Altishahr

Altishahr ('six cities') is a historical name for the oasis region of the western and southern Tarim Basin, in present-day Xinjiang, which included Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, Aksu and other cities. Its Turkic-speaking Muslim population lived from irrigated farming and caravan trade. Ruled by the Chagatai khans and then by the Khoja religious leaders, it paid tribute to the Dzungars from 1680 and was conquered by the Qing in 1759.