner international support for the "rights and interests of the Uyghurs", including the right to demonstrate, although the Chinese government has accused her of orchestrating the deadly July 2009 Ürümqi riots.^[56]

[edit] Uyghurs of Taoyuan, Hunan

Around 5,000 Uyghurs live around Taoyuan County and other parts of Changde in Hunan province.^{[57][58][59][60]} They are descended from a Uyghur leader, Hala Bashi, from Turpan, sent to Hunan by the Ming Emperor in the 14th century, to crush the Miao rebels during the Miao Rebellions (Ming Dynasty).^[8][61] Along with him came Uyghur soldiers from whom the Hunan Uyghurs also descend. The 1982 census records 4,000 Uyghurs in Hunan.^[62] They have genealogies which survive 600 years later to the present day. Genealogy keeping is a Han Chinese custom which the Hunan Uyghurs adopted. These Uyghurs were given the surname Jian by the Emperor.^[63] There is some confusion as to whether they practice Islam or not. Some say that they have assimilated with the Han and do not practice Islam anymore, and only their genealogies indicate their Uyghur ancestry.^[64] Chinese news sources report that they are Muslim.^[8]

The Uyghur troops led by Hala were ordered by the Ming Emperor to crush Miao rebellions and were given titles by him. Jian is the predominant surname among the Uyghur in Changde, Hunan. Another group of Uyghur have the surname Sai. Hui and Uyghur have intermarried in the Hunan area.^[65] The Hui are descendants of Arabs and Han Chinese who intermarried, and they share the Islamic religion with the Uyghur in Hunan.^[65] It is reported that they now number around 10,000 people. The Uyghurs in Changde are not very religious, and eat pork.^[65] Older Uygurs disapprove of this, especially elders at the mosques in Changde, and they seek to draw them back to Islamic customs.^[65]

In addition to eating pork, the Uyghurs of Changde Hunan practice other Han Chinese customs, like ancestor worship at graves. Some Uyghurs from Xinjiang visit the Hunan Uyghurs out of curiosity or interest.^[65] Also, the Uyghurs of Hunan do not speak the Uyghur language, instead, they speak Chinese as their native language, and Arabic for religious reasons at the mosque.^[65]

[edit] Genetics

The Uyghurs are a population with Eastern and Western Eurasian anthropometric and genetic traits. Uyghurs are thus one of the many populations of Central Eurasia that can be considered to be genetically related to European and East Asian populations. However, various scientific studies differ on the size of each component.^[66] One study, using samples from Hetian (Hotan) only, found that Uyghurs have 60% European ancestry and 40% East Asian ancestry.^[67] A further study showed slightly greater European component (52% European) in the Uyghur population in southern Xinjiang, but slightly greater East Asian component (47% European) in the northern Uyghur population.^[68] Another study used a larger sample of individuals from a wider area, and found only about 30% European component to the admixture.^[69] A study on mitochondrial DNA (therefore the matrilineal genetic contribution) found the frequency of western Eurasian-specific haplogroup in Uyghurs to be 42.6%.^[70]

The admixture may be the result of a continuous gene flow from populations of European and Asian descent, or may be formed by a single event of admixture during a short period of time (the hybrid isolation model). If a hybrid isolation model is assumed, it can be estimated that the hypothetical admixture event occurred about 126 generations ago, or 2,520 years ago assuming 20 years per generation.^[67][71]

STRUCTURE cannot distinguish recent admixture from a cline of other origin, and these analyses cannot prove admixture in the Uyghurs; however, historical records indicate that the present Uyghurs were formed by admixture between Tocharians from the west and Orkhon Uyghurs (Wugusi-Huihu, according to present Chinese pronunciation) from the east in the 8th century CE. The Uyghur Empire was originally located in Mongolia and conquered the Tocharian tribes in Xinjiang. Tocharians such as Kroran have been shown by archaeological findings to appear phenotypically similar to northern Europeans, whereas the Orkhon Uyghur people were clearly Mongolians. The two groups of people subsequently mixed in Xinjiang to become one population, the present Uyghurs.

— ^[69]

[edit] Culture

An Uyghur mosque in Khotan.

Most Uyghurs are Sunni Muslim.^[72]

[edit] Language

The Uyghur language belongs to the Karlik Turkic (or Karluk) branch of the Turkic language family. It is closely related to Äynu, Lop, Ili Turki, the extinct languagesOld Turkic and Chagatay (the East Karluk languages), and more distantly to Uzbek (which is West Karluk).

[edit] Education

Uyghurs in China, unlike the Salar and Hui who are also mostly Muslim, generally do not oppose coeducation (grouping male and female students together).^[73] Conversely, women are generally excluded from public Uyghur Muslim life, also in contrast to Salar and Hui practice.^[72]

[edit] Literature

Most of the early Kara Khanid literary works were Islamic religious texts and histories of Turkic peoples. Among hundreds of important works surviving from that era are Qutatqu Bilik (Wisdom Of Royal Glory) by Yüsüp Has Hajip (1069–70), Mähmut Qäşqäri's Divan-i Lugat-it Türk- A Dictionary of Turkic Dialects(1072), and Ähmät Yüknäki's Atabetul Hakayik. Perhaps the most famous and best loved pieces of modern Uyghur literature are Abdurehim Otkur's Iz, Oyghanghan Zimin, Zordun Sabir's Anayurt and Ziya Samedi's (former minister of culture in Sinkiang Government in 50's) novels Mayimkhan and Mystery of the years.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Medicine

Today, traditional Uyghur medicine can still be found at street stands. Similar to other traditional medicine, diagnosis is usually made through checking the pulse, symptoms, and disease history, and then the pharmacist pounds up different dried herbs, making personalized medicines according to the prescription. Modern Uyghur medical hospitals adopted modern medical science and medicine and adopted evidence-based pharmaceutical technology to traditional medicines.

[edit] Art

Xinjiang carpet factory

[edit] Music

Muqam is the classical musical style. The 12 Muqams are the national oral epic of the Uyghurs. The muqam system developed among the Uyghur in northwest China and Central Asia over approximately the last 1500 years from the Arabic maqamat modal system that has led to many musical genres among peoples of Eurasia and North Africa. Uyghurs have local muqam systems named after the oasis towns of Xinjiang, such as Dolan, Ili, Kumul and Turpan. The most fully developed at this point is the Western Tarim region's 12 muqams, which are now a large canon of music and songs recorded from the traditional performers Turdi Akhun and Omar Akhun among others in the 1950s and edited into a more systematic system. Although the folk performers probably improvised their songs as in Turkish taksim performances, the present institutional canon is performed as fixed compositions by ensembles.

	Uyghur Pop   Menu   0:00       An example of modern Uyghur music
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang has been designated by UNESCO as part of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity.^[74]

Amannisa Khan, sometimes called Amanni Shahan, (1526–1560) is credited with collecting and thereby preserving the Twelve Muqam.^[75] Russian scholar Pantusov writes that the Uyghurs manufactured their own musical instruments; they had 62 different kinds of musical instruments and in every Uyghur home there used to be an instrument called a "dutar".

[edit] Cuisine

Uyghur pilaf (پولۇ)

Uyghur food (Uyghurche Yemekliri) is characterized by mutton, beef, camel, chicken, goose, carrots, tomatoes, onions, peppers, eggplant, celery, various dairy foods, and fruits.

Uyghur-style breakfast is tea with home-baked bread, hardened yogurt, olives, honey, raisins, and almonds. Uyghurs like to treat guests with tea, naan and fruit before the main dishes are ready.

Sangza (Uyghur: ساڭزا) are crispy and tasty fried wheat flour dough twists, a holiday specialty. Samsa (Uyghur: سامسا) are lamb pies baked using a special brick oven. Youtazi is steamed multi-layer bread. Göshnan (Uyghur: گۆشنان) are pan-grilled lamb pies. Pamirdin are baked pies with lamb, carrots, and onion inside. Xurpa is lamb soup (Uyghur: شۇرپا). Other dishes include Tohax, a different type of baked bread, and Tunurkawab.

[edit] See also

• List of Uyghurs
• Meshrep
• Uyghur timeline

[edit] References

•  This article incorporates text from The cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia: commercial, industrial and scientific, products of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, useful arts and manufactures, by Edward Balfour, a publication from 1885 now in the public domain in the United States.

• Owen Lattimore. (1973) "Return to China's Northern Frontier." The Geographical Journal, Vol. 139, No. 2 (Jun., 1973), pp. 233–242.
• Austin, Peter, ed. (2008). 1000 languages: living, endangered, and lost (illustrated ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 0520255607. Retrieved 25 March 2013. 
• Koprulu, Mehmed Fuad (2006). In Gary Leiser, Robert Dankoff. Early Mystics in Turkish Literature. Volume 2 of Routledge Sufi Series. Translated by Gary Leiser, Robert Dankoff (illustrated ed.). Psychology Press. ISBN 0415366860. Retrieved 25 March 2013. 
• C. X. George Wei, Xiaoyuan Liu, ed. (2002). Exploring Nationalisms of China: Themes and Conflicts. Volume 102 of Contributions to the Study of World History Series. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0313315124. Retrieved 25 March 2013. 
• Millward, James A. (2007). Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang (illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231139241. Retrieved 25 March 2013. 
• Dillon, Michael (2004). Xinjiang: China's Muslim Far Northwest. Routledge. ISBN 0203166647. Retrieved 25 March 2013. 
• Coene, Frederik (2009). The Caucasus - An Introduction. Volume 17 of Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series (illustrated, reprint ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0203870719. Retrieved 25 March 2013. 
• Tetley, G.E. (2008). The Ghaznavid and Seljuk Turks: Poetry as a Source for Iranian History. Volume 4 of Routledge Studies in the History of Iran and Turkey Series. Taylor & Francis US. ISBN 020389409X. Retrieved 25 March 2013. 

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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• Britannica Uighur people
• London Uyghur Ensemble Uyghur Culture and History; multimedia site-links to cultural and historical background, current news, research materials and photographs.
• Uyghur News News aggregator representing the views of Uyghur activists
• Introduction to Uyghur Culture and History Links to cultural and historical background, current news, research materials and photographs.