The city of Khotan (present day Xinjiang, China) is located on the Silk Road at the fulcrum point where it branches out to the south to India, north to central Asia and west to Persia, Anatolia and Europe and is on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin. This vast desert area was the center of trading along the Silk Road. The city was once a Buddhist kingdom which existed for over a thousand years until the Muslims invaded it in 1006. Khotan rugs were made with Chinese details and Asian designs. The patterns were taken the mountains and things traded along the Silk Road, ranging from pomegranates, medallions, Buddhist and Asian motifs, and Persian and Indian designs as being part of the Silk Road they had many influences. The coloring was intense in the early days but present day is more pallid and light in color. Khotan rugs were also woven of all silk or a combination of silk and wool. They are sometimes mistaken for Samarkands. Historians believe the earliest settlers began moving to east Turkestan around 1,000 BC. Most of them were Indo-Europeans who had connections to Persia, who was at war with the Turkic nomads in the Persia as told in the epic poem, Shahnameh. They lived in the low laying areas and adopted Buddhism from India. The Silk Road was used by merchants and traders from China to western Europe.