Tarim Basin - History

History

It is speculated that the Tarim Basin may be one of the last places in Asia to have become inhabited: It is surrounded by mountains and irrigation technologies might have been necessary.

The Northern Silk Road on one route bypassed the Tarim Basin north of the Tian Shan mountains and traversed it on three oases-dependent routes: One north of the Taklamakan Desert, one south, and a middle one connecting both through the Lop Nor region.

  • The northern Tarim route ran from Kashgar over Aksu, Kucha, Korla, through the Iron Gate Pass, over Karasahr, Jiaohe, Turpan, Gaochang and Kumul to Anxi.
  • The southern Tarim route ran from Kashgar over Yarkant, Karghalik, Pishan, Khotan, Keriya, Niya, Qarqan, Qarkilik, Miran and Dunhuang to Anxi.
  • The middle Tarim route, allowing the shortest possible itinerary of all four routes, connected Korla on the northern Tarim route over Loulan across the Lop Nor region with Dunhuang on the southern Tarim route. The Lop Nor region became uninhabitable in the 4th century and the middle route has been deserted since the 6th century.

The Tocharian languages were once spoken in the Tarim Basin. They were the easternmost of the Indo-European languages, and may be related to the "Yuezhi" (Chinese 月氏; Wade-Giles: Yüeh-Chih).

The Han Chinese wrested control of the Tarim Basin from the Xiongnu at the end of the 1st century under the leadership of Gen. Ban Chao (32–102 CE).

The powerful Kushans expanded back into the Tarim Basin in the 1st–2nd centuries CE, where they established a kingdom in Kashgar and competed for control of the area with nomads and Chinese forces. They introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Buddhism, playing a central role in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to Eastern Asia.

Lop Nur is the site of the bronze-age Xiaohe Tomb complex from which more than 30 well-preserved mummies have been excavated. It is now a nuclear test site for the People's Republic of China.

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