Kara-Khoja Kingdom
Kingdom
← 856–1335 →
Capital		Gaochang, Beshbalik
Religion		Buddhism, Manichaeism
Government		Monarchy
History
-	Established	856
-	Disestablished	1335

The Kingdom of Qocho, also called the Idiqut state ("Holy Wealth, Glory"), was an Uyghur state created during AD 856–866, based in the cities of Qocho (also called Kara-Khoja) near Turpan, Beshbalik , Kumul, and Kucha. Qocho serves as the winter capital with Beshbalik its summer capital. It was also called Uyghuristan in its later period.

The kingdom was a Buddhist state, with state-sponsored Buddhism and Manichaeism, and it can be considered the center of Uyghur culture. The Uyghurs sponsored the construction of many of the temple caves in nearby Bezeklik. They abandoned their old alphabet and adopted the scripts of the local population, which later came to be known as the Uyghur script.^[1] The Idiquts (title of the Karakhoja rulers) ruled independently until they become a vassal state of the Kara-Khitans. In 1209, the Kara-Khoja ruler Idiqut Barchuq declared his allegiance to the Mongols under Genghis Khan, and the kingdom existed as a vassal state until 1335. After submitting to the Mongols, the Uyghurs went into the service of the Mongol rulers as bureaucrats, providing the expertise that the initially illiterate nomads lacked.^[2] Qocho was finally conquered by the Chaghataid Mongols in the 1390s.

See also [link]

• History of the Uyghur people
• History of Xinjiang

References [link]