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58-427: An oasis is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert. Oasis , OASIS , or The Oasis may also refer to: Oasis The word oasis came into English from Latin : oasis , from Ancient Greek : ὄασις , óasis , which in turn is a direct borrowing from Demotic Egyptian . The word for oasis in the latter-attested Coptic language (the descendant of Demotic Egyptian) is wahe or ouahe which means

116-554: A conflict with the Ming China started over the issues of tribute trade : Turpanians benefited from sending "tribute missions" to China, which allowed them to receive valuable gifts from the Ming emperors and to do plenty of trading on the side; the Chinese, however, felt that receiving and entertaining these missions was just too expensive. (Muslim envoys to the early Ming China were impressed by

174-471: A "central pool of open water surrounded by a ring of water-dependent shrubs and trees…which are in turn encircled by an outlying transition zone to desert plants." Rain showers provide subterranean water to sustain natural oases, such as the Tuat . Substrata of impermeable rock and stone can trap water and retain it in pockets, or on long faulting subsurface ridges or volcanic dikes water can collect and percolate to

232-453: A "dwelling place". Oasis in Arabic is wāḥa ( Arabic : واحة ). Oases develop in " hydrologically favored" locations that have attributes such as a high water table , seasonal lakes, or blockaded wadis . Oases are made when sources of freshwater, such as underground rivers or aquifers , irrigate the surface naturally or via man-made wells. The presence of water on the surface or underground

290-671: A collection of some 900 Christian manuscripts dating to the ninth to the twelfth centuries was found by the German Turfan expeditions at a monastery site at Turfan. The Uyghurs established a Kingdom in the Turpan region with its capital in Gaochang or Kara-Khoja. The kingdom was known as the Uyghuria Idikut state or Kara-Khoja Kingdom that lasted from 856 to 1389 AD. The Uyghurs were Manichaean but later converted to Buddhism and funded

348-626: A history of commerce and trade along the Silk Road already centuries old; it had many inns catering to merchants and other travelers, while numerous brothels are recorded in Kucha and Khotan . According to Valerie Hansen, even before the Tang conquest, Han ethnic presence was already so extensive that the cultural alignment of the city led to Turpan's name in the Sogdian language becoming known as "Chinatown" or "Town of

406-408: A mile (1.6 km) to the west, a Turk town of "probably" 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants. The town (presumably the "Turk town") had four gateways, one for each of the cardinal directions, of solid brickwork and massive wooden doors plated with iron and covered by a semicircular bastion. The well-kept walls were of mud and about 35 ft (10.7 m) tall and 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m) thick, with loopholes at

464-416: A number of cognate names. Turpan or Turfan/Tulufan is one such example. The original name of the city is unknown. The form Turfan, while older than Turpan, was not used until the middle of the 2nd millennium CE and its use became widespread only in the post-Mongol period. Turpan has long been the centre of a fertile oasis (with water provided by the karez canal system) and an important trade centre. It

522-807: A particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila , Ghadames and Kufra , situated in modern-day Libya , have at various times been vital to both north–south and east–west trade in the Sahara Desert . The location of oases also informed the Darb El Arba'īn trade route from Sudan to Egypt, as well as the caravan route from the Niger River to Tangier , Morocco. The Silk Road "traced its course from water hole to water hole, relying on oasis communities such as Turpan in China and Samarkand in Uzbekistan." According to

580-481: A population of 693,988 (2020). The historical center of the prefectural area has shifted a number of times, from Yar-Khoto (Jiaohe, 10 km or 6.2 mi to the west of modern Turpan) to Qocho (Gaochang, 30 km or 19 mi to the southeast of Turpan) and to Turpan itself. Historically, many settlements in the Tarim Basin , being situated between Chinese, Turkic, Mongolian, and Persian language users, have

638-723: A separate vassal kingdom of the Khaganate. Kan was dependent on Rouran backing. Yicheng and Shougui were the last two kings of the Chinese Kan family to rule Gaochang. At this time the Gaoche was rising to challenge power of the Rouran in the Tarim Basin . The Gaoche king Afuzhiluo killed King Kan Shougui, who was the nephew of Kan Bozhou. and appointed a Han from Dunhuang , named Zhang Mengming (張孟明), as his own vassal King of Gaochang. Gaochang thus passed under Gaoche rule. Later, Zhang Mengming

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696-411: A shovel is needed. Wells may or may not be equipped with pumps. Frequently the pumps are broken and useless, and a rope and bucket are then necessary to obtain water. Most of the wells in this region are less than 100 feet deep, but some are deeper, and 100 feet of rope is not too much to provide. As a rule the rope and bucket at a well, if they were ever provided, soon disappear, and one should never trust

754-480: Is integrated into its desert environment through an often close association with nomadic transhumant livestock farming (very often pastoral and sedentary populations are clearly distinguished). The fertility of the oasis soil is restored by "cyclic organic inputs of animal origin." In summary, an oasis palm grove is a highly anthropized and irrigated area that supports a traditionally intensive and polyculture-based agriculture. Responding to environmental constraints,

812-566: Is necessary and the local or regional management of this essential resource is strategic, but not sufficient to create such areas: continuous human work and know-how (a technical and social culture) are essential to maintain such ecosystems. Some of the possible human contributions to maintaining an oasis include digging and maintaining wells, digging and maintaining canals, and continuously removing opportunistic plants that threaten to gorge themselves on water and fertility needed to maintain human and animal food supplies. Stereotypically, an oasis has

870-423: Is the date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera L. ), which forms the upper layer . These palm trees provide shade for smaller understory trees like apricots , dates , figs , olives , and peach trees, which form the middle layer. Market-garden vegetables, some cereals (such as sorghum , barley , millet , and wheat ), and/or mixed animal fodder , are grown in the bottom layer where there is more moisture. The oasis

928-719: The Northern Liang , led by Juqu Wuhui and Juqu Anzhou , fled to Gaochang where they would hold onto power until 460 when they were conquered by the Rouran Khaganate . At the time of its conquest by the Rouran Khaganate, there were more than ten thousand Han Chinese households in Gaochang. The Rouran Khaganate, which was based in Mongolia, appointed a Han Chinese named Kan Bozhou to rule as King of Gaochang in 460, and it became

986-815: The Tang Code forbade commoners to be sold as slaves. The Tang dynasty became weakened considerably due to the An Lushan Rebellion , and the Tibetans took the opportunity to expand into Gansu and the Western Regions . The Tibetans took control of Turfan in 792. Clothing for corpses was made out of discarded, used paper in Turfan which is why the Astana graveyard is a source of a plethora of texts. Seventh or 8th century dumplings and wontons were found in Turfan. In 803,

1044-612: The Timurid envoy Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh , who passed through Turpan on the way from Herat to Beijing , reported that many of the city's residents were " infidels ". He visited a "very large and beautiful" temple with a statue of Shakyamuni ; in one of the versions of his account it was also claimed that many Turpanians " worshipped the cross ". The Moghul ruler of Turpan Yunus Khan , also known as Ḥājjī 'Ali (ruled 1462–1478), unified Moghulistan (roughly corresponding to today's Eastern Xinjiang) under his authority in 1472. Around that time,

1102-657: The Uyghurs of the Uyghur Khaganate seized Turfan from the Tibetans. The Uyghur Khaganate however was destroyed by the Kirghiz and its capital Ordu-Baliq in Mongolia sacked in 840. The defeat resulted in the mass movement of the Uyghurs out of Mongolia and their dispersal into Gansu and Central Asia, and many joined other Uyghurs already present in Turfan. In the early twentieth century,

1160-561: The Western Desert of Egypt ( Kharga , Dakhla , Farafra , Baharyia , and Siwa ) once had "flowing spring and wells" but due to the decline of groundwater heads because of overuse for land reclamation projects those water sources are no more and the oases suffer as a result. Morocco has lost two-thirds of its oasis habitat over the last 100 years due to heat, drought, and water scarcity . The Ferkla Oases in Morocco once drew on water from

1218-478: The 5th century AD, the capital of this kingdom was Jiaohe (modern Yarghul 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) west of Turpan). Many Han Chinese along with Sogdians settled in Turfan during the post Han dynasty era. The Chinese character dominated Turfan in the eyes of the Sogdians. Kuchean speakers made up the original inhabitants before the Chinese and Sogdian influx. The oldest evidence of the use of Chinese characters

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1276-531: The 9th century, increasingly from the Chinese. Many of the Uyghur documents and fragments of Buddhist scriptures edited to date include didactic texts ( sutras ) and philosophical works (the abhidharma ). In contrast to the other Buddhist contents, the monastic discipline texts (the vinaya ) did not seem to be translated, but rather taught and studied in Sanskrit. The conversion of the local Buddhist population to Islam

1334-608: The Chinese". As late as the tenth century, the Persian source Hudud Al-Alam continued to refer to the town as Chīnanjkanth (Chinese town). In Astana Cemetery , a contract written in Sogdian detailing the sale of a Sogdian girl to a Chinese man was discovered dated to 639 AD. Individual slaves were common among silk route houses; early documents recorded an increase in the selling of slaves in Turpan. Twenty-one 7th-century marriage contracts were found that showed, where one Sogdian spouse

1392-480: The Ferkla, Sat and Tangarfa Rivers but they are now dry but for a few days a year. A 1920 USGS publication about watering holes in the deserts of California and Arizona gave this advice for travelers seeking oases: The usual watering places are springs or wells. Springs are frequently clogged with gravel or rubbish or sometimes even with the bodies of dead animals, and it may be necessary to clean them out. For this work

1450-710: The Ming dynasty imposed an economic blockade on Turfan and kicked out all the Uyghurs from Gansu. It became so harsh for Turfan that Ahmed left. Ahmed's son Mansur succeeded him and took over Hami in 1517. These conflicts were called the Ming–Turpan conflict . Several times, after occupying Hami, Mansur tried to attack China in 1524 with 20,000 men, but was beaten by Chinese forces. The Turpan kingdom under Mansur, in alliance with Oirat Mongols , tried to raid Suzhou in Gansu in 1528, but were severely defeated by Ming Chinese forces and suffered heavy casualties. The Chinese refused to lift

1508-531: The Oirat Mongol Henshen and holding it for a while, until Ali was repulsed by the Ming dynasty into Turfan. He reoccupied Hami after Ming left. Henshen's Mongols recaptured Hami twice in 1482 and 1483, but the son of Ali, Ahmad Alaq , who ruled Eastern Moghulistan or Turpan Khanate , reconquered it in 1493 and captured the Hami leader and the resident of China in Hami (Hami was a vassal state to Ming). In response,

1566-882: The Syrian . Manichaean texts survive in Middle Persian, Parthian, Sogdian and Uyghur; the Sogdian and Uyghur documents show a notable adaptation to Buddhism, but there is also evidence of a reverse influence. Important parts of the Gospel of Mani were found here, for example. Also, parts of the Arzhang (Book of Pictures), one of the holy books of Manichaeism were discovered. Most of the Buddhist texts survive in only fragmentary form. There are several Indian Sanskrit texts from various schools of Mahayana and Hinayana , Uyghur texts that are mostly translations from Sanskrit, Tocharian and, starting in

1624-575: The Tarim Basin by the 7th century AD and for the next three centuries the Tibetan Empire , the Tang dynasty, and the Turks fought over dominion of the Tarim Basin . Sogdians and Chinese engaged in extensive commercial activities with each other under Tang rule. The Sogdians were mostly Mazdaist at this time. The Turpan region was renamed Xi Prefecture ( 西州 ) when the Tang conquered it in 640 AD, had

1682-484: The Turfan fragments. They comprise a collection of over 40,000 manuscripts and manuscript fragments in 16 different languages and 26 different typefaces in different book forms. They are in the custody of the Berlin State Library where their study continues. These writings deal with Buddhist as well as Christian-Nestorian, Manichaean and secular contents. The approximately 8,000 Old Turkic Buddhist texts make up

1740-807: The United Nations, "Oases are at the very heart of the overall development of peri-Saharan countries due to their geographical location and the fact they are preferred migration routes in times of famine or insecurity in the region." Oases in Oman , on the Arabian Peninsula near the Persian Gulf , vary somewhat from the Saharan form. While still located in an arid or semi-arid zone with a date palm overstory, these oases are usually located below plateaus and "watered either by springs or by aflaj , tunnel systems dug into

1798-540: The chance of finding them there. Open wells are sometimes contaminated in the same way as springs and need to be cleaned out, particularly in little-frequented places where they are unused for months at a time. Turpan Turpan ( Uyghur : تۇرپان ), generally known in English as Turfan ( Chinese : 吐鲁番 ), is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang , China . It has an area of 69,759 km (26,934 sq mi) and

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1856-435: The city [ medina ] or village [ ksar ] with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system." The location of oases has been of critical importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas; caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water and food can be replenished. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on

1914-723: The construction of cave temples in the Bezeklik Caves . The Uyghurs formed an alliance with the rulers of Dunhuang . The Uyghur state later became a vassal state of the Kara-Khitans and then as a vassal of the Mongol Empire . This Kingdom was led by the Idikuts or Saint Spiritual Rulers. The last Idikut left Turpan area in 1284 for Kumul and then Gansu to seek protection of the Yuan dynasty , but local Uyghur Buddhist rulers still held power until

1972-509: The dull bluish or gray green of the feathery crowns of foliage. It is small wonder that a whole folklore of poetic legends and proverbs has grown up around the date palm in the regions where it flourishes. Many historic oases have struggled with drought and inadequate maintenance. According to a United Nations report on the future of oases in the Sahara and Sahel , "Increasingly   ... oases are subject to various pressures, heavily influenced by

2030-412: The economic blockade and restrictions that had led to the battles and continued restricting Turpan's tribute and trade with China. Turfan also annexed Hami . The Imin mosque of Turfan was built in 1779. Francis Younghusband visited Turpan in 1887 on his overland journey from Beijing to India. He said it consisted of two walled towns, a Chinese one with a population of no more than 5,000 and, about

2088-503: The effects of climate change , decreasing groundwater levels and a gradual loss of cultural heritage due to a fading historical memory concerning traditional water management techniques. These natural pressures are compounded by demographic pressures and the introduction of modern water pumping techniques that can disrupt traditional resource management schemes, particularly in the North Saharan oases." For example, five historic oases in

2146-649: The garden resembles a tropical jungle. Very beautiful are these gardens in the spring, when the apricot and peach trees are in blossom here and there among the palms and the figs and vines are putting forth their leaves. In autumn, when the dates are ripening, the color effects, especially when the tops of the palms are lit up by the last rays of the setting sun, are something that once seen can never be forgotten. The great clusters of fruit, displaying every tint from bright yellow, through orange, vermilion, and maroon, to plum purple and chestnut brown, with their brilliant yellow or rich orange ivory-like stalks, contrast superbly with

2204-607: The ground or carved into the rock to tap underground aquifers." This rainwater harvesting system "never developed a serious salinity problem." In the drylands of southwestern North America, there is a habitat form called Palm Oasis (alternately Palm Series or Oasis Scrub Woodland) that has the native California fan palm as the overstory species. These Palm Oases can be found in California , Arizona , Baja California , and Sonora . People who live in an oasis must manage land and water use carefully. The most important plant in an oasis

2262-842: The invasion by the Moghul Khizr Khoja in 1389. German scientists conducted archaeological expeditions, known as the German Turfan expeditions , at the beginning of the 20th century (between 1902 and 1914). They discovered paintings and other art treasures that were transported to the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin . Artifacts of Manichaean and Buddhist provenance were also found in Turfan. During World War II, many of these artifacts were destroyed or looted. Uyghur , Persian , Sogdian and Syriac documents have been found in Turfan. Turfan also has documents in Middle Persian . All these are known as

2320-624: The largest part of this. A whole series of Sogdian Buddhist scriptures were found in Turpan (and also in Dunhuang ), but these date from the Tang dynasty (618–907) and are translations from Chinese. Earlier Sogdian Buddhist texts could not be found. Christian texts exist mainly in Syriac and Sogdian, but also as Syriac-Sogdian bilinguals (bilingual texts), as well as some Turkish-Nestorian fragments. They include fragments of Sogdian translations of works by Isaac

2378-544: The lavish reception offered to them along their route through China, from Suzhou to Beijing , such as described by Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh in 1420–1421. ) Yunus Khan was irritated by the restrictions on the frequency and size of Turpanian missions (no more than one mission in 5 years, with no more than 10 members) imposed by the Ming government in 1465 and by the Ming's refusal to bestow sufficiently luxurious gifts on his envoys (1469). Accordingly, in 1473 he went to war against China, and succeeded in capturing Hami in 1473 from

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2436-688: The potential evapotranspiration of the areas was reduced by 30 to 50 percent within the oasis." The keystone date palm trees are "a main income source and staple food for local populations in many countries in which they are cultivated, and have played significant roles in the economy, society, and environment of those countries." Challenges for date palm oasis polycultures include "low rainfall, high temperatures, water resources often high in salt content, and high incidence of pests." The oases consist of almost unbroken forests of date palms, divided up into many gardens that are separated by mud walls and intersected by innumerable irrigation and drainage ditches… In

2494-477: The prefecture. Turpan directly controls one district and two counties . Turpan is located about 150 km (93 mi) southeast of Ürümqi , Xinjiang's capital, in a mountain basin, on the northern side of the Turpan Depression , at an elevation of 30 m (98 ft) above sea level. Outside of Turpan is a small volcanic cone, the Turfan volcano, that is said to have erupted in 1120 as described in

2552-588: The region, after a Chinese commander tried to forcibly marry a local girl. The Chinese responded by indiscriminately attacking Muslims; this turned the entire countryside against the Chinese administration and the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Tungans joined the rebels. On 19 August 1981, Deng Xiaoping conducted an inspection in Turpan Prefecture. On 31 March 1995, Turpan and Dunhuang became sister cities. According to reports from Radio Free Asia , as of 2020, there were eight Xinjiang internment camps in

2610-399: The shade of the palms are grown many other kinds of fruit trees—oranges, olives, figs, apricots, peaches, pomegranates, and jujubes—interlaced with large grape vines that often hang in festoons from the palm trunks. Beneath the trees are small plots of garden vegetables, barley, and alfalfa. Neither date palms nor other trees are planted with any regularity, and the growth is often so dense that

2668-496: The supreme power in the region, the Qu dynasty of Gaochang became vassals of the Göktürks. While the material civilization of Kucha to its west in this period remained chiefly Indo-Iranian in character, in Gaochang it gradually merged into the Tang aesthetics. Qu Wentai, King of Gaochang, was a main patron of the Tang pilgrim and traveller Xuanzang . The Tang dynasty had reconquered

2726-468: The surface. Any incidence of water is then used by migrating birds , which also pass seeds with their droppings which will grow at the water's edge forming an oasis. It can also be used to plant crops. Oases in the Middle East and North Africa cover about 1,000,000 hectares (10,000 km ), however, they support the livelihood of about 10 million inhabitants. The stark ratio of oasis to desert land in

2784-419: The surrounding fields. Turpan grapes impressed other travelers to the region as well. The 19th-century Russian explorer Grigory Grum-Grshimailo , thought the local raisins may be "the best in the world" and noted the buildings of a "perfectly peculiar design" used for drying them called chunche . Mongols, Chinese and Chantos all lived in Turfan during this period. In 1931, a Uyghur rebellion broke out in

2842-426: The three strata create what is called the " oasis effect ". The three layers and all their interaction points create a variety of combinations of "horizontal wind speed, relative air temperature and relative air humidity." The plantings—through a virtuous cycle of wind reduction, increased shade and evapotranspiration —create a microclimate favorable to crops; "measurements taken in different oases have showed that

2900-442: The top. There was a level space about 15 yards (14 m) wide outside the main walls surrounded by a musketry wall about 8 ft (2.4 m) high, with a ditch around it some 12 ft (3.7 m) deep and 20 ft (6 m) wide. There were drumtowers over the gateways, small square towers at the corners and two small square bastions between the corners and the gateways, "two to each front". Wheat, cotton, poppies, melons and grapes were grown in

2958-624: The water into individual plots, soaking the soil." Oases often have human histories that are measured in millennia. Archeological digs at Ein Gedi in the Dead Sea Valley have found evidence of settlement dating to 6,000 BC. Al-Ahsa on the Arabian Peninsula shows evidence of human residence dating to the Neolithic . Anthropologically , the oasis is "an area of sedentary life, which associates

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3016-400: The world means that the oasis ecosystem is "relatively minute, rare and precious." There are 90 “major oases” within the Sahara Desert. Some of their fertility may derive from irrigation systems called foggaras , khettaras , lkhttarts , or a variety of other regional names . In some oases systems, there is "a geometrical system of raised channels that release controlled amounts of

3074-431: Was completed in the second half of the 15th century. After being converted, the descendants of the previously Buddhist Uyghurs in Turfan failed to retain memory of their ancestral legacy and falsely believed that the "infidel Kalmuks" ( Dzungars ) were the ones who built Buddhist monuments in their area. Buddhist images and temples in Turfan were described in 1414 by the Ming diplomat Chen Cheng . As late as 1420,

3132-637: Was found in Turfan in a document dated to 273 AD. In 327, the Gaochang Commandery ( jùn ) was created in the Turfan area by the Former Liang under Zhang Jun . The Chinese set up a military colony/garrison and organized the land into multiple divisions. Han Chinese colonists from the Hexi region and the central plains also settled in the region. Gaochang was successively ruled by the Former Liang , Former Qin and Northern Liang . In 439, remnants of

3190-602: Was historically located along the Silk Road . At that time, other kingdoms of the region included Korla and Yanqi . Along with city-states such as Krorän (Loulan) and Kucha, Turfan appears to have been inhabited by people speaking the Indo-European Tocharian languages in prehistory. The Jushi Kingdom ruled the area in the 1st millennium BC, until it was conquered by the Chinese Han dynasty in 107 BC. It

3248-511: Was killed in an uprising by the people of Gaochang and replaced by Ma Ru ( 馬 儒 ). In 501, Ma Ru himself was overthrown and killed, and the people of Gaochang appointed Qu Jia ( 麴 嘉 ) from Jincheng Commandery as their king. Qu Jia at first pledged allegiance to the Rouran, but the Rouran khaghan was soon killed by the Gaoche and he had to submit to Gaoche overlordship. Later, when the Göktürks emerged as

3306-411: Was present, for 18 of them their partner was a Sogdian. The only Sogdian men who married Chinese women were highly eminent officials. Several commercial interactions were recorded, for example a camel was sold priced at 14 silk bolts in 673, and a Chang'an native bought a girl age 11 for 40 silk bolts in 731 from a Sogdian merchant. Five men swore that the girl was never free before enslavement, since

3364-672: Was subdivided into two kingdoms in 60 BC, between the Han and its enemy the Xiongnu Empire . The city changed hands several times between the Xiongnu and the Han, interspersed with short periods of independence. Nearer Jushi has been linked to the Turpan Oasis, while Further Jushi to the north of the mountains near modern Jimsar . After the fall of the Han dynasty in 220, the region was virtually independent but tributary to various dynasties. Until

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