Hami (Chinese: 哈密) or Kumul (Uyghur: قۇمۇل) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Xinjiang, China.

[2][3] The name I-gou, I-gu,[5] Igu,[6] &c. sometimes encountered in European discussion of Hami was a mistaken form of Yiwu introduced by Stanislas Julien in his translation of Huili's biography of Xuanzang.

[8] Following the subsequent settlement of Uyghur-speaking people in the area, Cumuḍa became known as Čungul, Xungul, Qumul, Qomul and Kumul (Yengi Yezik̡: K̡umul, K̡omul).

[10] During the Yuan dynasty the Mongolian name for the place, Qamil, transcribed into Chinese as "哈密力" (Hāmìlì), was widely used.

During the Later Han dynasty, Hami repeatedly changed hands between the Chinese and Uyghurs who both wanted to control this fertile and strategic oasis.

[15] Xuanzang visited the oasis town, famous for its melons, the first of a string of oases supplied by the Tian Shan Mountains.

Later Gunashiri, a descendant of Chagatai Khan, founded his own small state called Qara Del in Kumul or Hami, which accepted Ming supremacy in the early 15th century, but was conquered by another branch of Mongols later on.

The Ming dynasty established this region as Kumul Hami in 1404 after the Mongol kingdom Qara Del accepted its supremacy.

The Lanzhou–Xinjiang High-Speed Railway, a passenger dedicated high speed rail line running 1,776 kilometers (1,104 mi) from Lanzhou in Gansu Province to Ürümqi passes through the city.

The Lanzhou–Xinjiang Railway carries passengers and freight, connecting the rest of China to Central Asia and beyond as part of the New Eurasian Land Bridge through a border cross in Kazakhstan, and the Ejin–Hami Railway moves passengers and freight as part of a planned corridor beginning in the Bohai Gulf in North China to Torugart Pass on the border with Kyrgyzstan.

A short rail line of 374.83 km (233 mi) transports potassium salts mined near Lop Nur to Hami.

By road Hami is located along China National Highway 312, an east–west route of 4,967 km (3,086 mi) from Shanghai to Khorgas, Xinjiang in the Ili River valley, on the border with Kazakhstan.