Key Facts
- Duration
- c. 1389 – 1513
- Founded by
- Yuan prince Gunashiri
- Ruling dynasty
- Chagatayids
- Ming administrative unit
- Hami Guard (哈密衛), established 1406
- Ming vassal title
- Obedient King (忠順王)
Imperial Zenith Metrics
Historical Trajectory
Phase I: Rise
Kara Del was founded around 1389 by Gunashiri, a Yuan prince descended from Chagatai Khan, in the Hami oasis of what is now Xinjiang. Positioned along key Silk Road routes, the kingdom established itself as a tributary state of the Ming dynasty from the 1380s onward, acknowledging Ming suzerainty while maintaining local Chagatayid rule under the Jimi system of loose imperial oversight.
Phase II: Zenith
At its height, Kara Del functioned as an important gateway kingdom controlling the Hami oasis, a strategic node connecting Central Asia with China proper. Its rulers held the Ming-conferred title of Obedient King and governed under the Hami Guard administrative framework from 1406. The kingdom simultaneously navigated influence from the Northern Yuan, balancing competing powers to preserve local Chagatayid authority across the late 14th and 15th centuries.
Phase III: Decline
Kara Del's collapse came in 1513, driven by the escalating military conflicts between the Ming dynasty and the Oirats combined with internal dynastic succession struggles. Chagatayid rule had effectively ended by 1463, and the kingdom could not withstand the converging pressures of external warfare and political instability. Its destruction ended over a century of Mongol rule in the Hami oasis, leaving the region fully contested between Ming China and Central Asian powers.
Notable Imperial Reigns
Selected rulers mapping the empire’s trajectory