There have long been disputes about the tectonic attribution of the Tarim plate. Does it be-long to the North China plate or to Yangtze plate? Or is it an independent plate?In this paper, based on the features of the Precambrian basement, the sequence of Paleozoic sedimentary formations, the appearance of the paleobiogeographic province and the data of paleo-magnetism, the authors have come to the following conclusions. (1) The Tarim plate can be con-sidered as an independent plate with the Precambrian continental crustal basement. There were oceanic basins of different sizes between Tarim and its surrounding plates in the Paleozoic and earlier. (2) The Tarim plate was situated in the south hemisphere during the early Paleozoic, close to the Yangtze plate and far from the North China plate. (3) At the end of the Early Paleo-zoic, the Tarim plate collided with the Yili block of the Kasakhstan plate and then with the North China plate in the Late Palaeozoic. By the Triassic, the Tarim plate collided with the Yangtze plate to form the Eurasian continent.