In 1759, the Qing dynasty of China defeated the Dzungar Khanate and completed the conquest of Dzungaria. Concurrent with this conquest, the Qing occupied the Altishahr region of Eastern Turkestan which had been settled by Muslims who followed the political and religious leadership of Afaq Khoja. Beginning at that time and lasting for approximately one hundred years, the Āfāqī Khojas waged numerous military campaigns as a part of a holy war in an effort to retake Altishahr from the Qing.