The General Conference of UNESCO, at its nineteenth
session (Nairobi, October, November 1976), adopted the resolution
which authorized the Director-General to undertake, among other
activities aimed at promoting appreciation and respect for cultural
identity, a new project on the preparation of a History of Civilizations
of Central Asia. This project was a natural consequence of a pilot
project on the study of Central Asia which was approved during the
fourteenth session of the UNESCO General Conference in November
1966.
The purpose of this pilot project, as it was
formulated in the UNESCO programme, was to make better known the
civilizations of the peoples living in the regions of Central Asia
through studies of their archaeology, history, languages and literature.
At its initial stage, the participating Member States included Afghanistan,
India, Iran, Pakistan and the former Soviet Union. Later, Mongolia
and China joined the UNESCO Central Asian project, thus enlarging
the area to cover the cultures of Mongolia and the western regions
of China.
In this work, Central Asia should be understood
as a cultural entity developed in the course of the long history
of civilizations of peoples of the region and the above delimitation
should not be taken as rigid boundaries either now or in the future.
In the absence of any existing survey of such
large scope which could have served as a model, UNESCO has had to
proceed by stages in this difficult task of presenting an integrated
narrative of complex historical events from earliest times to the
present day.
The first stage was designed to obtain better
knowledge of the civilizations of Central Asia by encouraging archaeological
and historical research and the study of literature and the history
of science. A new project was therefore launched to promote studies
in five major domains: the archaeology and the history of the Kushan
empire, the history of the arts of Central Asia, the contribution
of the peoples of Central Asia to the development of science, the
history of ideas and philosophy, and the literatures of Central
Asia.
An International Association for the Study of
Cultures of Central Asia (IASCCA), a non-governmental scholarly
organization, was founded on the initiative of the Tajik scholar
B. Gafurov in 1973, assembling scholars of the area for the co-ordination
of interdisciplinary studies of their own cultures and the promotion
of regional and international co-operation.
Created under the auspices of UNESCO, the new
Association became, from the very beginning of its activity, the
principal consultative body of UNESCO in the implementation of its
programme on the study of Central Asian cultures and the preparation
of a History of Civilizations of Central Asia.
The second stage concentrated on the modern aspects
of Central Asian civilizations and the eastward extension of the
geographical boundaries of research in the new programme. A series
of international scholarly conferences and symposia were organized
in the countries of the area to promote studies on Central Asian
cultures.
Two meetings of experts, held in 1978 and 1979
at UNESCO Headquarters, concluded that the project launched in 1967
for the study of cultures of Central Asia had led to considerable
progress in research and contributed to strengthening existing institutions
in the countries of the region. The experts consequently advised
the Secretariat on the methodology and the preparation of the
History. On the basis of its recommendations it was decided
that this publication should consist of six volumes covering chronologically
the whole history of Central Asian civilizations ranging from their
very inception up to the present. Furthermore, the experts recommended
that the experience acquired by UNESCO during the preparation of
the History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind
and of the General History of Africa should also be taken
into account by those responsible for the drafting of the History.
As to its presentation, they supported the opinion expressed by
the UNESCO Secretariat that the publication, while being a scholarly
work, should be accessible to a general readership.
Since history constitutes an uninterrupted sequence
of events, it was decided not to give undue emphasis to any specific
date. Events preceding or subsequent to those indicated here are
dealt with in each volume whenever their inclusion is justified
by the requirements of scholarship.
The third and final stage consisted of setting
up in August 1980 an International Scientific
Committee of nineteen members, who sit in a personal capacity,
to take responsibility for the preparation of the History.
The Committee thus created included two scholars from each of the
seven Central Asian countries – Afghanistan, China, India, Islamic
Republic of Iran, Pakistan, Mongolia and the former USSR – and five
experts from other countries – Hungary, Japan, Turkey, the United
Kingdom and the United States of America. Since the disintegration
of the USSR, five new republics – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – have been formed within the Central
Asian subregion bringing the total number of twelve Member States.
A new International Scientific Committee
of sixteen members was appointed in 1993 by the Director-General
including one scholar from each country in Central Asia and four
from the other countries – France, Japan, Turkey and the United
States of America.
The Committee’s first session was held at UNESCO
Headquarters in December 1980. Real work on the preparation of the
publication of the History of Civilizations of Central Asia
started, in fact, in 1981. It was decided that scholars selected
by virtue of their qualifications and achievements relating to Central
Asian history and culture should ensure the objective presentation,
and also the high scientific and intellectual standard, of this
History.
Members of the International Scientific Committee
decided that the new project should correspond to the noble aims
and principles of UNESCO and thereby should contribute to the promotion
of mutual understanding and peace between nations. The Committee
followed the recommendation of the experts delineating for the purpose
of this work the geographical area of Central Asia to reflect the
common historical and cultural experience.
The first session of the International Committee
decided most of the principal matters concerning the implementation
of this complex project, beginning with the drafting of plans and
defining the objectives and methods of work of the Committee itself.
The Bureau of the International Scientific Committee
consists of a president, four vice–presidents and a rapporteur.
The Bureau’s task is to supervise the execution of the project between
the sessions of the International Scientific Committee. The reading
committee, consisting of four members, was created in 1986 to revise
and finalize the manuscripts after editing Volumes I and II. Another
reading committee was constituted in 1989 for Volumes III and IV.
The authors and editors are scholars from the
present twelve countries of Central Asia and experts from other
regions. Thus, this work is the result of the regional and of the
international collaboration of scholars within the framework of
the programme of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The International Scientific Committee and myself
express particular gratitude to Mrs Irene Iskender-Mochiri for her
arduous and selfless work in preparing the volumes for the press.
It is our sincere hope that the publication of
the History of Civilizations of Central Asia will be a further
step towards the promotion of the cultural identity of the peoples
of Central Asia, strengthening their common cultural heritage and,
consequently, will foster a better understanding among the peoples
of the world.