Uyghur Khaganate

Timeline

1. c. 800–820Northern Route of the Silk Road · Northern Route of the Silk RoadIn the early 9th century the Uyghurs maintained heqin marriage alliances and tributary relations with the Tang dynasty, exchanging horses for silk and controlling trade routes north of the Hexi Corridor; Ordu-Baliq served as the hub of exchange between the steppe and the Central Plains.
2. 763–840Ordu-Baliq · Orkhon River basinUyghur Moyun Qaghan adopted Manichaeism as the state religion from 763, building Manichaean temples in the capital and forming the world's only nomadic empire with Manichaeism as its official faith; the religious system continued into the early 9th century.
3. 840Orkhon River basin · Orkhon River basinIn 840 a Kyrgyz coalition captured Ordu-Baliq, the Uyghur khagan was killed, and the khaganate fell; remnant groups migrated west to the regions north and south of the Tianshan (Gaochang Uyghurs) and to the Hexi Corridor (Ganzhou Uyghurs), and steppe hegemony shifted.