History
A form of the name Cathai is attested in a Uyghur Manichaean document circa 1000. Soon the name became known in Muslim Central Asia as well: when in 1026, the Ghaznavid court (in Ghazna, in today's Afghanistan) was visited by envoys from the Liao ruler, he was described as a "Qatā Khan", i.e. the ruler of Qatā; Qatā or Qitā appears in writings of al-Biruni and Abu Said Gardezi in the following decades. The Persian scholar and administrator Nizam al-Mulk (1018–1092) mentions Khita and China in his Book on the Administration of the State, apparently as two separate countries (presumably, referring to the Liao and Song Empires, respectively).
The name's currency in the Muslim world survived the replacement of the Khitan Liao Dynasty with the Jurchen Jin Dynasty in the early 12th century. When describing the fall of the Jin Empire to the Mongols (1234), Persian history described the conquered country as Khitāy or Djerdaj Khitāy(i.e., "Jurchen Cathay"). The Mongols themselves, in their Secret History (13th century) talk of both Khitans and Kara-Khitans.
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