High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Uyghur Empire was a Turkic empire that existed for about a century between the mid 8th and 9th centuries. They were a tribal confederation under the Orkhon Uyghur nobility, referred to by the Chinese as the Jiu Xing ("Nine Clans"). A rebellion in 742 against the ruling Göktürk Khaganate by the Uyghur, Karluk, and Basmyl tribes left an immense power vacuum in Mongolia and Central Asia. The Basmyls captured the Göktürk capital Ötügen and their king Özmish Khan in 744, effectively taking charge of the region.