Shanshan

E122566

Shanshan was an ancient oasis kingdom in the eastern Tarim Basin, known for its role as a Silk Road crossroads and its mix of Indo-European and Chinese cultural influences.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Shanshan canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Silk Road polity
ancient kingdom
oasis state
archaeologyBy Aurel Stein
Sven Hedin
borderedBy Taklamakan Desert
capital Loulan
declineCause desiccation around Lop Nur
shifting trade routes
economyBasedOn caravan trade
irrigated agriculture
ethnicComposition Chinese settlers
Indo-European-speaking population
existedFromCentury 2nd century BCE
existedUntilCentury 4th century CE
flourishedInCentury 3rd century CE
4th century CE
hasAlternativeName Kroraina
Krorayina
Loulan
hasArchaeologicalSite Loulan
surface form: Loulan ruins

Niya site
hasCulturalInfluence Buddhist
Chinese
Indo-European language family
surface form: Indo-European
hasDiscovery Buddhist manuscripts
mummies and burials
wooden documents in Kharosthi
knownFor Silk Road trade
control of desert routes
oasis agriculture
locatedIn Central Asia
Xinjiang
Tarim Basin
surface form: eastern Tarim Basin
mentionedIn Hanshu
Hou Hanshu
modernAdministrativeArea Xinjiang
surface form: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
modernTerritoryWithin China
surface form: People's Republic of China
partOf Silk Road routes
surface form: Silk Road
politicalStatus vassal state of Han dynasty China
religion Buddhism
local Indo-European cults
situatedNear Lop Nur
usedLanguage Chinese
Gandhari Prakrit
Krorainic language
usedScript Chinese script
Kharoṣṭhī script
surface form: Kharosthi script

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Tarim Basin ancientStates Shanshan