Uyghur (also known as Uighur, Uygur, Uigur, Weiwuer) is a member of the Turkic branch of the Altaic language family.It is spoken by 7.2 million people in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China, also known as Chinese Turkestan, Eastern Turkistan, or Uyghuristan. Its capital is Ürümqi. It is also spoken by some 300,000 people in Kazakhstan. In addition, there are Uyghur-speaking communities in most countries of Central Asia, as well as in the United States and United Kingdom. The total population of Uyghur speakers around the world is estimated at 7.6 million people (Ethnologue).
In ancient times, the Uyghurs lived in an area of present-day Mongolia, where they had established a state which existed until 840 AD when it was defeated by Kyrgyz invaders. After their defeat, some Uyghurs moved to Ordos in northern China. They are believed to be the ancestors of Yugur, or Yellow Uyghurs, whose language is different from Uyghur. A much larger group of Uyghurs moved to Turfan in northeastern China, where they established another state which endured until the 15th century. These people spoke what is now the Turfan and Qashgar dialects of Uyghur.
Following the establishment of the Central Asian kingdom Chagatai Khanate, the term Uyghur gradually disappeared. The official language was Chagatai, an artificial literary language based on Uyghur and Uzbek. The term Uyghur re-appeared in 1921 when it was officially re-eastablished as the name of the Uyghur people.
Standard Modern Uyghur differs from the Uyghur spoken before the establishment of the Chagatai Khanate. In the 19th century, large numbers of Uyghurs from different parts of Eastern Turkestan settled in areas along the Ili River. Their dialect arose from a mixture of the varieties spoken by the new settlers and the local Ili variety that played a dominant role in the formation of modern standard Uyghur.
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