Yarkand was an important trade city along the Silk Road since its establishment under the Chinese Han Dynasty in the first century C.E. It was therefore a very desirable conquest, and passed hands from dynasty to dynasty for centuries. By the eleventh century, Muslims had taken control of Yarkand from the Kashgars, but it would not last long.

Barely 200 years later, Genghis Khan easily subdued the Muslim rulers and added Yarkand to his growing empire. Unlike his other conquests, however, Genghis Khan did not destroy the city, opting instead to retain its economic importance. After his death, Yarkand was inherited by Genghis Khan’s son Chaggatai, along with Kashgaria and Transoxania. Chaggatai turned Yarkand into his capital base due to its central location between his inheritance and the Chinese heartland.

After Chaggatai’s death, the region passed to his children as part of the Chaggatai Khanate. It was under the rule of Chaggatai’s son Kaidu that Marco Polo visited the city, and remarked that ” the province is only five days’ journey in extent. The inhabitants follow the law of Mahomet [Mohammad], and there are also some Nestorian Christians. They are subject to the Great Khan’s nephew. It is amply stocked with the means of life, especially cotton.”

Today, Yarkand is still stocked with the means of life and cotton. It is now a predominantly Uyghur settlement. The irrigated oasis farmland produces cotton, wheat, corn, fruits, and nuts, while sheep graze in the nearby highlands. It is also rich in natural resources, including  petroleum, natural gas, gold, copper, lead, granite, and coal.

Tombs of Yarkand kings in the Royal cemetery. Note that even though the inscriptions use Arabic letters, they are actually written in the local Uyghur language.