History of Central Asia
The history of Central Asia concerns the history of the various peoples that have inhabited Central Asia. The lifestyle of such people has been determined primarily by the area's climate and
Relations between the steppe nomads and the settled people in and around Central Asia were marked by conflict. The nomadic lifestyle was well suited to warfare, and the steppe horse riders became some of the most militarily potent people in the world, due to the devastating techniques and ability of their horse archers.[1] Periodically, tribal leaders or changing conditions would cause several tribes to organize themselves into a single military force, which would then often launch campaigns of conquest, especially into more 'civilized' areas. A few of these types of tribal coalitions included the Huns' invasion of Europe, various Turkic migrations into Transoxiana, the Wu Hu attacks on China and most notably the Mongol conquest of much of Eurasia.
The dominance of the nomads ended in the 16th century as
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, five Central Asian countries gained independence — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. In all of the new states, former Communist Party officials retained power as local strongmen, with the partial exception of Kyrgyzstan which, despite ousting three post-Soviet presidents in popular uprisings, has as yet been unable to consolidate a stable democracy.[2]
Prehistory
Anatomically modern humans (
Paleolithic
The term
The
In the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Chalcolithic cultures develop in the second half of the 5th millennium BC, small communities in permanent settlements which began to engage in agricultural practices as well as herding. Around this time, some of these communities began the domestication of the horse. According to the Kurgan hypothesis, the north-west of the region is also considered to be the source of the root of the Indo-European languages. The horse-drawn
Scattered nomadic groups maintained herds of sheep, goats, horses, and camels, and conducted annual migrations to find new pastures (a practice known as transhumance). The people lived in yurts (or gers) – tents made of hides and wood that could be disassembled and transported. Each group had several yurts, each accommodating about five people.
While the semi-arid plains were dominated by the nomads, small city-states and sedentary agrarian societies arose in the more humid areas of Central Asia. The
Later the strongest of
A wide variety of people came to populate the steppes. Nomadic groups in Central Asia included the Huns and other
Ancient era
In the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, a series of large and powerful states developed on the southern periphery of Central Asia (the
Following the success of the Han–Xiongnu War, Chinese states would also regularly strive to extend their power westwards. Despite their military might, these states found it difficult to conquer the whole region.
When faced by a stronger force, the nomads could simply retreat deep into the steppe and wait for the invaders to leave. With no cities and little wealth other than the herds they took with them, the nomads had nothing they could be forced to defend. An example of this is given by
Some empires, such as the
In 250 BC, the Central Asian portion of the empire (
Likewise, in eastern Central Asia, the Chinese
Later, external powers such as the
At this time Central Asia was a heterogeneous region with a mixture of cultures and religions. Buddhism remained the largest religion, but was concentrated in the east. Around Persia, Zoroastrianism became important. Nestorian Christianity entered the area, but was never more than a minority faith. More successful was Manichaeism, which became the third largest faith.
Medieval
Sui and early Tang dynasty
It was during the Sui and Tang dynasties that China expanded into eastern Central Asia. Chinese foreign policy to the north and west now had to deal with Turkic nomads, who were becoming the most dominant ethnic group in Central Asia.[33][34] To handle and avoid any threats posed by the Turks, the Sui government repaired fortifications and received their trade and tribute missions.[35] They sent royal princesses off to marry Turkic clan leaders, a total of four of them in 597, 599, 614, and 617. The Sui army intervened in Turks’ civil war and stirred conflict amongst ethnic groups against the Turks.[36][37]
As early as the Sui dynasty, the Turks had become a major militarised force employed by the Chinese. When the Khitans began raiding north-east China in 605, a Chinese general led 20,000 Turks against them, distributing Khitan livestock and women to the Turks as a reward.[38] On two occasions between 635 and 636, Tang royal princesses were married to Turk mercenaries or generals in Chinese service.[37]
Throughout the Tang dynasty until the end of 755, there were approximately ten Turkic generals serving under the Tang.
Civil war in China was almost totally diminished by 626, along with the defeat in 628 of the Ordos Chinese warlord Liang Shidu; after these internal conflicts, the Tang began an offensive against the Turks.[43] In the year 630, Tang armies captured areas of the Ordos Desert, modern-day Inner Mongolia province, and southern Mongolia from the Turks.[38][44]
After this military victory, Emperor Taizong won the title of Great Khan amongst the various Turks in the region who pledged their allegiance to him and the Chinese empire (with several thousand Turks traveling into China to live at Chang'an). On June 11, 631, Emperor Taizong also sent envoys to the Eastern Turkic tribes bearing gold and silk in order to persuade the release of enslaved Chinese prisoners who were captured during the transition from Sui to Tang from the northern frontier; this embassy succeeded in freeing 80,000 Chinese men and women who were then returned to China.[45][46]
While the Turks were settled in the Ordos region (former territory of the
The expansion into Central Asia continued under Taizong's successor,
Tang rivalry with the Tibetan Empire
The Tang Empire competed with the
There was a long string of conflicts with Tibet over territories in the
Arrival of Islam
In the 8th century, Islam began to penetrate the region: the desert nomads of
The
Steppe empires
Over time, as new technologies were introduced, the nomadic horsemen grew in power. The Scythians developed the saddle, and by the time of the Alans the use of the stirrup had begun. Horses continued to grow larger and sturdier so that chariots were no longer needed as the horses could carry men with ease. This greatly increased the mobility of the nomads; it also freed their hands, allowing them to use the bow from horseback.
Using small but powerful composite bows, the steppe people gradually became the most powerful military force in the world. From a young age, almost the entire male population was trained in riding and archery, both of which were necessary skills for survival on the steppe. By adulthood, these activities were second nature. These mounted archers were more mobile than any other force at the time, being able to travel forty miles per day with ease.[citation needed]
The steppe peoples quickly came to dominate Central Asia, forcing the scattered city states and kingdoms to pay them tribute or face annihilation. The martial ability of the steppe peoples was limited, however, by the lack of political structure within the tribes. Confederations of various groups would sometimes form under a ruler known as a khan. When large numbers of nomads acted in unison they could be devastating, as when the Huns arrived in Western Europe. However, tradition dictated that any dominion conquered in such wars should be divided among all of the khan's sons, so these empires often declined as quickly as they formed.
Once the foreign powers were expelled, several indigenous empires formed in Central Asia. The
The most spectacular power to rise out of Central Asia developed when Genghis Khan united the tribes of Mongolia. Using superior military techniques, the Mongol Empire spread to comprise all of Central Asia and China as well as large parts of Russia, and the Middle East. After Genghis Khan died in 1227, most of Central Asia continued to be dominated by the Mongol successor Chagatai Khanate. This state proved to be short lived, as in 1369 Timur, a Turco-Mongol ruler, conquered most of the region.
Even harder than keeping a steppe empire together was governing conquered lands outside the region. While the steppe peoples of Central Asia found conquest of these areas easy, they found governing almost impossible. The diffuse political structure of the steppe confederacies was maladapted to the complex states of the settled peoples. Moreover, the armies of the nomads were based upon large numbers of horses, generally three or four for each warrior. Maintaining these forces required large stretches of grazing land, not present outside the steppe. Any extended time away from the homeland would thus cause the steppe armies to gradually disintegrate. To govern settled peoples the steppe peoples were forced to rely on the local bureaucracy, a factor that would lead to the rapid assimilation of the nomads into the culture of those they had conquered. Another important limit was that the armies, for the most part, were unable to penetrate the forested regions to the north; thus, such states as
In the 14th century much of Central Asia, and many areas beyond it, were conquered by Timur (1336–1405) who is known in the west as Tamerlane. It was during Timur's reign that the nomadic steppe culture of Central Asia fused with the settled culture of Iran. One of its consequences was an entirely new visual language that glorified Timur and subsequent Timurid rulers. This visual language was also used to articulate their commitment to Islam.
Early modern period (16th to 19th centuries)
The lifestyle that had existed largely unchanged since 500 BCE began to disappear after 1500. Important changes to the world economy in the 14th and 15th century reflected the impact of the development of nautical technology. Ocean trade routes were pioneered by the Europeans, who had been cut off from the Silk Road by the Muslim states that controlled its western termini. The long-distance trade linking East Asia and India to Western Europe increasingly began to move over the seas and not through Central Asia. However, the emergence of Russia as a world power enabled Central Asia to continue its role as a conduit for overland trade of other sorts, now linking India with Russia on a north–south axis.[61]
An even more important development was the introduction of gunpowder-based weapons. The gunpowder revolution allowed settled peoples to defeat the steppe horsemen in open battle for the first time. Construction of these weapons required the infrastructure and economies of large societies and were thus impractical for nomadic peoples to produce. The domain of the nomads began to shrink as, beginning in the 15th century, the settled powers gradually began to conquer Central Asia.
The last steppe empire to emerge was that of the
One Turko-Mongolic dynasty that remained prominent during this period was the Mughal Empire, whose founder Babur traced descent to Timur. While the Mughals were never able to conquer Babur's original domains in Fergana Valley, which fell to the Shaybanids, they maintained influence in the Afghanistan region until the late 17th century even as they dominated India. After the Mughal Empire's decline in the 18th century, the Durrani Empire from Afghanistan would briefly overrun the North Western region of India, by the 19th century, the rise of the British Empire would limit the impact of Afghan conquerors.
The Chinese dominions stretched into the heart of Central Asia and included the
Russian expansion into Central Asia (19th century)
The Russians also expanded south, first with the transformation of the
By the 1800s, the locals could do little to resist the Russian advance, although the Kazakhs of the Great Horde under Kenesary Kasimov rose in rebellion from 1837 to 1846. Until the 1870s, for the most part, Russian interference was minimal, leaving native ways of life intact and local government structures in place. With the conquest of Turkestan after 1865 and the consequent securing of the frontier, the Russians gradually expropriated large parts of the steppe and gave these lands to Russian farmers, who began to arrive in large numbers. This process was initially limited to the northern fringes of the steppe and it was only in the 1890s that significant numbers of Russians began to settle farther south, especially in Zhetysu (Semirechye).
The Great Game
Russian campaigns
The forces of the
After the fall of
Russian expansion was halted in 1887 when Russia and Great Britain delineated the northern border of Afghanistan.
Because of the
Russian rule still remained distant from the local populace, mostly concerning itself with the small minority of Russian inhabitants of the region. The local Muslims were not considered full Russian citizens. They did not have the full privileges of Russians, but nor did they have the same obligations, such as military service. The Tsarist regime left substantial elements of the previous regimes (such as
Qing dynasty
During the 17th and 18th centuries the
Instead, the Russians expanded, annexing the
Revolution and revolt
During the
The creation of the
By the 1930s, the governor of Xinjiang's relationship with Moscow was far more important than that with
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Governor
Soviet era (1918–1991)
After being conquered by
These borders had little to do with ethnic make-up, but the Soviets felt it important to divide the region. They saw both
During the period of forced collectivisation under
Similar processes occurred in Xinjiang and the rest of Western China where the PRC quickly established control from the
Political turmoil has led to major demographic shifts in the region: During the Qing dynasty there were 60% Turkic and 30% Han Chinese in the region,[62] after the Muslim revolts the percentage of Han Chinese dropped to as low as 7%,[63] and by the year 2000 some 40% of the population of Xinjiang were Han.[64] As with the Soviet Union local languages and cultures were mostly encouraged and Xinjiang was granted autonomous status. However, Islam was much persecuted, especially during the Cultural Revolution. Many people from other parts of China fled to Xinjiang due to the failed agricultural policies of the Great Leap Forward in other provinces. However, the Great Leap Forward did not affect much of Xinjiang due to its geographical isolation from other parts of China.
Soviet evacuation and WWII population deportations
The Second World War sparked the widespread migration of Soviet citizens to the rear of the USSR. Much of this movement was directed to Soviet Central Asia. These migrations included official, state-organised evacuations and deportations as well as the non-sanctioned, panicked flight from the front by both general citizenry and important officials. The evacuation of Soviet citizens and industry during World War II was an essential element of their overall success in the war, and Central Asia served as a main destination for evacuees.
The German invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941. A decree from the Presidium of the executive committee on the same day forbade the entry or exit from the USSR's border regions, which were under a state of martial law.[65] Such mandates demonstrated the Soviets' fear of spreading panic and their commitment to asserting direct state control over wartime relocations to maintain order. Soviet wartime population policy consisted of two distinct operations: deportation and evacuation. Deportation aimed to clear regions near the front of potentially insidious anti-Soviet elements that could hamper the war effort, while evacuation policy aimed to move Soviet industry and intelligentsia to the rear, where they would be safe.[66]
Deportations along ethnic lines
Soviet officials organised their wartime deportation policy largely along ethnic lines. As a response to the German invasion, Soviet citizens of
By early 1942 as many as 20,800 ethnic Germans had been organised into battalions in this labour army, though this number would grow to as much as 222,000 by early 1944 as conscription criteria were broadened.[68] The NKVD employed about 101,000 members of the labour army at construction sites to develop infrastructure for the war effort.[69] Those who were not assigned to the labour army were used for timber harvesting, the construction of railways and other infrastructure, or sent to collective farms.[69]
As the tide turned in the war, and the Soviets began to reclaim the territories they lost to the initial German advance, they began a new wave of deportations of unfavoured ethnic groups. Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingushetians, Kabardians, and Crimean Tatars were all deported to Central Asia for their supposed fraternisation with occupying German forces. These groups were sent mostly to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan for their infidelity. These punitive deportations were also conducted to keep “anti-Soviet elements” far from the border – where the Soviet offensive against Germany was progressing – for fear of spying or sabotage.
Evacuation of Soviet citizens to Central Asia
Many Soviet citizens ended up in Central Asia during World War II, not as a result of deportation, but evacuation. The evacuation focused on the movement of critical wartime industry and the factory workers responsible for overseeing such production. Whole factories and their employees were moved together via railway eastward to cities like Tashkent, which received a lion's share of the evacuees.[70]
The initial attempts at evacuation while the war was still in its early stages through early 1942 were a far cry from the organised affair that the Soviet central bureaucracy envisaged. Throughout the summer and fall of 1941, numerous Soviet frontier cities evacuated in a haphazard and panicked fashion before the German onslaught. A number of factors led to this lack of organisation. For one, the Soviet evacuation plans were thrown together fairly hurriedly, and a lot of the logistical planning was done on the fly as the German advance was already sweeping through the Soviet border zone. The German invasion also hampered the effectiveness of the Soviet response by shattering their communications in the war's early stages; many Soviet leaders were unable to gather reliable information about the positions of German forces until it was too late to effect an orderly evacuation.[71]
There was also a desire on the part of Soviet officials to forestall any evacuations until it was absolutely necessary, the marching orders were often to continue factory production until the eve of occupation before hurriedly dismantling and transporting factory equipment, and destroying what couldn't be moved in time.[72] As a result of the delay in evacuations, they were often carried out under German aerial bombardment, which led to additional confusion among the frightened citizenry. Historian Rebecca Manley describes these early evacuations as being charactered by “three phenomena: the 'flight' of officials, the flight of the population, and 'panic'”.[73]
The early flight of Soviet officials who were supposed to manage the evacuation was roundly condemned by Soviet leaders, but often their retreat resulted from a realisation that evacuation procedures had started too late, and that there was no way to effectively execute it. Additionally, Soviet officials who remained in a city captured by German forces feared execution by Nazis on the hunt for communists. Avoiding that, the officials knew that they would be subject to intense interrogation as to what happened by suspicious Soviets upon returning to the fold.[71]
Despite these setbacks in the implementation of evacuation policy early in the war, around 12 million Soviet citizens successfully evacuated in 1941, even if a number of these were the result of disorganised, “spontaneous self-evacuation,” and another 4.5 million evacuated the following year.[74] In addition, the factories that were successfully evacuated to the Central Asian rear would help provide the productive capacity the Soviets needed to eventually win the war, as well as preventing the Germans from acquiring additional industrial resources. By providing a safe haven from the German advance for Soviet citizens, Central Asia played a critical role in securing Allied victory. The evacuation itself was only part of the difficulty, however, as evacuees arriving in Central Asia faced many trials and tribulations.[75]
Due to the haphazard nature of evacuation, many labourers did not arrive with their factory, and had to find labour on their own, though jobs were hard to come by. Additionally, cities like Tashkent became overwhelmed at the sheer volume of people arriving at its gates and had great difficulty supplying the food and shelter necessary for evacuees. Upon arrival, many evacuees died of illness or starvation in extreme poverty in Central Asia. Uzbek officials set up aid stations at Tashkent, which were mirrored at other railway stations to help combat the poverty, but they could only do so much as little could be spared economically for the war effort.[75] Despite these troubles, the ability of Central Asia to absorb Soviet industry and population to the extent that it did and in the harried manner that it did was impressive. The Germans certainly didn't foresee the preparedness of Soviet Central Asia, and in the end they paid dearly for it.
Since 1991
From 1988 to 1992, a free press and multi-party system developed in the Central Asian republics as
Much of the population of Soviet Central Asia was indifferent to the collapse of the Soviet Union, even the large Russian populations in Kazakhstan (roughly 40% of the total) and Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Aid from the Kremlin had also been central to the economies of Central Asia, each of the republics receiving massive transfers of funds from Moscow.
Independence largely resulted from the efforts of the small groups of nationalistic, mostly local intellectuals, and from little interest in Moscow for retaining the expensive region. While never a part of the Soviet Union, Mongolia followed a somewhat similar path. Often acting as the unofficial sixteenth Soviet republic, it shed the communist system only in 1996, but quickly ran into economic problems. See:
The economic performance of the region since independence has been mixed. It contains some of the largest reserves of natural resources in the world, but there are important difficulties in transporting them. Since it lies farther from the ocean than anywhere else in the world, and its southern borders lay closed for decades, the main trade routes and pipelines run through Russia. As a result, Russia still exerts more influence over the region than in any other former Soviet republics. Nevertheless, the rising energy importance of the
Some analysts, such as Myers Jaffe and Robert A. Manning, estimate however that US' entry into the region (with initiatives such as the US-favored
Despite these reservations and fears, since the late 1980s, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan have gradually moved to centre stage in the global energy markets and are now regarded as key factors of the international energy security. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in particular have succeeded in attracting massive foreign investment to their oil and gas sectors. According to Gawdat Bahgat, the investment flow suggests that the geological potential of the Caspian region as a major source of oil and gas is not in doubt.[79]
Russia and Kazakhstan started a closer energy co-operation in 1998, which was further consolidated in May 2002, when Presidents
Increasingly, other powers have begun to involve themselves in Central Asia. Soon after the Central Asian states won their independence,
The formerly atheistic Communist Party leaders have mostly converted to Islam. Small
The
One important Soviet legacy that has only gradually been appreciated is the vast ecological destruction. Most notable is the gradual drying of the
In the first part of 2008 Central Asia experienced a severe energy crisis, a shortage of both electricity and fuel, aggravated by abnormally cold temperatures, failing infrastructure, and a shortage of food in which aid from the west began to assist the region.
As of 2019, despite its common cultural and historical past Central Asia has been "one of the least integrated regions in the world".[82]
See also
Further reading
- V.V. Barthold, Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion (London) 1968 (Third Edition)
- Bacon, Elizabeth A. Central Asians under Russian Rule (Cornell UP, 1966)
- Becker, Seymour, Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukhara and Khiva, 1865 - 1924 (1968)
- Brower, Daniel Turkestan and the Fate of the Russian Empire (London) 2003. ISBN 0-415-29744-3
- Dani, A.H. and V.M. Masson eds. UNESCO History of Civilizations of Central Asia (Paris: UNESCO) 1992–
- Hildinger, Erik. Warriors of the Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 BC. to 1700 AD. (Cambridge: Da Capo) 2001. ISBN 0-306-81065-4
- Maitdinova, Guzel. The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Central Asian area of the Great Silk Route: Historical experience of integration and reference points of XXI century. Dushanbe: 2015.
- Maitdinova, Guzel. The Kirpand State – an Empire in Middle Asia. Dushanbe: 2011.
- O'Brien, Patrick K. (General Editor). Oxford Atlas of World History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Olcott, Martha Brill. Central Asia's New States: Independence, Foreign policy, and Regional security. (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press) 1996. ISBN 1-878379-51-8
- Sinor, Denis The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge) 1990 (2nd Edition). ISBN 0-521-24304-1
- S. Frederick Starr, Rediscovering Central Asia
Other languages
- В.В. Бартольд История Культурной Жизни Туркестана ("Istoriya Kul'turnoy zhizni Turkestana")
(Москва) 1927
- Н.А. Халфин; Россия и Ханства Средней Азии ("Rossiya i Hanstva Sredney Azii") (Москва) 1974
- Encyclopædia Iranica: Central Asia in pre-Islamic Times (R. Fryer)
- Encyclopædia Iranica: Central Asia from the Islamic Period to the Mongol Conquest (C. Bosworth)
- Encyclopædia Iranica: Central Asia in the Mongol and Timurid Periods (B. Spuler)
- Encyclopædia Iranica: Central Asia from the 16th to the 18th centuries (R.D. McChesney)[permanent dead link]
- Encyclopædia Iranica: Central Asia in the 18th–19th centuries (Yuri Bregel)
- Center for the Study of Eurasian Nomads
Notes
- ^ O'Connell, Robert L.: "Soul of the Sword.", page 51. The Free Press, New York, 2002
- ^ "US and West need to stand solid behind Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia's only democracy"
- ^ Kurbanov 2010, pp. 135–136.
- ^ Bernard, P. "DelbarjīnELBARJĪN". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- ^ Ilyasov 2001, pp. 187–197.
- ^ Dani, Litvinsky & Zamir Safi 1996, p. 183.
- PMID 21718162.
- PMID 23682168.
- ^ Jane Qiu, The Surprisingly Early Settlement of the Tibetan Plateau, Scientific American, 1 March 2017.
- PMID 25341783.
- PMID 27569548.
- S2CID 219470000.
- PMID 31036896.
- ^ PMID 28256537.
- PMID 30417088.
- S2CID 13670282.
pp. 4–5. "These results suggest that Turkic cultural customs were imposed by an East Asian minority elite onto central steppe nomad populations... The wide distribution of the Turkic languages from Northwest China, Mongolia and Siberia in the east to Turkey and Bulgaria in the west implies large-scale migrations out of the homeland in Mongolia.
- ISBN 978-9402404654. Anthony, David W. (2010).ISBN 9780691148182.
- ^ Gronenborn, Detlef (2007). "Beyond the models: Neolithisation in Central Europe". Proceedings of the British Academy. 144: 73–98.
- PMID 29743352.
- PMID 31036896.
- PMID 33771866.
- S2CID 13670282.
- ^ Kurbanov 2010, p. 67.
- ISBN 978-0-520-03765-6.
- ISBN 9781788313513.
- ^ Herodotus, IV, 83–144
- ^ "Central Asia, history of", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2002
- ^ Di Cosmo (2002), pp. 250–251
- ^ Yü (1986), pp. 390–391, 409–411
- ^ Chang (2007), p. 174
- ^ Loewe (1986), p. 198
- ^ a b Ebrey (1999), p. 127
- ^ Ebrey, Walthall & Palais (2006), p. 113
- ^ Xue (1992), pp. 149–152, 257–264
- ^ a b Ebrey, Walthall & Palais (2006), p. 92
- ^ Benn (2002), pp. 2–3
- ^ a b Cui (2005), pp. 655–659
- ^ a b Ebrey (1999), p. 111
- ^ Xue (1992), p. 788
- ^ Twitchett (2000), p. 125
- ^ Liu (2000), pp. 85–95
- ^ Gernet (1996), p. 248
- ^ Xue (1992), pp. 226–227
- ^ Xue (1992), pp. 380–386
- ^ Benn (2002), p. 2
- ^ Xue (1992), pp. 222–225
- ISBN 978-0-521-21446-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-674-03109-8.
- ISBN 978-0-19-973413-9.
- ISBN 978-0-231-13924-3.
- ^ Whitfield (2004), p. 193
- ^ Sen (2003), pp. 24, 30–31
- ISBN 978-81-208-1048-8, retrieved 2010-07-17
- ISBN 978-90-04-17788-8, retrieved 2011-07-06
- ^ Beckwith (1987), p. 146
- ^ Stein (1972), p. 65
- ^ Twitchett (2000), p. 109
- ^ Benn (2002), p. 11
- ^ Richardson (1985), pp. 106–143
- ^ [1] Archived 2008-09-13 at the Wayback Machine A Journey of a Thousand Years
- .
- ^ Toops, Stanley (May 2004), "Demographics and Development in Xinjiang after 1949" (PDF), East-West Center Washington Working Papers, no. 1, East–West Center, p. 1, archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-16, retrieved 2011-08-25
- ISBN 978-90-04-16675-2. p52
- ISBN 7-105-05425-5)
- ^ Altschuler (1993), p. 78
- ^ Manley (2009), p. 41
- ^ Polian (2004), p. 137
- ^ Polian (2004), pp. 137–138
- ^ a b Polian (2004), p. 138
- ^ Manley (2009), pp. 24–47
- ^ a b Manley (2009), pp. 66–69
- ^ Altschuler (1993), p. 80
- ^ Manley (2009), p. 48
- ^ Manley (2009), p. 50
- ^ a b Manley (2009), p. 148–195
- ^ Soucek (2000)
- ^ Manning & Jaffe (1998), p. 112
- ^ Manning & Jaffe (1998), p. 113
- ^ Bahgat (2006), p. 3
- ^ Bahgat (2006), p. 8
- ^ Martha Brill Olcott. Central Asia's New States
- ^ Vakulchuk, Roman and Indra Overland (2019) “China’s Belt and Road Initiative through the Lens of Central Asia”, in Fanny M. Cheung and Ying-yi Hong (eds) Regional Connection under the Belt and Road Initiative. The Prospects for Economic and Financial Cooperation. London: Routledge, p. 116.
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