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832 UYGUR
the west Siberian plain. Although the Toghuz-oghuz eventually triumphed in
552, the steppe empire they built was never successful in making a lasting
transition from steppe-nomadic military strength to urban-centered political
dominance.
Through the first (552-630) and second (680-744) Turkic imperial periods,
the Uygur were erratic allies at best, often siding with enemies of the ruling
Turkic line as it suited their interests. Finally, the Uygur seized the opportunity
coincident with the failure of the ruling dynasty in 743 to establish themselves
as rulers of the Mongol steppe in 744.
Islam began to make inroads in the tenth century, eventually becoming the
religion of almost all the Turkic peoples of Russian and Chinese Turkestan. For
all of their history as Muslims, the Uygur have been Sunni and extremely devout.
As with almost all the Turks of Central Asia, the Uygur have also been heavily
influenced by the Sufi orders. That influence reached a peak during the Timurid
era in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the considerable
weight of Timur's imperial house was thrown to support a myriad of dervish
orders, especially the Naqshbandi.
The Uygur were hardly distinguishable from all other Turkic peoples of eastern
inner Asia. They were shamanist in the beginning, later Buddhist and finally,
after 760, Manichaean, clearly indicating their eclectic search for a religion. Not
until 840, when they were expelled from Mongolia, did the Uygur take up
residence in present-day Chinese Turkestan. By the time of the Mongol conquest
of the thirteenth century, the Uygur were almost entirely urban and agricultural
with a well-developed Muslim civilization. In the twentieth century the Uygur
remained devout Muslims until the advent of communism. It has become difficult
to know how firm that commitment has held or how seriously it has been
challenged.
Larry W. Moses
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Bacon, Elizabeth E. Central Asia Under Russian Rule. Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1966.
Krader, Lawrence. Peoples of Central Asia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1963.
Lattimore, Owen. Pivot of Asia. Boston: Little, Brown, 1950.
. Studies in Frontier History: Collected Papers, 1928-1958. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1962.
Lu, David (Ta-Wei). Moslems in China Today. Hong Kong: International Studies Group,
1964.
Mackerras, Colin, ed. and trans. The Uighur Empire According to the T'ang Dynastic
Histories: A Study in Sino-Uighur Relations. Newton, Conn.: The East and West
Shop, 1973.
Moslem Unrest in China. Hong Kong: Union Press, 1958.