Kingdom of Khotan

The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhist kingdom that was located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim basin. (The area lies in present day Xinjiang, China.) The ancient city of Khotan, the kingdom's capital, was originally located to the west of modern day Khotan at Yotkan. The Chinese (pinyin) name is Hetian (Chinese: 和田). The name Hotan is also used. From the Han Dynasty until at least the Tang Dynasty it was known in Chinese as Yutian (Chinese: 于闐, 于窴, or 於闐). The kingdom existed for over a thousand years until it was ended by Muslim invaders in 1006.