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Readings in Central Asian History

The vast spaces of Central Asia are under-represented in English-language resources, not only online but even in print. Yet the region's history is interesting, unknown though it might be to many of us, as it was to me before I started investigating a bit more carefully; and in view both of the long-standing involvement of Russia and China with Central Asia, much of it not benefiting the region's indigenous peoples, and of its related deeper instabilities and unfulfilled national aspirations, its history may gain wider impact in our time — or so it seems to me. At any rate, I'll be putting quality material onsite here to the extent I can.

In roughly chronological order, this is what I have to offer:

Vahan Kurkjian's History of Armenia is a much needed contribution to the Internet, filling a niche as it does — not to say a near-void — by providing a complete English-language history of his country from the earliest times. Not a scholarly work, but of benefit to any general reader not familiar with this beautiful land, its fascinating history, and its ancient churches and monasteries.

[ 506 pages of print
presented in 59 webpages; 63 images, 4 maps ]

Once subject to Russia, some of the peoples of Turkestan have managed to free themselves, forming the modern nations of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan; Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The road to liberation has not been easy, however: The Revolt of 1916 in Russian Central Asia, by Edward Dennis Sokol, records the events of that year as well as those of the precursor rebellion of 1898, both revolts cruelly suppressed by Russia. Carefully documented, the book draws to a great extent on official Russian documents as well as the work of independent observers and scholars, native, Russian and foreign.

[ 183 pages of print
presented in 10 webpages, with 1 map ]

A few journal articles, newspaper articles, and the like will also be forthcoming. For now, just one:

Archaeological Remains in Turkestan (Proceedings of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, 1905, pp196‑216).

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