Moghulistan

Moghulistan (from Persian: مغولستان, Moghulestân, Mongolian: Моголистан; simplified Chinese: 蒙兀儿斯坦; traditional Chinese: 蒙兀兒斯坦), also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (simplified Chinese: 东察合台汗国; traditional Chinese: 東察合台汗國; pinyin: Dōng Chágětái Hánguó), was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Tengri Tagh mountain range, on the border of Central Asia and East Asia. That area today includes parts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and northwest Xinjiang, China. The khanate nominally ruled over the area from the mid-14th century until the late 17th century.

Beginning in the mid-14th century a new khanate, in the form of a nomadic tribal confederacy headed by a member of the family of Chagatai, arose in the region of the Ili River. It is therefore considered to be a continuation of the Chagatai Khanate, but it is also referred to as the Moghul Khanate.

In actuality, local control rested with local Mongol Dughlats or Naqshbandi Sufis in their respective oases. Although the rulers enjoyed great wealth from trade with the Ming dynasty, it was beset by constant civil war and invasions by the Timurid Empire, which emerged from the western part of the erstwhile Chagatai Khanate. The khanate was split into the Turpan Khanate based on the city of Turpan, and the Yarkent Khanate based on the city of Yarkent, until the Dzungar Khanate conquered the region by the early 18th century.