UNESCO Collection of History of Civilizations of Central Asia : Volume IV

description of project

International Scientific Committee

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online chapter

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The age of achievement A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century

Part One:
The historical, social and economic setting

Editors
M.S. Asimov and C.E. Bosworth

Summary :

During the eight centuries covered in this volume, the new faith of Islam arose in Arabia and gradually spread eastwards and northwards, eventually affecting much of Central Asia, in the southern fringes of Siberia and the eastern regions of China. These were also the centuries in which nomadic and military empires arose in the heart of Asia, impinging on the history of adjacent, well-established civilizations and cultures - China, India, Islamic Western Asia and Christian eastern and central Europe - to an unparalleled extent. Although the region had always been content to absorb influences from the surrounding civilizations in the long run, however, it was Lamaist Buddhism which established itself in the Mongolian region and in Tibet, and Islam among the Turkish people of Transoxania, southern Siberia and Xinjiang. It was in eastern Europe, above all in Russia, that the constituting of the Turco-Mongol Golden Horde was to have a major, enduring influence on the course of the region's history.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Description of the project
M. S. Asimov,
President, International Scientific Committee

Members of the International Scientific Committee

List of contributors

Introduction
C. E. Bosworth

Chapter 1 Central Asia under the Umayyads and the early ^cAbbasids
C. E. Bosworth and O. G. Bolshakov

Chapter 2 Sectarian and national movements in Iran, Khurasan and Transoxania during Umayyad and early Abbasid times
F. Daftary

Chapter 3 The states of the Oghuz, the Kimek and the Kïpchak
S. G. Agajanov

Chapter 4 The Samanid state
N. N. Negmatov

Chapter 5 The Ghaznavids
C. E. Bosworth

Chapter 6 The Karakhanids
E. A. Davidovich

Chapter 7 The Seljuqs and the Khwarazm Shahs
A. Sevim and C. E. Bosworth

Chapter 8 The Ghurids
K. A. Nizami

Chapter 9 The Uighurs, the Kyrgyz and the Tangut (eighth to the thirteenth century)
D. Sinor, Geng Shimin and Y. I. Kychanov

Chapter 10 The western Himalayan states
A. H. Dani

Chapter 11 The Kitan and the Kara Khitay
D. Sinor

Chapter 12 The Mongols and their state in the twelfth to the thirteenth century
Sh. Bira

Chapter 13 Central Asia under the rule of Chinggis Khan's successors
A. Akhmedov revised by D. Sinor

Chapter 14 The Delhi Sultanate
Riazul Islam and C. E. Bosworth

Chapter 15 The regions of Sind, Baluchistan, Multan and Kashmir: the historical, social and economic setting
N. A. Baloch and A. Q.Rafiqi

Chapter 16 Central Asia under Timur: from 1370 to the early fifteenth century
K. Z. Ashrafyan

Chapter 17 The Timurid states in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
R. G. Mukminova

Chapter 18 Popular movements, religious trends and Sufi influence on the masses in the post-^cAbbasid period
K. A. Nizami

Chapter 19 Socio-economic development: food and clothing in eastern Iran and Central Asia
N. Kasai and S. Natsagdorj

Chapter 20 Coinage and the monetary system
E. A. Davidovich and A. H. Dani

Conclusion
C. E. Bosworth

Maps

Bibliography and References

Index

Glossary of terms