.. copy and pasted from the Wikipedia article about the "Uyghurs" ..

The Uyghurs,[note 2] alternatively spelled Uighurs,[27][28][29] Uygurs, or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia and East Asia. They speak Uyghur, a Karluk language that shares the same origin with Uzbek. The Uyghurs are recognized as the titular nationality of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are one of China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities.[30] The Uyghurs are genetically related to west Eurasians, East Asians, Siberians, South Asians and can trace their ancestry to various peoples and cultures, such as the Tocharians, Uyghur Khanate, Qocho, Kara-Khanid Khanate, and Qara Khitai, that had inhabited or migrated to the region. In the past, the name "Uyghurs" applied only to a small minority of these peoples. Otherwise they did not have a standard collective name[note 3] and were identified by their home settlements. They were historically influenced and often ruled by neighboring Chinese, Mongol, Tibetan, and Turkic civilizations. Originally followers of many different belief systems, inhabitants of the region were gradually Islamized after the 10th century, especially under the Chagatai Khanate. By the 16th century, most of them identified as Muslims and no longer recognized symbols of their Buddhist past. Islam continues to play an important role in Uyghur culture and identity. Following the Dzungar–Qing Wars, settlers of various ethnicities were relocated to Dzungaria, which was later combined with the Tarim Basin to the south to become Xinjiang Province.[31] After the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877), Turkic peoples became the dominant demographic group of the region. In 1921 the Soviet Union helped revive the term "Uyghurs", and later Chinese governments grouped Turkic peoples of various backgrounds under that same umbrella category. More Uyghurs live in the Tarim Basin than in northern Xinjiang, while those residing in Taoyuan County of Hunan are descended from Buddhist Uyghurs during the Ming dynasty.[32] Significant diasporic Uyghur communities exist in Turkic countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkey,[33] in addition to smaller ones elsewhere.[34] Since 2014,[35][36][37] the Chinese government has been accused of subjecting Uyghurs in Xinjiang to widespread persecution, including arbitrary arrest and detention,[38][39][40] forced sterilization,[41][42] and forced labor.[43][44][45] This is denied by China. Ethnonym Historical ethnonyms The Karluk Turkic speaking group in modern-day Xinjiang lacked well-established ethnic endonyms before the 20th century. They would simply identify themselves as "Muslims"[46][47][48] or "Sarts" (meaning merchant, trader, or caravan leader),[49][50] or by their originating oasis such as "Kashgari" for people from Kashgar or "Hotani" for people from Hotan.[51][46] From the 18th to early 20th century, Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang was commonly referred to as Chanhui (Chinese: 缠回) or Chantou Huihui (Chinese: 缠头回回) (still officially used in Mongolia), which is a Chinese exonym literally meaning turban-wearing Muslims, to be distinguished from Chinese Muslims (nowadays Hui people), commonly referred to as Hanhui (Chinese: 汉回), literally meaning Han Chinese Muslims.[52] Although the term "Hui (Chinese: 回)" or "Huihui (Chinese: 回回)" originates from the term "Uyghur" (Chinese: 回鹘; huí hú), which refers to a Siberian Turkic speaking, instead of Karluk Turkic speaking, ethnic group speaking the "Old Uyghur language", who established the Uyghur Khaganate, Qocho Uyghur Kingdom, and Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom, the term was later applied to people who believe in any of the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaist Jews (蓝帽回回; lán mào huí huí), Christian Ossetians (绿睛回回; lǜ jīng huí huí), Muslim Chams (占城回回; zhàn chéng huí huí), etc. during the Mongol Empire,[53] and gradually applied specifically to people who believe in Islam, such as Hui people (回族; huí zú), Baihui (白族回回; bái zú huí huí), Menghui [zh] (蒙古回回; měng gǔ huí huí), etc. until nowadays.[54] Although the semantic meaning of the term "Hui (Chinese: 回)" shifted from the Old Uyghur speaking people to Muslims, the Old Uyghur speaking people themselves were predominately non-Muslims. None of Uyghur Khaganate, Qocho Uyghur Kingdom, and Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom established Islam as the official religion of their states, and their direct descendant, which was renamed as Yugur people, speaking the Neo-Uyghur language predominately practise Buddhism until nowadays, just like their Old Uyghur ancestors.[55][56][57] Nevertheless, due to this semantic connection, ethnonyms of three of the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in the People's Republic of China, who are Hui, Yugurs, and Uyghurs, share the same etymological origin.[58][59][60] Although Yugurs and Uyghurs both speak Turkic languages, the Yugur (Neo-Uyghur) language, just like the Old Uyghur language, belongs to the Siberian Turkic branch, and Uyghur language belongs to th Karluk Turkic branch. The two ethnic groups are also genetically very distinct from each other.[61][62] Usage of the modern ethnonym "Uyghur" A minority of the modern-day Uyghurs were descendants of the Qocho Uyghur Kingdom based in nowadays Eastern Xinjiang, who spoke the Siberian Turkic Old Uyghur language and predominately practised Buddhism.[63] They were linguistically, religiously and culturally assimilated to the vast majority of Karluk Turkic Chagatai language speaking Muslims in the Chagatai Khanate after the Chagatai conquest.[64][65] Since then, the Uyghur identity in the modern-day Xinjiang had perished until the term "Uyghur" was revived in 1921.[66][67] One thing worth to mention is that after the split of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, its minor successor, the Turpan Khanate based in Eastern Xinjiang, was externally referred to as "Uyghurstan" due to Eastern Xinjiang's historical connection to the Qocho Uyghur Kingdom, even if the local population had started speaking the Karluk Turkic Chagatai language and practised Islam,[68] whereas the major sucessor, Yarkent Khanate based in the Tarim basin, which later conquered the Turpan Khanate, was externally referred to as "Kashghar Khanate".[69] The modern application of the term "Uyghur" to the Karluk Turkic speaking people was in fact a 20th century invention.[70] The Tashkent conference held in the Soviet Union in 1921 gathered Turkic Muslims from the Tarim Basin, who decided to use the term "Uyghur" as the group's modern ethnonym,[71] although they themselves also realised that their ethnicity should not be confused with that of the Uyghur Khaganate of the Medieval history.[72] This usage was then formally accepted by the Soviet Union, and an Uighur raion was established in the modern-day Kazakhstan bordering China.[73] Hoping to divide the Muslim population of Xinjiang, the Sheng Shicai ruled Xinjiang government in China later accepted the modern usage of the term "Uyghur" from the Soviet Union, but the group in Xinjiang was further divided to Uyghurs and Taranchis (modern Uyghurs in Ili) among the 14 ethnic groups recognised at the time.[74] After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the Taranchis were officially counted into the Uyghurs.[75] Etymology of the term "Uyghur" In the Uyghur language, the ethnonym is written ئۇيغۇر in Arabic script, Уйғур in Uyghur Cyrillic and Uyghur or Uygur (as the standard Chinese romanization, GB 3304–1991) in Latin;[76] they are all pronounced as [ʔʊjˈʁʊːr].[77][78] In Chinese, this is transcribed into characters as 维吾尔 / 維吾爾, which is romanized in pinyin as Wéiwú'ěr. In English, the name is officially spelled Uyghur by the Xinjiang government[79] but also appears as Uighur,[80] Uigur[80] and Uygur (these reflect the various Cyrillic spellings Уиғур, Уигур and Уйгур). The name is usually pronounced in English as /ˈwiː.ɡʊər, -.ɡər/ WEE-goor, -⁠gər (and thus may be preceded by the indefinite article "a"),[80][81][82][27] although some Uyghurs advocate the use of a more native pronunciation /ˌuː.i.ˈɡʊər/ OO-ee-GOOR instead (which, in contrast, calls for the indefinite article "an").[25][26][83] The term's original meaning is unclear. Old Turkic inscriptions record the word uyɣur[84] (Old Turkic: 𐰆𐰖𐰍𐰆𐰺); an example is found on the Sudzi inscription, "I am khan ata of Yaglaqar, came from the Uigur land." (Old Turkic: Uyγur jerinte Yaγlaqar qan ata keltim).[85] It is transcribed into Tang annals as 回纥 / 回紇 (Mandarin: Huíhé, but probably *[ɣuɒiɣət] in Middle Chinese).[86] It was used as the name of one of the Turkic polities formed in the interim between the First and Second Göktürk Khaganates (AD 630–684).[87] The Old History of the Five Dynasties records that in 788 or 809, the Chinese acceded to a Uyghur request and emended their transcription to 回鹘 / 回鶻 (Mandarin: Huíhú, but [ɣuɒiɣuət] in Middle Chinese).[88][89] Modern etymological explanations for the name Uyghur range from derivation from the verb "follow, accommodate oneself"[80] and adjective "non-rebellious" (i.e., from Turkic uy/uð-) to the verb meaning "wake, rouse or stir" (i.e., from Turkic oðğur-). None of these is thought to be satisfactory because the sound shift of /ð/ and /ḏ/ to /j/ does not appear to be in place by this time.[88] The etymology therefore cannot be conclusively determined and its referent is also difficult to fix. The "Huihe" and "Huihu" seem to be a political rather than a tribal designation[90] or it may be one group among several others collectively known as the Toquz Oghuz.[91] The name fell out of use in the 15th century, but was reintroduced in the early 20th century[77][78] by the Soviet Bolsheviks to replace the previous terms Turk and Turki.[92][note 4] The name is currently used to refer to the settled Turkic urban dwellers and farmers of the Tarim Basin who follow traditional Central Asian sedentary practices, distinguishable from the nomadic Turkic populations in Central Asia. The earliest record of a Uyghur tribe appears in accounts from the Northern Wei (4th–6th century A.D.), wherein they were named 袁紇 Yuanhe (< MC ZS *ɦʉɐn-ɦət) and derived from a confederation named 高车 / 高車 (lit. "High Carts"), read as Gāochē in Mandarin Chinese but originally with the reconstructed Middle Chinese pronunciation *[kɑutɕʰĭa], later known as the Tiele (铁勒 / 鐵勒, Tiělè).[94][95][96] Gāochē in turn has been connected to the Uyghur Qangqil (قاڭقىل or Қаңқил).[97] Identity A Uyghur girde naan baker Duration: 17 seconds.0:17 Uyghur blacksmiths at work. Yengisar, Xinjiang, China. Yengisar is famous for the quality of its knives. Uyghur man in traditional clothing, playing a tambur, a traditional Uyghur instrument Throughout its history, the term Uyghur has had an increasingly expansive definition. Initially signifying only a small coalition of Tiele tribes in northern China, Mongolia and the Altai Mountains, it later denoted citizenship in the Uyghur Khaganate. Finally, it was expanded into an ethnicity whose ancestry originates with the fall of the Uyghur Khaganate in the year 842, causing Uyghur migration from Mongolia into the Tarim Basin. The Uyghurs who moved to the Tarim Basin mixed with the local Tocharians, and converted to the Tocharian religion, and adopted their culture of oasis agriculture.[98][99] The fluid definition of Uyghur and the diverse ancestry of modern Uyghurs create confusion as to what constitutes true Uyghur ethnography and ethnogenesis. Contemporary scholars consider modern Uyghurs to be the descendants of a number of peoples, including the ancient Uyghurs of Mongolia migrating into the Tarim Basin after the fall of the Uyghur Khaganate, Iranic Saka tribes and other Indo-European peoples inhabiting the Tarim Basin before the arrival of the Turkic Uyghurs.[100] Uyghur activists identify with the Tarim mummies, the remains of an ancient population that inhabited the region, but genetic research on the mummies and their possible links to modern Uyghurs remains contentious, both for Chinese government officials concerned about ethnic separatism and for Uyghur activists who fear the findings could affect their indigenous claims.[101] A genomic study published in 2021 found that these early mummies had high levels of Ancient North Eurasian ancestry (ANE, about 72%), with smaller admixture from Ancient Northeast Asians (ANA, about 28%), but no detectable Western Steppe-related ancestry.[102][103] They formed a genetically isolated local population that "adopted neighbouring pastoralist and agriculturalist practices, which allowed them to settle and thrive along the shifting riverine oases of the Taklamakan Desert."[104] These mummified individuals were long suspected to have been "Proto-Tocharian-speaking pastoralists", ancestors of the Tocharians, but the authors of this study found no genetic connection with Indo-European-speaking migrants, particularly the Afanasievo or BMAC cultures.[105] Zhang et al. (2025) investigated a Late Bronze Age site in the far west of the Tarim Basin, dated 1600 to 1400 BC. Its inhabitants overwhelmingly descended from the Sintashta and Andronovo population, with additional ancestry from BMAC (10%) and Tarim_EMBA (12%). Nearly all subjects belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup R-M17.[106] Origin of modern nomenclature The Uighurs are the people whom old Russian travelers called "Sart" (a name they used for sedentary, Turkish-speaking Central Asians in general), while Western travelers called them Turki, in recognition of their language. The Chinese used to call them "Ch'an-t'ou" ('Turbaned Heads') but this term has been dropped, being considered derogatory, and the Chinese, using their own pronunciation, now called them Weiwuerh. As a matter of fact there was for centuries no 'national' name for them; people identified themselves with the oasis they came from, such as Kashgar or Turfan. — Owen Lattimore, "Return to China's Northern Frontier." The Geographical Journal, Vol. 139, No. 2, June 1973[107] The term "Uyghur" was not used to refer to a specific existing ethnicity in the 19th century: it referred to an 'ancient people'. A late-19th-century encyclopedia entitled The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia said "the Uigur are the most ancient of Turkish tribes and formerly inhabited a part of Chinese Tartary (Xinjiang), now occupied by a mixed population of Turk, Mongol and Kalmuck".[108] Before 1921/1934,[clarification needed] Western writers called the Turkic-speaking Muslims of the oases "Turki" and the Turkic Muslims who had migrated from the Tarim Basin to Ili, Ürümqi and Dzungaria in the northern portion of Xinjiang during the Qing dynasty were known as "Taranchi", meaning "farmer". The Russians and other foreigners referred to them as "Sart",[109] "Turk" or "Turki".[110][note 4] In the early 20th century they identified themselves by different names to different peoples and in response to different inquiries: they called themselves Sarts in front of Kazakhs and Kyrgyz while they called themselves "Chantou" if asked about their identity after first identifying as a Muslim.[111][51] The term "Chantou" (纏頭; Chántóu, meaning "Turban Head") was used to refer to the Turkic Muslims of Altishahr (now Southern Xinjiang),[112][113] including by Hui (Tungan) people.[114] These groups of peoples often identify themselves by their originating oasis instead of an ethnicity;[115] for example those from Kashgar may refer to themselves as Kashgarliq or Kashgari, while those from Hotan identity themselves as "Hotani".[51][46] Other Central Asians once called all the inhabitants of Xinjiang's Southern oases Kashgari,[116] a term still used in some regions of Pakistan.[117] The Turkic people also used "Musulman", which means "Muslim", to describe themselves.[46][47][48] Mural fragment depicting two Uyghur donors, from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves. Kept in the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin. Rian Thum explored the concepts of identity among the ancestors of the modern Uyghurs in Altishahr (the native Uyghur name for Eastern Turkestan or Southern Xinjiang) before the adoption of the name "Uyghur" in the 1930s, referring to them by the name "Altishahri" in his article Modular History: Identity Maintenance before Uyghur Nationalism. Thum indicated that Altishahri Turkis did have a sense that they were a distinctive group separate from the Turkic Andijanis to their west, the nomadic Turkic Kirghiz, the nomadic Mongol Qalmaq and the Han Chinese Khitay before they became known as Uyghurs. There was no single name used for their identity; various native names Altishahris used for identify were Altishahrlik (Altishahr person), yerlik (local), Turki and Musulmān (Muslim); the term Musulmān in this situation did not signify religious connotations, because the Altishahris exclude other Muslim peoples like the Kirghiz while identifying themselves as Musulmān.[118][119] Dr. Laura J Newby says the sedentary Altishahri Turkic people considered themselves separate from other Turkic Muslims since at least the 19th century.[120] The name "Uyghur" reappeared after the Soviet Union took the 9th-century ethnonym from the Uyghur Khaganate, then reapplied it to all non-nomadic Turkic Muslims of Xinjiang.[121] It followed western European orientalists like Julius Klaproth in the 19th century who revived the name and spread the use of the term to local Turkic intellectuals[122] and a 19th-century proposal from Russian historians that modern-day Uyghurs were descended from the Kingdom of Qocho and Kara-Khanid Khanate formed after the dissolution of the Uyghur Khaganate.[123] Historians generally agree that the adoption of the term "Uyghur" is based on a decision from a 1921 conference in Tashkent, attended by Turkic Muslims from the Tarim Basin (Xinjiang).[121][71][124][125] There, "Uyghur" was chosen by them as the name of their ethnicity, although they themselves note that they were not to be confused with the Uyghur Khaganate of medieval history.[109][72] According to Linda Benson, the Soviets and their client Sheng Shicai intended to foster a Uyghur nationality to divide the Muslim population of Xinjiang, whereas the various Turkic Muslim peoples preferred to identify themselves as "Turki", "East Turkestani" or "Muslim".[109] On the other hand, the ruling regime of China at that time, the Kuomintang, grouped all Muslims, including the Turkic-speaking people of Xinjiang, into the "Hui nationality".[126][127] The Qing dynasty and the Kuomintang generally referred to the sedentary oasis-dwelling Turkic Muslims of Xinjiang as "turban-headed Hui" to differentiate them from other predominantly Muslim ethnicities in China.[109][128][note 5] In the 1930s, foreigners travelers in Xinjiang such as George W. Hunter, Peter Fleming, Ella Maillart and Sven Hedin, referred to the Turkic Muslims of the region as "Turki" in their books. Use of the term Uyghur was unknown in Xinjiang until 1934. The area governor, Sheng Shicai, came to power, adopting the Soviet ethnographic classification instead of the Kuomintang's and became the first to promulgate the official use of the term "Uyghur" to describe the Turkic Muslims of Xinjiang.[109][123][130] "Uyghur" replaced "rag-head".[131] Sheng Shicai's introduction of the "Uighur" name for the Turkic people of Xinjiang was criticized and rejected by Turki intellectuals such as Pan-Turkist Jadids and East Turkestan independence activists Muhammad Amin Bughra (Mehmet Emin) and Masud Sabri. They demanded the names "Türk" or "Türki" be used instead as the ethnonyms for their people. Masud Sabri viewed the Hui people as Muslim Han Chinese and separate from his people,[132] while Bughrain criticized Sheng for his designation of Turkic Muslims into different ethnicities which could sow disunion among Turkic Muslims.[133][134] After the Communist victory, the Chinese Communist Party under Chairman Mao Zedong continued the Soviet classification, using the term "Uyghur" to describe the modern ethnicity.[109] In current usage, Uyghur refers to settled Turkic-speaking urban dwellers and farmers of the Tarim Basin and Ili who follow traditional Central Asian sedentary practices, as distinguished from nomadic Turkic populations in Central Asia. However, Chinese government agents[clarification needed] designate as "Uyghur" certain peoples with significantly divergent histories and ancestries from the main group. These include the Lopliks of Ruoqiang County and the Dolan people, thought to be closer to the Oirat Mongols and the Kyrgyz.[135][136] The use of the term Uyghur led to anachronisms when describing the history of the people.[137] In one of his books, the term Uyghur was deliberately not used by James Millward.[138] Another ethnicity, the Western Yugur of Gansu, identify themselves as the "Yellow Uyghur" (Sarïq Uyghur).[139] Some scholars say the Yugurs' culture, language and religion are closer to the original culture of the original Uyghur Karakorum state than is the culture of the modern Uyghur people of Xinjiang.[140] Linguist and ethnographer S. Robert Ramsey argues for inclusion of both the Eastern and Western Yugur and the Salar as sub-groups of the Uyghur based on similar historical roots for the Yugur and on perceived linguistic similarities for the Salar.[141] "Turkistani" is used as an alternate ethnonym by some Uyghurs.[142] For example, the Uyghur diaspora in Arabia, adopted the identity "Turkistani". Some Uyghurs in Saudi Arabia adopted the Arabic nisba of their home city, such as "Al-Kashgari" from Kashgar. Saudi-born Uyghur Hamza Kashgari's family originated from Kashgar.[143][144] Population Uyghur hunter in Kashgar The Uyghur population within China generally remains centered in Xinjiang region with some smaller subpopulations elsewhere in the country, such as in Taoyuan County where an estimated 5,000–10,000 live.[145][146] The size of the Uyghur population, particularly in China, has been the subject of dispute. Chinese authorities place the Uyghur population within the Xinjiang region to be just over 12 million, comprising approximately half of the total regional population.[147] As early as 2003, however, some Uyghur groups wrote that their population was being vastly undercounted by Chinese authorities, claiming that their population actually exceeded 20 million while presenting "little evidence to support those figures".[148] Population disputes have continued into the present, with some activists and groups such as the World Uyghur Congress and Uyghur American Association claiming that the Uyghur population ranges between 20 and 30 million.[149][150][151][152] Some have even claimed that the real number of Uyghurs is actually 35 million.[153][154] Scholars, however, have generally rejected these claims, with Professor Dru C. Gladney writing in the 2004 book Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland that there is "scant evidence" to support Uyghur claims that their population within China exceeds 20 million.[155]