When is the Kingdom of Khotan shown on the map?

The border data draws the Kingdom of Khotan AD 888–1009. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.

How large was the Kingdom of Khotan?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Kingdom of Khotan covered about 303,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Central Asia · Turkic khaganates and Islam

Kingdom of Khotan

drawn on the map AD 888–1009

The Kingdom of Khotan (Chinese Yutian 于闐; Tibetan Li-yul) was an ancient Iranian Saka Buddhist kingdom on the southern branch of the Silk Road in the Tarim Basin, centered on the oasis of Khotan/Hotan (ancient capital at Yotkan, west of the modern city). It existed for over a thousand years — conventionally from c. 300 BC (foundation legend) or the 1st century BC/AD (historical record) until its conquest by the Muslim Kara-Khanid Khanate in 1006.

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Shown on the map: AD 888–1009
Peak area: 303k km²
Region: Central Asia

Overview

Origins and ethnolinguistic background

Founding legends recorded by Xuanzang and in Tibetan texts claim Khotan was founded in the 3rd century BC by exiled groups from India (followers of a son or ministers of Ashoka) and China; Xavier Tremblay argues this is a later fiction explaining Indian and Chinese influence. Historically, the Tarim Basin was inhabited by Indo-European peoples — Tocharians and Saka. The Saka (Chinese Sai) were driven from the Ili and Chu valleys by the Yuezhi migration (c. 177 BC onward) and settled at Khotan, Yarkand, Kucha, and Karasahr; Hellenistic influences (the Sampul tapestry, Greco-Bactrian-style administration) suggest some settlers arrived via the Greco-Bactrian or Indo-Greek sphere. The people spoke Khotanese Saka, an Eastern Iranian language written in Brahmi script; Gandhari Prakrit in Kharosthi was the earlier official language (to the 5th century). Royal names were Indic (the dynasty name Viśa'/Vijita, "unconquered").

Chronology and major rulers

Khotan appears in Chinese records from 125 BC; the Book of Han gives it 3,300 households and 19,300 people. It was conquered by Yarkand c. 56 AD, but King Guangde defeated Yarkand in 61 AD and thirteen kingdoms submitted; the Book of the Later Han then records 32,000 households and 83,000 people. Ban Chao secured Khotan's allegiance to the Han in 73 AD. Under the Tang, Khotan submitted in 640 and became one of the Four Garrisons of Anxi. The Tibetan Empire took it in 670; Tang recovered it in 692. After the An Lushan Rebellion, Tibet reconquered Khotan in 792, and the kingdom regained independence in 851. The greatest late kings were Viśa' Saṃbhava (r. from 912; Chinese name Li Shengtian, claiming Tang imperial descent and using the title huangdi) and his son Viśa' Śūra, who styled himself "king of kings of China" with Chinese-style seals and edicts. They intermarried with the Guiyi Circuit rulers of Dunhuang, whose Mogao caves bear Khotanese royal portraits and Khotan-funded chapels.

Economy, culture, religion

Khotan owed its wealth to irrigation from the Yurung-kash and Kara-kash rivers descending the Kunlun. It was famous for nephrite jade — exported to China since the Shang dynasty (jade from Khotan appears in Fuhao's tomb) — and for silk: the celebrated legend holds that a Chinese princess smuggled silkworm eggs in her headdress, and sericulture passed from Khotan westward to India. Carpets, felts, and cotton were other products; bilingual Sino-Kharosthi bronze coins attest the twin pull of China and India. Khotan was a great center of Mahayana Buddhism: Faxian (399) found "several tens of thousands" of mostly Mahayana monks; Xuanzang (644) praised its learning, music, and elegant dress. The Book of Zambasta is its unique original Khotanese Buddhist composition; monks like Śikṣānanda carried Buddhism to China. A small Church of the East presence is also attested.

Military, decline, fall

Khotan's late history was a long war with the Kara-Khanids after Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan's conversion to Islam in 934. Khotan briefly retook Kashgar in 970 (offering a captured dancing elephant as tribute to the Song in 971), but Yusuf Qadir Khan conquered Khotan in 1006, ending over a millennium of Buddhist kingship; a 1063 Song source already calls Khotan's ruler a "kara-khan." The conquest may have spurred the sealing of the Dunhuang library cave (Cave 17) — a widely repeated but unproven theory. The folk epic Tazkirah of the Four Sacrificed Imams preserves the war in local memory; the slain imams are venerated as saints in Altishahr today.

Legacy

Khotan's manuscripts (recovered by Aurel Stein and others at Dandan Oilik, Niya, and Dunhuang) are the principal source for Khotanese Saka language and Tarim Buddhism. By Marco Polo's visit (1271–1275) the population was fully Muslim, and Khotan remains a byword for the Islamization of the Tarim Basin.

Common questions

What was the Kingdom of Khotan?: The Kingdom of Khotan (Chinese Yutian 于闐; Tibetan Li-yul) was an ancient Iranian Saka Buddhist kingdom on the southern branch of the Silk Road in the Tarim Basin, centered on the oasis of Khotan/Hotan (ancient capital at Yotkan, west of the modern city). It existed for over a thousand years — conventionally from c. 300 BC (foundation legend) or the 1st century BC/AD (historical record) until its conquest by the Muslim Kara-Khanid Khanate in 1006.
When is the Kingdom of Khotan shown on the map?: The border data draws the Kingdom of Khotan AD 888–1009. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
How large was the Kingdom of Khotan?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Kingdom of Khotan covered about 303,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Who ruled the Kingdom of Khotan?: Khotan appears in Chinese records from 125 BC; the Book of Han gives it 3,300 households and 19,300 people. It was conquered by Yarkand c. 56 AD, but King Guangde defeated Yarkand in 61 AD and thirteen kingdoms submitted; the Book of the Later Han then records 32,000 households and 83,000 people.
How did the Kingdom of Khotan end?: Khotan's late history was a long war with the Kara-Khanids after Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan's conversion to Islam in 934. Khotan briefly retook Kashgar in 970 (offering a captured dancing elephant as tribute to the Song in 971), but Yusuf Qadir Khan conquered Khotan in 1006, ending over a millennium of Buddhist kingship; a 1063 Song source already calls Khotan's ruler a "kara-khan."
What did the economy and culture of the Kingdom of Khotan rest on?: Khotan owed its wealth to irrigation from the Yurung-kash and Kara-kash rivers descending the Kunlun. It was famous for nephrite jade — exported to China since the Shang dynasty (jade from Khotan appears in Fuhao's tomb) — and for silk: the celebrated legend holds that a Chinese princess smuggled silkworm eggs in her headdress, and sericulture passed from Khotan westward to India.
Why does the Kingdom of Khotan still matter?: Khotan's manuscripts (recovered by Aurel Stein and others at Dandan Oilik, Niya, and Dunhuang) are the principal source for Khotanese Saka language and Tarim Buddhism. By Marco Polo's visit (1271–1275) the population was fully Muslim, and Khotan remains a byword for the Islamization of the Tarim Basin.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia: Kingdom of Khotan en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Khotan
Wikipedia: Kara-Khanid Khanate en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara-Khanid_Khanate

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 27 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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