The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhist kingdom that was located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). The ancient capital was originally located to the west of modern-day Hotan  at Yotkan. From the Han dynasty until at least the Tang dynasty it was known in Chinese as Yutian (, 于窴, or 於闐). The kingdom existed for over a thousand years until it was conquered by the Muslims in 1006.