Yaqub Beg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Yaqub Beg | |
|---|---|
 Muhammad Yaqub Beg, from the 1898 book by N.Veselovsky |
|
| Born | 1820 Pskent, Khanate of Kokand |
| Died | May 30, 1877 |
| Occupation | Amir of Kashgaria |
Muhammad Yaqub Bek (1820 – May 30, 1877) was an Uyghur Turk adventurer who became head of the kingdom of Kashgaria.
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[edit] Spelling variants
In English-language literature, the name of Yaqub Beg has also been spelt as Yakub Beg (Encyclopedia Britannica), Yakoob Beg (Boulger, 1878), or Ya`qūb Beg (Kim Hodong, 2004). Authors using Russian sources have also used spelling Yakub-bek (Paine, 1996[1]). A few publications in English written by Chinese authors spell his name Agubo, which is simply the Pinyin transcription of the Chinese transcription of his name, 阿古柏.
The first name, Muhammad, is subject to the usual variation in spelling as well.
[edit] Biography
Yakub Beg was born in the town of Pskent, in the Khanate of Kokand (now Piskent in the Tashkent Province of Uzbekistan). He rose rapidly through the ranks in the service of the Khanate of Kokand; by the year 1847 he was commander of the fort at Ak-Mechet until a few months before its fall to the Russian army under the command of General Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky in 1853. After the fall of the fort he fled to Bukhara.[2]
By 1865 Yakub Beg had become the commander-in-chief of the army of Kokand. Taking advantage of the Hui uprising in Xinjiang Province, located in Chinese controlled Eastern Turkestan, he captured Kashgar and Yarkand from the Chinese and gradually took control of most of the region of Eastern Turkestan, including Khotan, Aksu, Kucha, and other cities in 1867.[3] He made himself the ruler of Kashgaria with its capital in Kashgar.
He then deposed his former master, the Naqshbandi shaykh Buzurg Khan (the only survived son of Jahangir Khoja) in 1867, and declared that he was the Amir. For the first few years, he was a vassal of the Khan of Kokand, but eventually declared independence.[3]
Yakub Beg ruled at the height of The Great Game era when the British, Russian, and Chinese empires were all vying for Central Asia. Kashgaria extended from the capital Kashgar in south-western Xinjiang to Urumqi, Turpan, and Hami in central and eastern Xinjiang more than a thousand kilometers to the north-east, including a majority of what was known at the time as East Turkestan.
Yakub Beg was not particularly admired by his subjects, burdening them with heavy taxes and subjecting them to tyrannical rule.
[edit] The death of Yakub Beg
His manner of death is unclear. The Times of London and the Russian Turkestan Gazette both reported that he had died after a short illness.[4] The contemporary historian Musa Sayrami (1836-1917) states that he was poisoned in May 30, 1877 in Korla by the former hakim (local city ruler) of Yarkand, Niyaz Hakim Beg, after the latter concluded a conspiracy agreement with the Qing (Chinese) forces in Jungaria.[4] however, Niyaz Beg himself, in a letter to the Qing authorities, denied his involvement in deathe of Yakub Beg, and claimed that the Kashgarian ruler commited suicide.[4] Some say (probably, without any base in facts) that he was killed in battle with the Chinese [5]
While the contemporary Muslim writers usually explained Yakub Beg's death by poisoning, and the suicide theory was apparently the accepted truth among the Qing generals of the time, modern historians, according to Kim Hodong, think that the natural death (of a stroke) is the most plausible explanation.[4][6]
The exact date of Yakub Beg's death is also somewhat uncertain. Although Sayrami claimed that he died on April 28, 1877, modern historians think that this is impossible, as Przewalski met him, quite alive, on May 9. The Chinese sources usually gave May 22 as the date of his death, while Kuropatkin thought it to be May 29. In any event, late May, 1877 is though to be the most likely time period.[4]
[edit] Legacy
After his death his state of Kashgaria rapidly fell apart, and Kashgar was reconquered by the Qing Dynasty and later inherited by the Republic of China.
One source says that his tomb was at Kashgar but was razed by the Chinese in 1878.[7]
Today, Yakup Han's greatgrandsons are living in Turkey. TV8 anchorman Kaan Yakuphanoğullarından(his last name is translated as "from Yakup Han's sons") is one of the most well -known members of this family.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "Imperial Rivals: China, Russia, and Their Disputed Frontier", by Sarah C. M. Paine (1996) ISBN 1563247232
- ^ Soucek, Svat, A History of Inner Asia, (Cambridge University Press:2000), p. 265.
- ^ a b Shaw, Robert. Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar. John Murray, London. (1871). Reprint with new introduction (1984): Oxford University Press, pp. 53-56. ISBN 0-19-583830-0.
- ^ a b c d e Kim (2004), pp. 167-169
- ^ "Central and North Asia, 1800-1900 A.D.". metmuseum.org. 2006. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/10/nc/ht10nc.htm. Retrieved December 14, 2006.
- ^ The stroke (Russian: удар) version e.g. here: N. Veselovsky (Н. Веселовский), Badaulet Yaqun Beg, Ataliq of Kashgar (Бадаулет Якуб-бек, Аталык Кашгарский), in «Записки Восточного отделения Русского археологического общества», No. 11 (1899).
- ^ Thwaites, Richard (1986). "Real Life China 1978-1983". Rich Communications, Canberra, Australia. http://www.thwaites.com.au/rlc/chap13.htm. Retrieved December 14, 2006.
[edit] References
- Boulger, Demetrius Charles (1878). The Life of Yakoob Beg, Athalik Ghazi and Badaulet, Ameer of Kashgar. London: W. H. Allen. (Full text is available on Google Books; a recent reprint is available as e.g. ISBN 0766188450)
- Hodong Kim (2004). Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4884-5.
- Yakub Beg in Encyclopedia Britannica
- Yakub Beg Invasion (At Kashgar City official website - quite detailed, although, admittedly, not in very grammatical English)
[edit] In Literature
- Yakub Beg is a secondary character in the novel Flashman at the Charge, published in 1973.
- Demetrius Charles Boulger, The life of Yakoob Beg; Athalik Ghazi, and Badaulet; Ameer of Kashgar, London: Wm.H. Allen & Co., 1878 (From the Open Library)
[edit] External links
- [1] Copper coins of the Rebels- Rashiddin and Yakub Beg.
