The Tocharians: The Enigmatic History of the Ancient Ethnic Groups in East Asia

Located in the Tarim Basin of Asia during the first few centuries CE, a people and a kingdom grew to prominence in medieval central and east Asian geopolitics. The people are known today as the Tocharians, and their primary kingdom was Kucha, but despite their longevity, this incredible kingdom and its people have been overlooked and misunderstood by modern societies and historians for centuries. The lack of in-depth studies on the Tocharians largely stems from the fact that they are relatively newcomers to the modern academic scene - it was only in the late 19th century that historians identified them as a distinct ethnic group, and even today, philologists, historians, and archaeologists still have much to uncover about these enigmatic people and their kingdom. A potential early misidentification caused much of this confusion, yet scholars were also left wondering how the Tocharians came to occupy the Tarim Basin, which was perhaps based on the biases of 19th century historians. What has been uncovered so far is truly fascinating and important in the larger picture of Asian and Indo-European history.

When scholars first discovered the Tocharians in the late 19th century, they were amazed that Caucasian people who spoke an Indo-European language flourished so far away from the Indo-European homeland and other Indo-European peoples. Scholars immediately developed several theories to explain this apparent anomaly: some were quite logical and formed the basis for current models, while others were quickly and rightfully forgotten. An examination of the textual, archaeological, and art history sources reveals that the Tocharians played a major impact in the affairs of East and Central Asia, indirectly through their predecessors and their descendants, but also directly through trade, diplomacy, and most of all, religion.

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