city
Kashgar
Kashgar, Xinjiang, China · Silk Road / overland route
39.468, 75.994
Route context. The Christian evidence here is later, from the late 12th century.
Attested. Attested from the late 12th century. Earlier Christian presence is likely but undocumented; this falls after the brief's c. 1100 horizon and is included for route continuity.
Kashgar was the Tarim Basin gateway on the Silk Road. A Church of the East metropolitan see 'of Kashgar and Nawekath' existed by the late 12th century (created by Patriarch Eliya III), and Marco Polo noted Nestorian churches there around 1273.
Source stance: insider. Church lists; Marco Polo (neutral traveller).
People and groups named here
- Patriarch Eliya III (1176-1190)
- Marco Polo (visitor c. 1273)
Related places
Sources
- KASHGAR
Encyclopaedia Iranica. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- CHRISTIANITY iii. In Central Asia and Chinese Turkestan
Nicholas Sims-Williams, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Dioceses of the Church of the East to 1318 (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.