Central Asia in World History (The New Oxford World History) [ペーパーバック]

This book is an introduction to the world of Central Asia,
It explains the domination of central asia by Iranian Speaking Peoples and their replacement and absorption in the medieval times by Turkic Speakers. However the book offers more than that and it gives a political narrative as well as cultural history of the region without tying it to one ethnic group or another; Which the author has succeded at.

If you're looking for a comprehensive, detailed and exhaustive survey; look elsewhere. However this book does provide the general reader a nice introduction to the historical topics of the region.

We are planning a trip along the Silk Road from Western China through Uzbekistan this fall, and have started to read through a suggested reading list from the American Museum of Natural History. Two years ago, the museum put on a wonderful exhibit on the Silk Road; a link to the permanent online version appears in the first Comment to this Review. My companion was an explainer during the exhibit, and she has infected us both with great enthusiasm for the trip.

The Museum recommended this book as a very useful overview of the region for the general reader and traveler: "A vast region stretching roughly from the Volga River to Manchuria and the northern Chinese borderlands, Central Asia has been called the "pivot of history," a land where nomadic invaders and Silk Road traders changed the destinies of states that ringed its borders, including pre-modern Europe, the Middle East, and China. In Central Asia in World History, Peter B. Golden provides an engaging account of this important region, ranging from prehistory to the present, focusing largely on the unique melting pot of cultures that this region has produced over millennia."

This book is one of the Oxford University Press's "New World History Series" designed to introduce a region "in a concise, lively and scholarly fashion. A major goal of the series is to emphasize the connections (socio-cultural, economic, political, and religious) that cross boundaries among diverse peoples in an endeavor to write history from a global perspective."

Golden has a particularly difficult job in this region where nations and politics are less important than a largely nomadic population whose identities were determined by "clan, tribe, status, locale, or religion" These elements were often "multi-layered" as people and languages migrated throughout Central Asia. Throughout Golden's view of the history, trade predominates, the "pivot" of the region's history.

The book is organized into nine chronological chapters. The Introduction describes those who settled in the oases and the nomads of the steppe. Those populations "shaped much of our knowledge of Central Asia;" settled societies recorded the "primitive" way of life of the "barbarian" nomads.

Chapter One describes pastoral nomadism and its adoption of "low and high technology as circumstances required." Commerce connected the people of Central Asia to the wider world; the nomads of the steppe provided the link to Eurasian cities as goods traveled from China through Central Asia to Persia and then on to the Mediterranean.

Chapter Two describes the rise of the Xiongnu in Mongolia and the Chinese response, in particular the Great Wall and Han-Xiongnu conflict and diplomacy. Two nomadic powers emerged, the Kushan who spread Buddhism across Central Asia and into China and the Huns who advanced toward Europe. The "rise and fall of the Xiongnu pushed various nomadic peoples, in particular Turkic groupings," into the Kazakh steppe, where they joined into union with other tribes and finally "formed a new tribal union: the Huns".

Chapters Four and Five emphasize the significance of the silk trade in Central Asia as well as the arrival of Islam.

Chapter Six deals with the Mongols who "brought the steppe, the forest zone, and many of the neighboring states (China, Iran, Medieval Rus') into a vast world realm...[that] profoundly influenced global history, putting into place international networks of communications, the beginnings of an early 'world system' in the period between 1250 - 1350, the precursor of the modern world".

Chapter Seven focuses on the Turkic language and Islam in Central Asia, and depicts Temür as "the last of the trans-Eurasian great nomadic conquerors".

Chapter 8 deals with the age of gunpower, when "gunpowder empires" -- including the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires -- weakened the region, leading to Chinese and Russian rule. In terms of commerce, trade shifted from east to west to north to south, and Central Asia became a link between Russia and China.

Chapter 9 describes many of the problems of the modern world in the region.

In the hand, the book reads very easily and I came away with an appreciation for how important the region was, not only over the long past, but also in today's world. Of course, it is much too superficial for scholars or experts in various disciplines, but there is an extensive bibliography, and I found a dozen additional books that will fill in the spaces where we will need additional learning to fully enjoy our trip.

Robert C. Ross
March 2012