ANALYSIS OF THE ETHNOGENESIS OF THE UYGHURS

Abstract

This article examines the processes of ethnogenesis of the Turkic-speaking Uyghur peoples of Turkmen origin. It is well established that the ethnogenesis of the Uyghurs took place in East Turkestan through the historical fusion and intermixing of various ethnic groups. In this context, both Turkic and Tocharian elements are widely discussed in the scholarly literature. The historian Abu-l-Ghazi (1603–1663), in his chronicle The Genealogy of the Turks, states that the ethnonym "Uyghur" derives from a Turkic root and that the name was given by Oguz Khan. The word "Uyghur" is interpreted as "supporter" (yapışgur) and originates from Turkic.
Turkologist S.E. Malov notes that the Uyghurs were among the most culturally advanced peoples of ancient Central Asia, with a highly developed urban civilization. The issue of Uyghur ethnogenesis occupies a significant place in the works of scholars such as S. Gladney, J.A. Millward, D.V. Dubrovskaya, V.A. Karsun, T.V. Lazareva, K. Syroezhkin, Li Weihan, Wu Jingxiu, Zu Weiguan, and others. The Uyghurs, as a people formed during the medieval period, share a common origin, language, historical traditions, cultural heritage, and Islamic faith.
A notable place in Chinese studies is held by the works of V. Jivei, dedicated to the early medieval Uyghur states and their ethnogenesis. He was one of the first Chinese scholars to address the ethnic history of the Uyghurs, beginning with the emergence of the Turkic and Uyghur khaganates in Central Asia. Uyghur historians such as Professor Abdulla Timan Amin and Professor Li Futong are considered foundational figures in the academic study of Uyghur history.
In 20th-century Chinese historiography, the early medieval history of the Uyghurs, their ethnogenesis, and autochthonous status became subjects of intense scholarly debate. Turgun Almas, addressing issues of Uyghur ethnogenesis and ethnopolitics, refers to them as the oldest Turkic-speaking people of Central Asia. He concludes that Central Asia and East Turkestan constitute the true homeland of the Uyghurs, whose ancestors—bearing various ethnic names—led both nomadic and sedentary lifestyles in the region.
A range of hypotheses presented in the works of Chinese scholars, along with Russian and Western European sources on Uyghur studies, provide strong evidence for the Uyghurs’ indigenous presence in East Turkestan since antiquity. These sources confirm the Uyghurs’ rich cultural heritage and traditions of statehood, supported not only by written records but also by archaeological research.