Following the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate, the Uyghur gave up Mongolia and established kingdoms in three areas: present day <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gansu" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Gansu</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Xinjiang</a>, and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_River" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Chu River</a> the West of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Shan" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Tian Shan</a> (Tengri-Tag) Mountains.

Yugor, the easternmost of the three Uyghur states, was the Ganzhou Kingdom (AD 870–1036), with its capital near present-day <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhangye" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Zhangye</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gansu" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Gansu</a> province of China. There, the Uyghur converted from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Manichaeism</a> to <a class="mw-redirect" title="Lamaism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamaism" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Lamaism</a>, Tibetan and Mongol <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Buddhism</a>. Unlike Turkic peoples further west, they did not later convert to Islam. Their descendants are now known as <a class="mw-redirect" title="Yugurs" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugurs" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Yugurs</a> (or Yogir, Yugor, and Sary Uyghurs, literally meaning "yellow Uyghurs") and are distinct from modern Uyghurs. In AD 1028–1036, the Yugors were defeated in a bloody war and forcibly absorbed into the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangut" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Tangut</a> kingdom. These Yugor stayed Lamaist and did not convert to Islam. Modern historians refer to them as Uighurs.

Karakhoja, the most central of the three Uyghur states, was the Karakhoja Kingdom (created during AD 856–866), also called the "Idiqut" ("Holy Wealth, Glory") state, and was based on the cities of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpan" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Turpan</a> (winter capital), <a class="mw-redirect" title="Beshbalik" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beshbalik" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Beshbalik</a> (summer capital), <a class="mw-redirect" title="Kumul (city)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumul_(city)" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Kumul</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kucha" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Kucha</a>. A Buddhist state, with state-sponsored Buddhism and Manichaeism, it can be considered the center of Uyghur culture. The Idiquts (title of the Karakhoja rulers) ruled independently until 1209, when they submitted to the Mongols under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Genghis Khan</a> and, as vassal rulers, existed until 1335.

<a title="Kara-Khanid Khanate" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara-Khanid_Khanate" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Kara-Khanids</a>, or the Karakhans (Great Khans) Dynasty, was the westernmost of the three Uyghur states. The Karakhans (Karakhanliks) who originated from Uyghur tribes settled in the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_River" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Chu River</a> Valley after 840 and ruled between 940–1212 in <a class="mw-redirect" title="Turkistan" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkistan" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Turkistan</a> and Maveraünnehir. They converted to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Islam</a> in 934 under the rule of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Satuq_Bughra_Khan" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan</a> (920–956 AD) and, after taking power over <a class="mw-redirect" title="Qarluks" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qarluks" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Qarluks</a> in 940, built a federation with Muslim institutions. Together with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samanids" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Samanids</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarkand" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Samarkand</a>, they considered themselves the defenders of Islam against the Buddhist Uyghur Idiqut. The first capital of the Karahans was established in the city of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balasagun" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Balasagun</a> in the Chu River Valley and later was moved to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashgar" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Kashgar</a>.

The reign of the Uyghur's Karakhans is a significant part of Turkic culture and art history. During this period mosques, schools, bridges, and caravansarais were constructed in the cities. Kashgar, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukhara" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Bukhara</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarkand" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Samarkand</a> became centers of learning, and Turkic literature developed. Among the most important works of the period is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutadgu_Bilig" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Kutadgu Bilig</a> (English: "The Knowledge That Gives Happiness"), written by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_Balasaghuni" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Yusuf Balasaghuni</a> between the years 1060–1070, and Lughat-at-Turk(The Turkic dictionary) by Mahmud of Kashgar.

Both the Idiqut and the Kara-Khanid states eventually submitted to the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Kara Khitai" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_Khitai" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Kara Khitais</a>. After the rise of the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Seljuk Turks" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seljuk_Turks" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Seljuk Turks</a> in Iran, the Kara-Khanids became nominal vassals of the Seljuks as well. Later they would serve the dual-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzerainty" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">suzerainty</a> of the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Kara-Khitans" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara-Khitans" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Kara-Khitans</a> to the north and the Seljuks to the south. All three states became vassals to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Genghis Khan</a> in 1209.

Most Uyghur inhabitants of the <a title="Ürümqi" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Besh Balik</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpan" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Turpan</a> regions did not convert to Islam until the 15th century expansion of the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Yarkent County" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarkent_County" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Yarkand</a> Khanate, a Turko-Mongol successor state based in western Tarim. Before converting to Islam, Uyghurs were <a title="Tengriism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengriism" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Tengriist</a>, Manichaeans, Buddhists, or <a title="Nestorianism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorianism" style="background-image: none; color: rgb(6,69,173); text-decoration: none; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Nestorian</a> Christians.

 

Chagatai Khanate