A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, Volume I Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire

by Christian, David

• ISBN13: 9780631208143
• ISBN10: 0631208143
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-12-16
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This is a history of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia from the time of the first inhabitants of the region up to the break up of the Mongol Empire in 1260 AD. Inner Eurasia, as the author defines it, comprises most of the former Soviet Union and Russia's huge territories in Siberia; Russia's former empire in Central Asia; China's central Asian empire; and Mongolia, both the parts within China and those within the Mongolian People's Republic. The author presents Inner Eurasia as a coherent region with an underlying unity in geography and history despite its cultural and ecological variety. This volume, the first of two surveying this region, charts developments from the Old Stone Age, through changes under such peoples as the Scythians, the Huns and the Turks, to the emergence of an identifiable Rus - the society from which modern Russia and Ukraine have evolved. The book sets political events in the broadest context of social and economic change, linking evolution to the vast geography of the territories it describes. Together with volume II covering the period up to the present, the work represents the most thorough, up-to-date study of this fascinating and much misunderstood region of the world.

Author Biography

David Christian is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Macquarie University, Sydney where he has taught since 1975. His BA and DPhil are from Oxford University. His previous publications include Bread and Salt: A Social and Economic History of Food and Drink in Russia (1982), Living Water: Vodka and Russian Society on the Eve of Emancipation (1990) and Imperial and Soviet Russia: Power, Privilege and the Challenge of Modernity (1997).

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Geography and Ecology of Inner Eurasia

First Settlers: The Old Stone Age

Hunters and Gatherers after the Ice Age

The Neolithic Revolution: Seventh to Third Millennia BCE

The Bronze Age: 3,000-1,000 BCE

The 'Scythic' Era: 1,000-200 BCE

Outer Eurasian Invasions and their Aftermath

The Hsiung-Nu Empire

'Barbarian' Invasions before 500 CE

Turkic Empires of the East

Turkic Empires of Wester Inner Eurasia

Mawara'n-nahr: Islamic Civilization in Central Asia

The Origins of 'Rus'

Before the Mongols: 1000-1220

Chinggis Khan

The Mongol Empire and a New 'World-System'

Conclusion

Bibliography

Chronologies

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.