Uyghurs
| |
|---|---|
 Uyghur man in Kashgar | |
| Total population | |
| c. 13.5 million[note 1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 China(mainly in Xinjiang) | 12.8 million[1] |
 Kazakhstan | 223,100 (2009) (Uyghurs in Kazakhstan)[2][3] |
 Turkey | 60,000 (2020) (Uyghurs of Turkey)[4] |
 Uzbekistan | 55,220 (2008)[5][6] |
 Kyrgyzstan | 59,367 (2020)[7] (Uyghurs in Kyrgyzstan)[8] |
 Saudi Arabia | ~50,000 (2013) (Saudi Labor Ministry)[9] |
 Jordan | ~30,000 (2017) |
 Australia | 5,000–10,000[10] |
 Sweden | 2,000 (2019)[11] |
 Pakistan | ~1,000 families (2010) (Uyghurs in Pakistan)[12] |
 Russia | 3,696 (2010)[13] |
 Turkmenistan | ~3,000[14] |
 Canada | ~1,555 (2016)[15] |
 United States | 8,905 (per US Census Bureau 2015)[16] – 15,000 (per ETGE estimate 2021)[17] (Uyghur Americans) |
 Japan | ~1,000 (2012)[18] |
 Germany | ~750 (2013)[19] |
 Ukraine | 197 (2001)[20] |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Uzbeks[21] and other Turkic peoples | |
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The Uyghurs (/ˈwiːɡʊərz/[22] WEE-goorz or /uːiˈɡʊərz/)[note 2] alternatively spelled Uighurs,[25] Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as native[note 3] to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are considered to be one of China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities.[26] The Uyghurs are recognized by the Chinese government as a regional minority and the titular people of Xinjiang.
The Uyghurs have traditionally inhabited a series of oases scattered across the Taklamakan Desert within the Tarim Basin. These oases have historically existed as independent states or were controlled by many civilizations including China, the Mongols, the Tibetans and various Turkic polities. The Uyghurs gradually started to become Islamized in the 10th century and most Uyghurs identified as Muslims by the 16th century. Islam has since played an important role in Uyghur culture and identity.
An estimated 80% of Xinjiang's Uyghurs still live in the Tarim Basin.[27] The rest of Xinjiang's Uyghurs mostly live in Ürümqi, the capital city of Xinjiang UAR, which is located in the historical region of Dzungaria. The largest community of Uyghurs living in another region of China are the Uyghurs living in Taoyuan County, in north-central Hunan.[28] Significant diasporic communities of Uyghurs exist in other Turkic countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey.[29] Smaller communities live in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Australia, Russia and Sweden.
Since 2014,[30][31] the Chinese government has subjected Uyghurs living in Xinjiang to widespread abuses that include forced sterilization[32][33][34] and forced labor.[35][36][37][38][39] Scholars estimate that at least one million Uyghurs have been arbitrarily detained in the Xinjiang internment camps since 2017;[40][41][42][43][44] Chinese government officials say that these camps, created under Chinese president Xi Jinping's administration, serve the goals of ensuring adherence to communist party ideology, preventing separatism, fighting terrorism, and providing vocational training to Uyghurs.[38][40][45][46][47]
Name
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;[48] they are all pronounced as [ʔʊjˈʁʊː].[49][50] 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[51] but also appears as Uighur,[22] Uigur[22] and Uygur. (These reflect the various Cyrillic spellings Уиғур, Уигур and Уйгур.) The name is usually pronounced in English as /ˈwiːɡʊər/,[22] although some Uyghurs and Uyghur scholars advocate for using the closer pronunciation /uːiˈɡʊər/ instead, with the vowels in the beginning of the word pronounced like the vowels in the English word "ruin".[23][24]
The term's original meaning is unclear. Old Turkic inscriptions record a word uyɣur[52] (Old Turkic: