3,646 m or 11,962 ft), was a nomad camping ground and historical caravan halting place in the Karakash River valley, close to Khotan, in the southwestern part of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China.

The modern town of Saitula (Xeyidula) is located next to the old fort of Suget Karaul built by the Qing administration (of China) about 10 km (30 "Chinese miles") southeast of the original site.

The entire area between the Karakoram range and the Kunlun Mountains is mostly uninhabited and has very little vegetation, except for the river valleys of Yarkand and Karakash.

Kulbhushan Warikoo states that, of the two trade routes between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, one in the west through Chitral and the Pamirs, and the other in the east through Shahidulla and Ladakh, the eastern route was more favoured by the traders as it was relatively safe from robberies and political turmoil:Such was the safety of this route that in the event of unfavourable weather or death of ponies, traders would march to a safe place leaving behind their goods which were fetched after the climate became favourable or substitute transport became available.

In the first century BC, Kashmir and Khotan on the two sides of the Karakoram range formed a joint kingdom, which was ruled by either Scythian or Turki (Elighur) chiefs.

Towards the end of the first century AD, the kingdom broke up into two parts: Khotan being annexed by the Chinese and Kashmir by Kanishka.

[25] The Kirghiz faced periodic raids from the Kanjutis of Hunza, who controlled the Yarkand River valley (called "Raskam") and had protection from China.

[26] The Dogra ruler of Jammu, Raja Gulab Singh, then a vassal of the Sikh Empire, conquered Ladakh in 1834.

[28][b] This was of no consequence to the Chinese in Turkestan (present day Xinjiang) as they viewed the northern Kunlun range as their border.

Since regular trade caravans passed through the area, which were open to robber raids, securing it became important to the new Dogra regime in Kashmir.

[33] Around 1864, when the Chinese authority in Turkestan was overthrown by the Kokand chieftain Yakub Beg, the Dogra governor of Ladakh stationed a garrison of troops at the fort.

[32][e] In the interim, in 1865, the British surveyor W. H. Johnson, tasked with surveying the Ladakhi territory "up to Chinese frontiers",[38] received an invitation for a visit from the Khan of Khotan named Haji Habibullah.

The Forsyth Mission recognised Shahidullah as part of the "Khan's dominion",[39] and placed the boundary between British Empire and Turkestan at Ak-tagh, south of the Suget Pass.

They however stuck to their original posts (karawals) on the north side of the Kilian and Sanju passes, and showed no interest in occupying Shahidulla.

[43] Simultaneously, Younghusband was sent on a second mission to Yarkand to "induce" the Chinese officials to expand and fill out the no man's land.

[44] The means he used to induce them are not precisely known, but by the end of his mission, the Chinese officials showed a firm commitment to occupy Shahidulla, and even all the area up to the Karakoram Pass.

By the early 20th century, the Shahidullah region was under Chinese control and considered part of Xinjiang Province,[48] and has remained so ever since.