Meaning of Altishahr | Babel Free

Definitions

The Tarim Basin region, an endorheic basin and cultural region of the Xinjiang autonomous region, China.

historical

Examples

“Chinese scholars organise Altishahr's history by the dynasties, even during those dynasties when they had no control over it. They treat the region as a border area of the motherland, instead of a place with its own history and traditions. "This approach has doomed standard histories in the eyes of most [Uygurs]," Thum writes. Altishahr did not become part of the Chinese empire until 1759, when the emperor, Qianlong, sent an enormous army to conquer the Dzungar Mongols who then controlled the region. The Dzungar were defeated, leaving the Qing empire in control of Altishahr.”

“The Qing conquests did not end with the victory of the Jungars. The Qianlong emperor sought to make his victory so decisive that any Jungars who may have escaped extermination would not even be able to find a foothold in their former territory from which they could mount a recovery. With this in mind, the Qing next turned attention southward to Altishahr, a Jungar possession that, at 350,000 square miles, is more than twice the size of modern Uzbekistan and consisted of the six oases towns of modern Xinjiang—usually Kashgar, Yarkand, Aqsu, Yangi Hisar, Turfan, and Khotan, though other towns are sometimes included in the list of “six,” and in Turkic sources the region is often referred to as Yetishahr, or the “Seven Cities” region.”

CEFR level