Uygur

Uygur, also Uighur, Turkic people inhabiting northwestern China and Kazakhstan; also, the language spoken by these people, belonging to the Turkic group of the Altaic languages. According to ancient records, the Uygur, known then as the Yuechi, allied themselves in the 7th century with the Tang (T’ang) dynasty of China. In 744 the Uygur took Mongolia, establishing their capital near what is today the ruined city of Karakorum, Mongolia. Driven out of Mongolia in 840 by the Kirgiz, a native people, the Uygur founded two kingdoms in northwest China, one in Gansu (Kan-su) Province and the other in the eastern part of Xinjiang (Sinkiang) Province. The latter kingdom fell to the Mongols in the 13th century. Currently, the Uygur constitute a majority of the population of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. They are largely Muslims, although in the past they have practiced Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Christianity. Traditionally they have been both nomadic and agricultural.