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Uyghur Khaganate

A powerful Turkic empire on the Mongolian Plateau that allied with Tang China and shaped the cultural development of the Uyghur people.

Destroyed by the Yenisei Kirghiz in 840 CE when a Kirghiz invasion shattered the khaganate; the Uyghur population was dispersed and scattered, forming several successor states in Central Asia and China.

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Further reading

• Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present Christopher I. Beckwith · 2009

  Standard reference for the Uyghur Khaganate within Inner Asian steppe history.

• The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia René Grousset · 1939

  Recounts the Uyghur Khaganate on the Mongolian Plateau and its alliance with Tang China, set within the broad sweep of Central Eurasian nomadic empires.

Sources

• Wikipedia, 'Uyghur Khaganate' (Q831218)