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KHOTAN (locally ILcm)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 781 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KHOTAN (locally ILcm) , a See also:town and See also:oasis of See also:East See also:Turkestan, on the Khotan-darya, between the N. See also:foot of the Kuenlun and the edge of the Takla-makan See also:desert, nearly 200 M. by See also:caravan road S.E. from Yarkand. Pop., about 5000. The town consists of a See also:labyrinth of narrow, winding, dirty streets, with poor, square, See also:flat-roofed houses, See also:half a dozen madrasas (See also:Mahommedan colleges), a See also:score of mosques, and some masars (tombs of Mahommedan See also:saints). Dotted about the town are open squares, with tanks or ponds overhung by trees. For centuries Khotan was famous for See also:jade or nephrite, a semi-See also:precious See also:stone greatly esteemed by the See also:Chinese for making small See also:fancy boxes, bottles and cups, mouthpieces for pipes, bracelets, &c. The stone is still exported to See also:China. Other See also:local products are carpets (See also:silk and See also:felt), silk goods, hides, grapes, See also:rice and other cereals, fruits, See also:tobacco, See also:opium and See also:cotton. There is an active See also:trade in these goods and in See also:wool with See also:India, See also:West Turkestan and China. The oasis contains two small towns, Kara-kash and Yurun-kash, and over 300 villages, its See also:total See also:population being about 150,000. Khotan, known in See also:Sanskrit as Kustana and in Chinese as Yu-than, Yu-tien, Kiu-sa-tan-na, and Khio-tan, is mentioned in Chinese See also:chronicles in the 2nd See also:century B.C. In A.D. 73 it was conquered by the Chinese, and ever since has been generally dependent upon the Chinese See also:empire.

During the See also:

early centuries of the See also:Christian era, and See also:long before that, it was an important and flourishing See also:place, the See also:capital of a See also:kingdom to which the Chinese sent embassies, and famous for its See also:glass-wares, See also:copper tankards and textiles. About the See also:year A.D. 400 it was a See also:city of some magnificence, and the seat of a flourishing cult of See also:Buddha, with temples See also:rich in paintings and ornaments of the precious metals; but from the 5th century it seems to have declined. In the 8th century it was conquered, after a struggle of 25 years, by the Arab chieftain Kotaiba See also:ibn Moslim, from West Turkestan, who imposed See also:Islam upon the See also:people. In 1220 Khotan was destroyed by the See also:Mongols under Jenghiz See also:Khan. Marco See also:Polo, who passed through the town in 1294, says that " Everything is to be had there at Cotan, i. e. Khotan] in plenty, includingabundance of cotton, with See also:flax, See also:hemp, See also:wheat, See also:wine, and the like. The people have vineyards and gardens and estates. They live by See also:commerce and manufactures, and are no soldiers."' The place suffered severely during the Dungan revolt against China in 1864—1875, and again a few years later when Yakub Beg of See also:Kashgar made himself See also:master of East Turkestan. The KHOTAN-DARYA rises in the Kuen-lun Mountains in two headstreams, the Kara-kash and the Yurun-kash, which unite towards the See also:middle of the desert, some 90 m. N. of the town of Khotan. The conjoint stream then flows 18o m. northwards across the desert of Takla-makan, though it carries See also:water only in the early summer, and empties itself into the See also:Tarim a few See also:miles below the confluence of the Ak-su with the Yarkand-darya (Tarim).

In See also:

crossing the desert it falls 1250 ft. in a distance of 270 M. Its total length is about 300 M. and the See also:area it drains probably nearly 40,000 sq. m. See J. P. A. R6musat, Histoire de la ville de Khotan (See also:Paris, 1820) ; and Sven Hedin, Through See also:Asia (Eng. trans., See also:London, 1898), chs. Ix. and lxii., and Scientific Results of a See also:Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902, vol. ii. (See also:Stockholm, 1906). (J.

End of Article: KHOTAN (locally ILcm)

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