Altishahr

Altishahr (Traditional spelling: آلتی شهر; Uyghur Latin alphabet: Altä-shähär, Modern Uyghur alphabet: ئالتە شەھەر) 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.

Etymology

Altishahr is derived from the Turkic words alti, which means six, and shahr, for cities. The term was used by Turkic-speaking inhabitants of the Tarim Basin in the 18th and 19th century. Other local words for the region included Dorben Shahr, the "four cities" and Yeti Shahr, the "seven cities".

Altishahr was adopted by some Western sources in the 19th century. Another Western term for the same region is Kashgaria. Qing sources refer to the region primarily as Nanlu or the Southern Circuit. Other Qing terms for the region include Huijiang (the "Muslim Frontier"), Huibu (the "Muslim Tribal Area), and Bacheng (the "Eight Cities").