Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia

by Abazov, Rafis

• ISBN13: 9781403975423
• ISBN10: 1403975426
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-05
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

From the Silk Road to the Great Game, Central Asia has long been a region of great strategic, political, and economic importance. Currently the home of large oil reserves, Islamic terrorists, and new democracies, Central Asia is of growing visibility to Americans. In this atlas, Rafis Abazov provides 50 two-color maps, each accompanied by a facing page of explanatory text, that graphically illuminate the region's history tracing back to the 8th-7th centuries B.C. From the spread of Islam to the invasion of the Mongols, the area has been at the crossroads of some of the world's most important developments, all succinctly explained in this book. Students will regard it as a useful reference, and general readers will value it for its clarity and wealth of information.

Author Biography

Rafis Abazov teaches at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
General Key to the Maps	p. xi
Acronyms and Abbreviations	p. xiii
Changes in Geographical Names	p. xv
Introductory Maps
Physical Characteristics
Political Characteristics
Natural Resources
Demography
Central Asian Cultures
Early History, Sixth Century B.C. To Sixth Century A.D.
Political Map of the Ancient World
Bactria, Sogdiana, Margiana and Khwarezm, Sixth to Third Centuries B.C.
Alexander the Great and the Greek Influence in Central Asia
Parthian Empire and the Kushans
Sassanid Empire, Third to Seventh Centuries
Early Turkic Empires
Religions in Central Asia: Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Christianity
International Trade and the Beginning of the Great Silk Road
Islamic Golden Age, Seventh to Twelfth Centuries A.D.
The Political Map of Central Asia in the Middle Ages
The Arab Conquest of Central Asia
Consolidation of the Caliphate's Political Influence
The Samanids (875-999)
The Karakhanid State (999-1140)
The Seljuks (ca. 1038-1194)
The Rise and Collapse of Khwarezm
International and Major Trade Routes in Central Asia
The Mongols and The Decline of Central Asia
The Mongol Invasion of Central Asia
Central Asia under the Mongols
Disintegration of the Mongol Empire
Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia
Disintegration of the Timurid Empire
The Rise of the Uzbek Khanate
Bukhara and the Khwarezm Khanates. The Kazakhs and Turkomans
The Era of Colonialism and Nation-State Building
Central Asia and the Major Colonial Powers in the Eighteenth Century
Russian Colonization of the Kazakh Steppe
Russian Colonization of Central Asia
Early Administrative Division of Central Asia
Administrative and Political Changes in the Early Twentieth Century
The Bolshevik Revolution
Creation of the Turkistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Civil War in Central Asia
Nation-State Delimitation in Central Asia, 1924-1926
Administrative and Political Changes in Central Asia, 1926-1936
Economic Changes in Central Asia
Post-Communism and Independence
Interethnic Conflicts and the Collapse of the USSR
Independent Kazakhstan
Independent Kyrgyzstan
Independent Tajikistan
Independent Turkmenistan
Independent Uzbekistan
Ethnic Composition and Major Territorial Disputes
Central Asia and the War on International Terrorism
Border Disputes in the Farghona Valley
Major Oil and Gas Pipeline Proposals
Transportation Routes
Selected Bibliography	p. 113
Index	p. 121
About the Author	p. 125
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