| The Tang Dynasty & The Khanates |
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The Tang Dynasty, established in 618 AD, was one of the most expansionist dynasties in Chinese history. Beginning in the 620's and 630's, the Tang Dynasty conducted a series of expeditions against the Turks, which eventually resulted in the forced surrender of the western Turks in 657 AD. The region of Xinjiang was placed under the Anxi Protectorate, but the protectorate did not outlast the decline of the Tang Dynasty in the 8th century.
Imperial grounds of the Tang Dynasty. Photo courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh.
During the Anshi Rebellion, Tibet invaded China from the regions of Xinjiang to Yunnan, and sacked the Tang capital in 763 AD. Tibet took control of southern Xinjiang by the end of the century. Simultaneously, the Uyghur Khaganate seized control of northern Xinjiang, in addition to the rest of Central Asia and Mongolia. In the mid-9th
century, both Tibet and the Uyghur Khaganate declined. Consequently,
the region became fragmented. During the 10th and 11th centuries,
the Kara-Khanid Khanate controlled western Xinjiang, while branches of
the Uyghurs established themselves in central Xinjiang. In 1132, remnants
of the Khitan Empire from Manchura entered Xinjiang; they were experiencing
the onslaught of the Jurchens. These remnants of the Khitan Empire established
an exile regime called the Kara-Khitan Khanate, that unified the region
of Xinjiang over the next century.
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