Kurla

Kurla, 'the lookout' in Uyghur, is an oasis on the northeastern rim of the Tarim Basin, where the Konqi River curves out of the hills toward Bosten Lake and the desert. The Han knew the district as the small kingdoms of Quli and Yuli, dependencies of Karashahr. Just to the north the Iron Gate gorge, some fourteen kilometres long between the Hora and Kuruktag ranges, forms the passage between the northern and southern Tarim.

After the Idiqut Uyghurs and the Karakhanids, Kurla belonged to the Chagatai khans. When the Chagatayid line failed, the Bayingolin grasslands around it became the pasture of Oirat Mongol nomads who moved south with their herds, and the oasis remained a farming and caravan stop on the edge of their lands.