Central Asia in World History Read online

  Anonymous. The Secret History of the Mongols. Translated by Igor de Rachewiltz. 2 vols. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2004.

  Barthold, W. [V. V. Bartol’d]. Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion. 3rd ed. Translated by T. Minorsky. Edited by C. E. Bosworth. London, 1968.

  Beckwith, Christopher I. The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.

  Biran, Michal. The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

  Clavijo, Don Ruiz Gonzales de. Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406. Translated by Guy Le Strange. London: Routledge, 1928. Reprint, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1994.

  Dawson, Christopher, ed. Mission to Asia. London: Sheed and Ward, 1980.

  de la Vaissière, Étienne. Sogdian Traders: A History. Translated by James Ward. Leiden: Brill, 2005.

  DeWeese, Devin. Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde. University Park: Penn State Press, 1994.

  Frye, Richard N. The Heritage of Central Asia. Princeton: Markus Wiener, 1996.

  Hâjib, Yûsuf Khâss. Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig): A Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes. Translated by Robert Dankoff. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.

  Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the West, 1221-1410. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.

  Juvainî, ‘Ata-Malik. The History of the World-Conqueror. Translated by John A. Boyle. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958.

  Mackerras, Colin. The Uighur Empire According to the T’ang Dynastic Histories. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1972.

  Manz, Beatrice F. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

  Marshak, Boris. Legends, Tales, and Fables in the Art of Sogdiana. New York: Bibliotheca Persica Press, 2002.

  Morgan, David. The Mongols. Oxford: Blackwell, 1986.

  Narshakhî, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ja’far. The History of Bukhara. Translated by Richard N. Frye. Cambridge, MA: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1954.

  Pan, Yihong. Son of Heaven and Heavenly Qaghan: Sui-Tang China and its Neighbors. Bellingham, WA: Western Washington University Press, 1997.

  Polo, Marco. The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition. 2 vols. New York: Dover, 1993.

  Rashîd al-Dîn, Fadlallâh. The Successors of Genghis Khan. Translated by John A. Boyle. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971.

  Ratchnevsky, Paul. Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy. Translated by Thomas N. Haining. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991.

  Rubruck, William of. The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck. Translated by Peter Jackson. Edited by Peter Jackson and David Morgan. Hakluyt Society, second series, vol. 173. London: Hakluyt Society, 1990.

  Wriggins, Sally Hovey. Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996.

  EARLY MODERN

  Babur. The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor. Translated, edited, and annotated by Wheeler M. Thackston. New York: Oxford Universty Press, 1998.

  Bergholz, Fred W. The Partition of the Steppe: The Struggle of the Russians, Manchus, and the Zunghar Mongols for Empire in Central Asia, 1619-1758. New York: Peter Lang, 1993.

  Dughlat, Mirza Muhammad Haidar. A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia being the Tarikh-i Rashidi. Edited by N. Elias. Translated by E. Dennison Ross. London, 1895. Reprint, London: Curzon Press, 1972.

  Perdue, Peter C. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005.

  MODERN

  Allworth, Edwin. Central Asia: 130 Years of Russian Dominance, A Historical Overview. 3rd ed. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002.

  Bawden, Charles R. The Modern History of Mongolia. New York: Frederick Praeger, 1968.

  Brower, Daniel R., and Edward J. Lazzarini, eds. Russia’s Orient. Imperial Borderlands and Peoples, 1700-1917. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997.

  Crews, Robert D. For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.

  d’Encausse, Hélène Carrère. Islam and the Russian Empire: Reform and Revolution in Central Asia. Translated by Quintin Hoare. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

  Hiro, Dilip. Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz. New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2009.

  Khalid, Adeeb. Islam after Communism: Religion and Politics in Central Asia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.

  Khalid, Adeeb. The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

  Khodarkovsky, Michael. Russia’s Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire 1500-1800. Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 2002.

  Landau, Jacob, and Barbara Kellner-Heinkele. Politics of Language in the Ex-Soviet Muslim States. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2001.

  Northrop, Douglas. Veiled Empire: Gender and Power in Stalinist Central Asia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004.

  Roy, Olivier. The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

  Rudelson, Justin J. Oasis Identities: Uyghur Nationalism Along China’s Silk Road. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.

  Sahadeo, Jeff, and Russell Zanca, eds. Everyday Life in Central Asia Past and Present. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007.

  Websites

  Asia Society: Country Profiles

  www.asiasociety.org/countries-history/country-profiles

  This excellent reference website

  provides a clear and current overview

  and statistics about the countries of

  Asia, including Central Asia.

  Illustrated with maps and flags.

  Buddhist Art and Trade Routes

  www.asiasocietymuseum.com/buddhist_trade/index.html

  The Asia Society hosts this website of

  images, maps, and articles about

  Buddhist art and the Silk Road.

  Central Eurasia Project of the Open Society Institute

  www.eurasianet.org/

  This news website covers economic

  and civil topics in Central Asia.

  Articles are supplemented by interviews,

  slideshows, blogs, and videos.

  Dunhuang Academy

  www.dha.ac.cn/

  This website provides photos and

  information on the history of selected

  grottos from the Mogao caves.

  Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

  www.metmuseum.org/toah/

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  provides timelines and articles on art

  from all over the world, divided into

  regions. The geographic section “Central

  and North Asia” is most relevant. The

  site includes essays devoted to Genghis

  Khan, Mongolian tents, and archaeological

  investigation of Ma’lta.

  The Hermitage

  http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_5_11.html

  The Hermitage Museum provies an

  overview of its rich holdings in

  Central Asian art and artifacts,

  including pages devoted to the

  collection highlights.

  International Dunhuang Project: The Silk Road Online

  http://idp.bl.uk/

  This site is an international collaboration

  of institutes holding the world’s

  best Silk Road collections. The site

  includes a searchable database of art,

  artifacts, and documents; articles and

  newsletters on Silk Road history and

  research; and a categorized list of links

  to useful sites.

  Monks and Merchants: Silk Road Treasures from Northwestern China, Gansu, and Ningxia

  http://sites.asiasociety.org
/arts/monksandmerchants/

  This online exhibit from the Asia

  Society presents images of sculptures,

  artifacts, and documents, each with a

  short article.

  Silk Road Seattle

  http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/index.html

  A public education project sponsored

  by the University of Washington, this

  sprawling website includes illustrated

  articles on history, architecture, and

  culture, as well as annotated bibliographies,

  an electronic atlas, and

  historical documents translated into

  English.

  The Transoxiana Pages

  http://www.oxuscom.com/centasia.htm

  This website includes a collection of

  articles and detailed chronologies by

  Mark Dickens, as well as a useful list

  of links to other general sites on

  Central Asia.

  Acknowledgments

  Iwould like to thank Nancy Toff of Oxford University Press and the series editors, Bonnie Smith and Anand Yang, for their patience and guidance in the preparation of this book. I would also like to acknowledge the sharp editorial eye of Karen Fein and the many technical contributions of Sonia Tycko.

  For many years I have benefited from an ongoing conversation on Central Asian history with my friends and colleagues Thomas T. Allsen, Nicola Di Cosmo, and Anatoly M. Khazanov. I would also like to thank my students at Rutgers University to whom I first began to introduce the peoples and cultures of Central Asia some thirty-six years ago. It is with them in mind that this book was written. Needless to say, I alone am responsible for any errors of fact or mistakes in interpretation.

  My son, Greg, has always managed to find time from his own busy scholarly activity to solve his father’s computer problems and for that I am truly grateful. My wife, Sylvia Wu Golden, has been my greatest helpmate in all things and to her this book is dedicated.

  Index

  ‘Abbâsids, 61, 64, 70, 74, 84, 89

  ‘Abd al-’Azîz Sâmî, 125

  ‘Abd al-Latîf, 98

  ‘Abdallâh II, 114

  Abdurrauf Fitrat, 130

  Abu Bakr, 100

  Abu Ja’far Muhammad al-Khwârazmî, 67

  Abu Shâma, 84–85

  Abu’l-Khayr Khan, 102–3, 105

  Achaemenid Empire, 23

  Achaemenids, 16, 17, 25

  Afghanistan, 2, 6, 9, 21, 24–25, 32, 40, 42, 54, 58, 71, 116, 124–25

  Age of Reason, 115

  Agni, 52

  agrarian states, 1

  agriculture, 4, 9, 12, 19, 22, 25, 33, 47, 49, 53, 71, 128

  Ahmad Durrânî Khan, 124

  Ahriman, 22

  Aitmatov, Chingiz, 136

  Alan-Qo’a, 79

  Alans, 33

  Alash Orda political party, 131–32

  al-Bîrûnî, 57, 61, 72

  Alexander the Great, 16–17, 20, 25, 52

  ‘lim Khan, 115

  al-Jâhiz, 64

  al-Ma’mûn, 67

  al-Muqaddasî, 50

  al-Musta’sim, 84

  Alp Arslan, 74

  Alp Tigin, 71

  Alpamïsh tale, 120

  alphabets, 87

  al-Qaeda, 137–38

  al-Qânûn fî at-Tibb, 67, 68

  al-Tabarî, 60

  Altai Mountains, 37, 40

  Altaic language, 7, 22

  Altan Khan, 110–12, 155n16

  Altan Tobchi, 111

  Altay Mountains, 3–4, 85

  Altin-Depe, 10

  al-’Umarî, 91

  al-’Utbî, 72

  Amasanji, 103

  Ambaghai Khan, 77

  Amur Darya River, 1, 4

  Amursana, 120

  An Lushan, 44

  Anagui, 37

  Anatolia, 74–75

  ancestor worship. See religion

  Ancient Letters, 50–51

  animal sacrifice, 57, 92–93

  Aq Mechit, 125

  Arabic language, 47, 61

  Arabs, 44, 50, 53, 58–62

  Aral Sea, 2, 4

  Aramaic, 61–62

  Ariq Böke, 84

  Armenia, 75, 84

  artwork, 23, 24, 32–33, 46, 51, 54, 98–99

  Ashina Türks, 37, 39, 43

  Ashing, 110

  Ashkhabad, 2, 10, 127

  Ashoka, 52

  Astrakhan, 101, 108

  astronomy, 98

  ‘Atâ Malik Juvainî, 77

  atheism, 67, 135

  Atil, 65

  Attila, 33–34, 38

  Aurangzîb, 116

  Avars, 35–38

  Avar-Wei wars, 37

  Ayuki Khan, 117

  Azeri Turks, 75

  Baatur Khungtaiji, 117–18

  Baba Tükles, 92

  Babur, 106–7

  Bactria, 24–25, 31–32, 52, 54

  Bagha Tarqan Kül Chur, 60

  Baghdad, 65, 74

  Baikal, 77

  Baktra, 52

  Balkans, 38, 65, 86

  Balkh, 114

  Bamiyan, 54

  Ban Chao, 31

  Barchuq, 81

  Barlas, 94

  Barsbay, 100

  Bashkiria, 124

  Bashkirs, 132

  Basmïl, 44

  Battle of Ankara, 96

  Battle of Köse Da, 84

  Batu, 83, 85, 91

  Batu Möngke, 103–4

  Belarus’, 83

  Berbers, 58

  Berke, 91–92

  Bezeklik, 46

  Bhatnir, 97

  Bibi Khanum mosque, 99

  Bilge Qaghan, 42–44

  bilingualism, 7–8, 134

  Black Sea, 2, 6, 10, 37, 49, 63

  blood-sweating horses, 29–30

  Bogdo Khan, 139

  Bögü Qaghan, 44–45

  Bökey Khan, 124

  Bolad Agha, 87

  Bolsheviks, 131–32

  Börte, 79, 87

  bows and arrows, 11–12, 22

  Brahui, 9

  Brezhnev, Leonid, 136

  bride diplomacy, 39

  Buddhism

  Afghanistan, 32, 54

  Altan Khan, 110–12

  artwork, 32–33, 46

  Buddha statues, 52, 54

  in Central Asia, 2

  in China, 35, 55

  deva, 56

  Graeco-Bactria, 25

  Hephthalites, 36

  idol worship, 58

  in India, 52

  Kalmyks, 117

  Kushan coinage, 32

  Lamaistic Buddhism, 105, 106, 111

  madrasas, 68

  Mogao Caves, 48

  Mongol Empire, 110–13, 126

  Mongolia, 2

  Mongol-Oirat Code, 118

  nomads, 110

  paper making, 60

  pilgrimages, 33

  Qara Khitai, 75

  and shamanism, 111

  Sogdia, 55

  under the Soviet Union, 135

  Tatpar Qaghan, 43

  Tibetan civil war, 47

  Uighurs, 47

  Yellow Uighurs, 62

  Bukhara, 2, 18, 20, 40, 53, 57, 59, 66, 73, 82, 112, 114–16, 122–25, 127, 131

  Bulgaria, 65

  Bulgharo-Turkic language, 101

  Bulghars, 65, 70, 83

  Bumïn, 37

  burial sites, 42

  Burma, 89

  Burnaby, Frederick G., 122

  Burnes, Alexander, 122–23

  Burushaski language, 9

  Byzantine Empire, 86

  Byzantium, 15, 38–40, 42, 65, 74

  Cambodia, 90

  camels, 12–13, 51

  cannibalism, 63–64

  caravansary, 19–20, 116

  Caspian Sea, 31, 65

  Caspian-Pontic steppes, 33

  Castiglione, Giuseppe, 119

  Catherine the Great, 120, 124
>
  Caucasia, 33

  Caucasus Mountains, 9, 65

  Central Asia

  Arab conquests, 58

  Bolsheviks, 132–33

  brain drain, 115

  and China, 2, 60–61

  Cyrus invasion, 25

  ecology, 4

  geography of, 1–4

  Great Game, 122

  Ice Age, 9

  Islam, 1–3, 61, 67–68, 114–15

  linguistic history, 2, 7, 62

  Mongol conquest of, 82

  Muscovy, 108

  political organization, 137–38

  produce, 19

  Qaghanate rulers, 37–38

  Qing Dynasty, 121

  religions of, 1–3

  and Russia, 121, 127

  silk diplomacy, 38

  Tang Dynasty, 41

  Türk Empire, 49

  Châch, 59

  Chaghadaids, 83, 85–86, 93, 95

  Chaghatay Turkic, 107

  Chaghrï, 74

  châkar, 53–54, 64

  Chakhars, 104

  Chang’an, 42

  Charlemagne, 38

  Cherniaev, M. G., 125

  Chiang Kai-shek, 138

  China. See also individual dynasties

  al-Qaeda, 138

  Arab conquests, 58–59

  and Buddhism, 35, 55

  and Central Asia, 2, 60–61

  Cultural Revolution, 138

  Four Garrisons of the Anxi

  Protectorate, 52

  Great Wall of China, 3, 26, 110, 113

  gunpowder weapons, 104

  Hun incursions, 34

  Kushan Empire trade, 33

  linguistic history, 6

  map, 3

  and the Mongol Empire, 86, 138–39

  Nestorians, 58

  and nomads, 15

  Ordos region, 30

  paper making, 60, 87

  power struggle with Muslims, 60

  Qing Dynasty, 109

  Qitan, 49

  Revolution of 1911, 138

  Silk Road, 16, 31, 38

  Sogdians, 50, 61

  steppe vs. agrarian cultures, 4

  Tabghach (Tuoba), 35

  Treaty of Kiakhta, 139

  Treaty of Nerchinsk, 109–10

  Türk Empire, 40

  and Vietnam, 41

  war-chariots, 11

  Wuhuan, 31

  and the Xiongnu, 29

  Chinggis Khan. See Mongol Empire

  Chinggisids, 101, 105–6, 111, 124

  chopsticks, 88

  Christianity, 23, 36, 47, 55, 58, 61, 65, 75, 88, 108, 125, 135

  Chu valley, 71

  civil war, 60–61

  Clavijo, Don Ruiz Gonzales de, 94–96

  climate change, 10–11, 115

  clothing, 17, 28, 42, 73, 78

  coinage, 27, 32, 69, 73, 114, 118

  combat elephants, 72, 74