Revolt of the Altishahr Khojas

Revolt of the Altishahr Khojas

Khoja rebels and Qing soldiers fighting at the Battle of Yesil-kol-nor near Yashilkul Lake, 1759. Painted by Jean-Damascène Sallusti in 1764.
Date1757–1759
Location
Modern day southwest Xinjiang, China
Eastern Tajikistan
Eastern Afghanistan
Result Khoja defeat
Territory integrated into the Qing dynasty of China
Belligerents
Altishahr Khojas Qing dynasty
Badakhshan
Commanders and leaders
Khwāja Jihān[1]
Burhān ud-Dīn[1]
Abdul Karim
ʿAbd ul-Khāliq
Hasan Adil
Osman

Qianlong Emperor
Zhaohui (Manchu)
Yarhašan (Manchu)
Emin Khoja (Uighur)
Yūsuf (Kumul) (Uighur)
Namjal (Mongol)
Shi Santai (Han)
Fude (Manchu)
Arigun (Manchu)
Mingrui (Manchu)
Strength
Hojijan >10,000
Buranidun >5,000[2]
c. 200,000 in the later stages
(Khalkha Mongols, Dzungars, Eight Banners, Green Standard Army, Mongolian Eight Banners, Hui Battalion (回營; Uygurs), Chahar Banner, Solons, Kyrgyzs)
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

The Revolt of the Altishahr Khojas (Chinese: 大小和卓之亂) was an uprising against the Qing dynasty of China, which broke out in 1757 during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. The rebels were led by Khwāja-i Jahān (also known as Hojijan, Huojizhan; nickname: "Younger Khoja" 小和卓), leader of the White Mountain Sufis. Qing era documents refer to the event as the "Pacification of the Muslim regions" (平定回部; Píngdìng Huíbù). Hojijan and his brother, Burhān al-Dīn (also known as Buranidun, Boluonidu; nickname: "Elder Khoja" 大和卓), both held the Muslim title Khoja.

After the Qing conquest of Dzungaria at the end of the Dzungar–Qing Wars in 1755, the Khoja Brothers were released from Dzungar captivity whereupon they began to recruit followers in the Western Regions around Altishahr. Not long afterwards, the Khoit-Oirat prince Amursana rose up against the Qing and the Khoja Brothers used the opportunity to seize control of the south west part of Xinjiang.

In 1757, Hojijan killed the Qing Vice General Amindao (阿敏道). Qianlong retaliated the following year by sending troops to locations including Kuqa County, Yarkant (modern day Yarkant County) and Hotan (Hetian) to attack the Khoja brothers. In 1759, the rebel army fled west through the Pamir Mountains to Badakhshan (now part of north east Afghanistan) where it was captured and destroyed by the ruling Sultan Shah, causing the revolt to subside.

With the revolt pacified, the Qing completed the reintegration of their territory in one of Qianlong's Ten Great Campaigns. The end of the conflict saw the restoration of the territory south of the Tian Shan to Qing control meaning that the Qing now controlled the whole of Xinjiang.

After the appointment of an Altishahr Grand Ministerial Attache the Xinjiang area remained peaceful for the next 60 years.

  1. ^ a b 佐口 透. "カシュガル=ホージャ家の後裔" (in Japanese).
  2. ^ 《18-19世紀新疆社會史研究》,76頁 (18th-19th Century Xinjiang Social Research, Page 76) (in Chinese)

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