History of civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. The age of achievement: A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century. Part One. The historical, social and economic setting

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History of civilizations of Central Asia - IV
History ofcivilizations of Central Asia
Volume I
The dawn ofcivilization:
earliest times to 700 B.C.
Volume II
Thedevelopment ofsedentary and nomadic civilizations:
700 B.C. to A.D. 250
Volume III
The crossroads ofcivilizations:
A.D. 250 to 750
Volume IV
The age ofachievement:
A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century
Part One
The historical, socialandeconomicsetting
Part Two
Theachievements
Volume V
Development in contrast:
from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century
Volume VI
Towards contemporarycivilization:
from the mid-nineteenthcentury
to thepresent time
History of
civilizations
of Central
Asia
Volume IV
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
Multiple History Series
UNESCO Publishin
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Publishedin1998bytheUnitedNationsEducational,
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CompiledbyI.Iskender-Mochiri
EnglishtexteditedbyJanaGough
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ISBN92-3-103467-7
©UNESCO1998
Preface
Federico Mayor
Director-General ofUNESCO
ONE ofthe purposes ofUNESCO, as proclaimed in its Constitution,
is 'to develop and to increase the means of communication be¬
tween . . . peoples and to employ these means for the purposes of
mutual understanding and a truerand moreperfect knowledge ofeach other's
lives'. The History ofthe Scientific and Cultural Development ofMankind,
published in 1968, was a majorearly response onthepart ofUNESCO to the
taskofenablingthepeoples oftheworld to haveakeenersenseoftheircollec¬
tive destiny by highlighting their individual contributions to the history of
humanity. This universal history- itself now undergoing a fundamental revi¬
sion-has beenfollowed byanumber ofregionalprojects, includingthe Gen¬
eralHistory ofAfrica and the planned volumes on Latin America, the Carib¬
bean and on aspects ofIslamic culture. TheHistory ofCivilizationsofCentral
Asia is an integral part of this wider enterprise.
Itis appropriate thatthe second ofUNESCO's regional histories should
beconcernedwithCentralAsia. For,likeAfrica,CentralAsiaisaregionwhose
cultural heritage has tended to be excluded from the main focus of historical
attention. Yet from time immemorial the area has served as the generator of
population movements within the Eurasian land-mass. The history of the an¬
cient and medievalworlds, inparticular,was shaped to animportant extent by
the successionofpeoples that arose out ofthe steppe, desert, oases and moun¬
tain ranges of this vast area extending from the Caspian Sea to the high pla¬
teaux ofMongolia. Fromthe Cimmerians mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, the
Scythians described by Herodotus, the Hsiung-nu whose incursions led the
emperors of China to build the Great Wall, the sixth-century Turks who ex¬
tended their empire to the boundaries ofByzantium, the Kitanwho gave their
name to ancient Cathay, through to the Mongolswho eruptedintoworld his¬
tory in the thirteenth centuryunder Genghis Khan, the nomadic horsemen of
CentralAsiahelpedto definethelimits andtestthemettleofthegreatciviliza¬
tions of Europe and Asia.
Preface
Nor is it sufficient to identify the peoples of Central Asia simply with
nomadiccultures.Thisis to ignorethecomplex symbiosiswithin CentralAsia
itself between nomadism and settlement, between pastoralists and agricultur¬
alists. It is to overlook above all the burgeoning of the great cities of Central
Asia such as Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, which established themselves in
the late Middle Ages as outstanding centres ofintellectual inquiry and artistic
creation. The seminal writings of the philosopher-scientist Avicenna (a native
of Bukhara) and the timeless masterpieces of Timurid architecture epitomize
the flowering of medieval culture in the steppes and deserts of Central Asia.
Thecivilizations ofCentral Asiadidnot, ofcourse,develop inavacuum.
TheimpactofIslamwaspervasiveandfundamental. The great civilizations on
the periphery of the Eurasian continent likewise exerted an important influ¬
ence on these lands. For some 1,500 years this arid inland sea - far removed
from the earth's true oceans - was crucial as the route along which merchan¬
dise (notably silk) and ideas flowed between China, India, Iran and Europe.
The influence ofIran- although the core of its civilization lies in South-West
Asia - was particularly strong, to the extent that it is sometimes difficult to
establish a clear boundary between the civilization of the Iranian motherland
and that of the outlying lands of Central Asia.
Totherichvarietyofpeoples ofCentralAsiawasthus addedamultiplic¬
ityofexternalinfluences. Forcenturyaftercentury, theregionexperiencedthe
influx offoreign art and ideas, colliding and mergingwiththe indigenous pat¬
terns ofCentralAsia. Migrations and the recurrentshockofmilitaryinvasion,
mingling and displacing peoples and cultures, combined to maintain the vast
region in flux.
The systole and diastole ofpopulation movements down the ages add to
the difficulty of delimiting a region whose topology alone does not prescribe
clearboundaries. Thus, when, at thenineteenth session ofits General Confer¬
ence, UNESCO decided to embark on a History ofCivilizations ofCentral
Asia the first problem to be resolved was to define the scope of the region
concerned. Subsequently, at a UNESCO meeting held in 1978, it was agreed
that the study on Central Asia should deal with the civilizations of Afghani¬
stan, north-eastern Iran, Pakistan, northern India, western China, Mongolia
and theformerSoviet Central Asianrepublics. The appellation 'CentralAsia',
as employed in thisHistory, refers to this area, which corresponds to a clearly
discernible cultural and historical reality.
UNESCO's call to specialists, and particularly to scholars native to the
region,toparticipateintheundertakingmetwithawideandgenerousresponse.
The project was deemed by academics to be an excellent opportunity to draw
backthe curtain thathadveiled CentralAsia for so long. However, nonewere
in any doubt as to the huge dimensions of the task.
AnadhocInternationalScientificCommitteewasformedin 1980toplan
and prepare the work, which it was agreed should cover, in six volumes, the
Preface
history of Central Asia from earliest times to the present day. The Commit¬
tee's initialtaskwas to decidewherepre-eminence should be givenin the very
wide canvas before it. In due course, aproperbalancewas struckand teams of
editors and authors were selected.
The preparation of the History ofCivilizations ofCentralAsia is now
well advanced. The best resources ofresearchand archaeologyhave beenused
to make the work as thorough as possible, and countless annals consulted in
majorcentres throughoutthe region. Itis mysincerewishthatthis, thefourth
volume, and thosethatfollowwillbringinstructionandpleasureto readers all
over the world.
It remains for me to thank the President, Rapporteur and members of
the International Scientific Committee, and the editors, authors and teams of
specialists who have collaborated to shed new light on Central Asia with this
detailed account ofits vital and stirring past. I am sure it will prove a notable
contribution to the study and mutual appreciation ofthe cultures that are the
common heritage of mankind.
yL-é^y,

Contents
Description oftheproject
M. S. Asimov, President, InternationalScientific Commute . . .11
Members ofthe InternationalScientific Committee . . . . . .15
List ofcontributors (cid:9) 17
Introduction
C. E. Bosworth (cid:9) 19
1 CentralAsia underthe Umayyads and theearlycAbbasids
C. E. Bosworth and O. G. Bolshakov (cid:9) 23
2 Sectarianand national movements in Iran, Khurasan
andTransoxaniaduringUmayyad and earlycAbbasid times
F. Daftary (cid:9) 41
3 The states ofthe Oghuz, the Kimek and the Ki'pchak
S. G. Agajanov .......... 61
4 TheSamanid state
N. N. Negmatov (cid:9) 77
5 The Ghaznavids
C. E. Bosworth .......... 95
6 The Karakhanids
E. A. Davidovich . . . . . . . . . .119
7 The Seljuqs and the Khwarazm Shahs
A. Sevimand G E. Bosworth ...... 145
8 The Ghurids
KA.Nizami (cid:9) 177