lettered by Abraham Ortelius, 1570
Place · region

Tarim Basin

What the sources say here: 6 passages

CitiesKarashahr1605

The scrap of paper that proved Cambalu was Peking

Editorial contextAt Cialis, Goes met merchants coming back from a trade 'embassy' to Peking who had lodged in the same foreigners' palace as Ricci and his companions. They did not know the Jesuits' Chinese names, but they had rescued from a servant's sweepings a note written in Portuguese. That settled it: Cathay differed from China only in name, and the capital the Muslims called Cambalu was Peking. Cialis is usually identified with Karashahr in Xinjiang.

to make their story more certain they added a scrap of paper written by our men in Portuguese, which they had snatched from the rubbish of a servant sweeping out a room … with this news our Brother and his companion were much cheered, and from then on they had no doubt that Cathay differed from the kingdom of China in name only, and that the royal city the Saracens call Cambalu is Peking

Working translation

Original wording

addiderunt etiam ad fidem acrius exigendam schedulam a Nostris scriptam sermone Lusitano, quam e famuli cubiculum verrentis sordibus eripuerant … his nunciis cum Socio Noster satis recreati sunt, nihilque deinde dubitarunt Cataium a Sinensi Regno solo nomine discrepare, ipsamque Regiam a Saracenis Cambalu appellatam Pechinum esse

Nicolas Trigault, from Matteo Ricci's commentaries, reporting Goes's journey (1615)
See the original page (p. 559)

About Muslim merchants returning from Peking; Goes and Isaac

Continue in this sourceBrother Bento de Góis and the search for Cathay1602 to 1607 · 12 passages
CitiesTaklamakan Desertabout 1546

Hunters glimpse castles and minarets under the sand

Editorial contextDescribing the deserts east and south of Kashgar and Khotan, Mirza Haidar says great towns once stood there, of which only the names Lob and Katak survive. Hunters of wild camels told of seeing foundations, castles, minarets, mosques and colleges that vanished under the sand again soon after. He does not say who built them.

In ancient times there were large towns in these [wastes] … all are buried under the sand. Hunters, who go there after wild camels, relate that sometimes the foundations of cities are visible, and that they have recognised noble buildings such as castles, minarets, mosques and colleges, but that when they returned a short time afterwards, no trace of these was to be found

Mirza Haidar Dughlat (translated by E. Denison Ross, 1895)
See the original page (p. 295)

About Unknown former townspeople of the Tarim basin

Keep in mind

Hunters' reports; the buildings named (minarets, mosques, colleges) are Islamic types, so these towns were not prehistoric in Mirza Haidar's mind.

Continue in this sourceThe Tarikh-i-Rashidi: a Moghul prince's history of Central Asia1466 to 1566 · 12 passages
CitiesChinese Tartary (Tarim Basin, Xinjiang)about 1830 to 1835

Walled towns built by forced labour

Editorial contextThe pilgrims told Wathen that Chinese rule was very unpopular, and that resentment had grown because the Chinese were building large fortifications and walled towns with the forced labour of the local people. After the revolts of the 1820s the Qing did build new walled garrison towns in the region. Here the builders of the walls are named plainly: Qing authorities using conscripted local workers.

The feeling of dislike, with which the Chinese are regarded, has been latterly much increased, in consequence of their carrying on vast works of fortification, and building walled towns, by the forced labour of the natives.

W. H. Wathen, reporting his informants
See the original page (p. 662)

About Turki-speaking Muslims ('Usbeks') under Qing rule

Keep in mind

The informants were Muslim subjects hostile to Qing rule. The corpus lists no printed page here; 662 comes from the page sequence.

Continue in this sourceWhat pilgrims from 'Chinese Tartary' told a Bombay official in 18351835 · 4 passages
Strange talesLop Nur region14th century (as told)

The town of Katak, buried by a rain of sand

Editorial contextA holy man warns the town of Katak of God's wrath and leaves. The muezzin goes back for a last call to prayer, sees sand falling like dry snow, and finds the town buried up to the minaret, from which he jumps to escape. Mirza Haidar adds that winds sometimes uncover the minaret or a house where everything is in order but the owner is white bones. The editor notes that sand does not fall like snow but that dunes do bury towns.

So he again ascended and, looking round, discovered that it was raining sand, and to such a degree that the whole town was covered ; after a little while he noticed that the ground was rising, and at last only a part of the minaret was left free.

Mirza Haidar Dughlat, retelling a story from Maulana Khwaja Ahmad (translated by E. Denison Ross, 1895)
See the original page (p. 11)

About Muslim townspeople of Katak in the Tarim basin

Keep in mind

A pious legend passed down in one family; the editor's note compares it with real sand-buried ruins seen by Forsyth, Bellew and Przhevalsky.

Continue in this sourceThe Tarikh-i-Rashidi: a Moghul prince's history of Central Asia1466 to 1566 · 12 passages
Show 2 more passages
The nameDzungaria and Eastern Turkestan1723

The peoples of the Dzungar realm, none of them called Tatars

Editorial contextUnkovsky lists the peoples under the Kontaisha: the Dzungars proper ('of the left hand'), Kyrgyz, Uriankhai, Telengits and others, the town-dwelling Bukharans of Yarkand, the Buruts (Kyrgyz) of lake Issyk-Kul and the Barabinians, who paid tribute to both Russia and the Dzungars. No one here is called a Tatar; the same land appears on Western maps of the time as part of 'Great Tartary'.

Under the Kontaisha's rule are various peoples, namely: his own people, called the Dzungars (or 'of the left hand'), the Kyrgyz, Uriankhai, Telengits, Mingats, Khoits, Khoshuts, the Bukharans of Erken (Yarkand), who live in towns, though the better sort roam with him, the Buruts, who roam around lake Tuskel (Issyk-Kul), and the Barabinians, who pay tribute to His Imperial Majesty and to the Kontaisha.

Working translation

Original wording

Подъ его контайшинымъ владѣніемъ обрѣтаются разные народы, а именно: его настоящей народъ, имянуемой Зюнгоры (или лѣвой руки), Киргизы, Урянхайцы, Теленгуты, Мингаты, Каюты, Кошеуты, Эркенскіе Бухарцы (въ городахъ живущіе, а лучше при немъ кочуютъ), Буруты, которые около озера Тускелъ кочуютъ, Барабинцы, которые ясакъ платятъ въ сторону Императорского Величества и Контайшѣ.

Ivan Unkovsky (ed. N. I. Veselovsky, 1887)
See the original page (p. 193)

About Dzungars and their subject peoples

Keep in mind

The identifications of Kayuty as Khoits and Tuskel as Issyk-Kul are editorial glosses by this reader, not Unkovsky's.

Continue in this sourceCaptain Unkovsky's embassy to the Dzungar khan1722 to 1724 · 13 passages
CitiesSouthern Tarim Basin, between Niya and Cherchen, Xinjiangabout 644

Empty cities of an old kingdom in the desert

Editorial contextCrossing the drifting sands east of Niya, travellers piled up bones to mark the way, and people heard singing or wailing that led them astray, which Xuanzang blames on demons. After 400 li he reached the 'old country of Tukhara', long empty, its cities all desolate. He credits the ruins to a vanished kingdom, not to any Turks or Tartars.

So those who come and go pile up the bones of the dead to mark the way. Water and grass are lacking and hot winds are frequent... At times one hears singing and whistling, or wailing and crying, and between what is seen and heard one is bewildered and does not know where one is going; many die this way, which is the work of demons and goblins. Going 400 li or so one reaches the old country of Tukhara. The country has long been empty and its cities are all in ruins.

Working translation

Original wording

是以往來者聚遺骸以記之乏水草多熱風…時聞歌嘯或聞號哭視聽之間怳然不知所至由此屢有喪亾蓋鬼魅之所致也行四百餘里至覩貨邏故國國久空曠城皆荒蕪

Xuanzang and Bianji, book 12 (Chinese text, Siku quanshu copy)
See the original page (p. 012-27b)

About The old Tukhara kingdom (not Turks)

Keep in mind

Beal's English (page 325) is badly garbled in this OCR, so the Chinese is quoted.

Continue in this sourceXuanzang's Records of the Western Regions629 to 645 · 12 passages

On the old maps

Maps that name Tarim Basin.

Map: A new map of Chinese and Independent Tartary, from the latest authorities, 1806, Cary, 18061806CaryA new map of Chinese and Independent Tartary, from the latest…Map: Nouvelle Carte de l'Asie dressee par A. R. Fremin, revue pour la partie septentrionale et…, Fremin, 18291829FreminNouvelle Carte de l’Asie dressee par A. R. Fremin, revue pour…Map: Uebersichts-Karte von Ost-Hoch-Asien, Grimm & Mahlmann, 18391839Grimm & MahlmannUebersichts-Karte von Ost-Hoch-AsienMap: Northern Asia, from the Himalaya Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, John Arrowsmith, 18421842John ArrowsmithNorthern Asia, from the Himalaya Mountains to the Arctic Ocean

23 sources and maps name this place

  1. c. 91 BCEapproximate
    Western Regions in Shiji
    WSima QiancompilationW102
  2. 3rd centurywithin a century
    Weilüe: Peoples of the West
    WYu HuancompilationW104
  3. 235–399within a century
    Kharosthi Documents from Ancient Chinese Turkestan
    WLocal administrators and correspondentsofficial or contemporary recordW105
  4. 400–433within a century
    Record of Buddhist Kingdoms
    WFaxianfirsthandW107
  5. 5th centurywithin a century
    Hou Han Shu
    WFan YecompilationW103
  6. 646exact year
    Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World
    WXuanzangmixedW047
  7. 1072–1077a range
    Compendium of the Turkic Dialects
    WMahmud al-KashgarifirsthandW219
  8. 1415exact year
    Description of the Foreign Countries of the Western Regions
    WChen Cheng and Li XianfirsthandW147
  9. 1601exact year
    Tian di tu: late-Ming woodblock atlas of the heavens, China, the provinces, Chinese Turkestan and the South…
    MZuo JunhengcompilationM116
  10. 1739exact year
    History of the Ming
    WZhang Tingyu and the Qing history officecompilationW131
  11. 1763exact year
    Imperially Commissioned Gazetteer of Unified Script for the Western Regions
    WFuheng and the Qianlong commissioninformant testimonyW126
  12. 1777–1782a range
    Description of Dzungaria and Eastern Turkestan in ancient and present condition
    WBichurin, translatorcompilationW179
  13. 1806exact year
    A new map of Chinese and Independent Tartary, from the latest authorities, 1806
    MJohn Cary, LondoncompilationM072
  14. c. 1819–1823approximate
    Record of the Waterways of the Western Regions, 5 juan
    WXu SongfirsthandW137
  15. 1826exact year
    Historical tables of Asia from the monarchy of Cyrus to our days, with historical and ethnographic researches…
    WJulius KlaprothcompilationW263
  16. 1828–1836a range
    Map of Central Asia drawn from the maps surveyed by order of the Qianlong emperor by the Peking missionaries…
    MJulius Klaproth, PariscompilationM088
  17. 1829exact year
    Nouvelle Carte de l'Asie dressee par A. R. Fremin, revue pour la partie septentrionale et l'empire chinois…
    MA. R. FremincompilationM077
  18. 1832–1838a range
    Geography in Relation to Nature and Human History, or General Comparative Geography, Part 2
    WCarl RittercompilationW302
  19. 1839exact year
    Uebersichts-Karte von Ost-Hoch-Asien
    MJ. L. Grimm and H. MahlmanncompilationM069
  20. 1839–1841a range
    Mountain chains and volcanoes of Central Asia, by A. von Humboldt
    MAlexander von HumboldtmixedM089
  21. 1842exact year
    Northern Asia, from the Himalaya Mountains to the Arctic Ocean
    MJohn ArrowsmithcompilationM065
  22. 1843exact year
    Central Asia
    WAlexander von HumboldtmixedW265
  23. 1846–1850a range
    Collection of information on the peoples who inhabited Central Asia in ancient times
    WBichurincompilationW180