Kara-Khitai founded by Yelü Dashi

1112

A Khitan prince fleeing the collapse of the Liao dynasty at the hands of the Jurchen led his followers west across the Central Asian steppe and established the Kara-Khitai - the Western Liao - between the Altai Mountains and Samarkand. This Buddhist-ruled empire governing Muslim subjects with surprising tolerance astonished Arab geographers, who called it a land where all faiths could worship freely.