Almaliq

Almaliq was an important city of the upper Ili valley, amid the pastures and cultivated lands of the high northern Tian Shan mountains. Its name, associated with apples, belonged to a busy trading centre on the long-distance routes between Central Asia and China. Under Mongol rule it became a residence of Chagatai and his successors, bringing merchants, envoys and religious communities to the heart of the khanate.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Christians of the Church of the East and Muslim communities lived in the city, alongside the merchants and officials who served the Mongol court. The historian Ata Malik Juvayni stayed there in 1253 while travelling on imperial business. Franciscan missionaries also reached Almaliq; several were killed in 1339 during a change of rulers. A papal envoy, Giovanni de' Marignolli, passed through the Ili valley soon afterwards on his journey toward the Yuan court.

In the later fourteenth century Almaliq remained associated with the rulers of Moghulistan. The tomb of Tughluq Timur, who embraced Islam, stands among the remains of the old city and its decorated brickwork recalls the architectural traditions of the Chagatai world. By the time Babur wrote at the end of the fifteenth century, he described Almaliq among the once flourishing towns that had fallen into desolation.