They were one of the most civilized Turkish-speaking peoples living in Central Asia. Renowned as Huihe (回紇 huíhé) in Chinese sources, they established a khanate in the 8th century while taking over the power vacuum left by the Gokturks. Huihe and Uyghurs are in fact represented as the same ethnic group by their close pronunciation and numerous anthropological evidences.
They eventually gained a significant dominance over both China and other Turkic tribes. Eventually overrun by Kirghiz and Mongol armies, they lost their independence around the end of the 12th century and were annexed by several states, the most recent of which is China.
Since the 10th century, Uyghurs are typically Muslims. Before Islam, Uyghurs were Manicheans or Buddhists, and were, in fact, not quite Uyghur. Today's Uyghurs descend from the Turkic tribe as well as the pre-Turkic Indo-European-speaking Tocharians (or Tokharians). Today, one can still see light-skinned, -haired, and -eyed citizenry belonging to the Uyghur ethnic group.
