Hāmì

Hami, also known as Kumul, is an oasis at the eastern gateway to the lands beyond the Gansu corridor. Water from the Tian Shan sustains orchards and fields amid the surrounding desert, and its sweet melons have long been celebrated. Known as Yiwu under the Han and Yizhou under the Tang, the oasis was a valuable station for armies and caravans travelling between China and Central Asia.

In the late fourteenth century the Chagatayid prince Gunashiri established the small kingdom of Qara Del here. Its rulers accepted Ming overlordship in 1404, but Hami was contested by the Ming, the Oirats and the rulers of Turpan. In 1513 Mansur Khan conquered the oasis, bringing the kingdom to an end and Islam to the city. Its position made it a prize for rival powers on either side of the desert. During the wars between the Qing and the Dzungars, Hami's ruler submitted to the Qing and received a hereditary title in the 1690s. The oasis became the seat of a local dynasty under Qing authority. Its rulers governed an agricultural population whose crops and fruit continued to provision the road across the eastern frontier.