Kashgar

Since ancient times Kashgar was an oasis city on the Silk Road routes leading to the Pamirs. In the 10th century the Karakhanids who ruled here adopted Islam: according to tradition, Satuq Bughra Khan was the first Turkic ruler to become Muslim. The city became one of the Karakhanid capitals and a centre of Turkic-Islamic culture.

Yusuf Balasaguni completed the Kutadgu Bilig, the first great literary work in Turkic, in Kashgar in 1069-1070 and presented it to the khan. Mahmud al-Kashgari wrote his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk in Baghdad, but took his name from this city. Today Kashgar is in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is one of the largest Uyghur cities.