In Young Mongols and Vigilantes in Inner Mongolia's Interregnum Decades, 1911-1931, a vivid narrative of the underground world of pan-Mongolist agitation in China, the author shows how the paradoxical legacy of China's New Policies reforms left ethnically-based nationalism as the only common denominator for political action. In the turbulent years of China's warlord republic, educated Mongol nationalists and rural vigilantes sought to unify Inner Mongolia with the independent state in Mongolia proper. Brought together by the Soviet embassy, the nationalists fought for an autonomous...

How did the the descendants of Tamerlane, collectively known as the Timurids, make the transition from a nomadic empire to a sedentary polity based on the Perso-Islamic model, and what effect did the process of transition have on their Turko-Mongolian customs and identity? This volume seeks to answer these questions by utilizing the Weberian concepts of the "routinization" of charismatic authority and the patrimonial household state. Focusing on the period of the last Timurid ruler, Sulṭān-Ḥusain Bayqara (1469-1506), the author examines the impact of the introduction of...

This book covers new ground on the diffusion and transmission of geographical knowledge that occurred at critical junctures in the long history of the Silk Road. Much of twentieth-century scholarship on the Silk Road examined the ancient archaeological objects and medieval historical records found within each cultural area, while the consequences of long-distance interaction across Eurasia remained poorly studied. Here ample attention is given to the journeys that notions and objects undertook to transmit spatial values to other civilizations. In retracing the steps of four major circuits...

The 13th century Secret History of the Mongols, covering the great Činggis Qan's (1162-1227) ancestry and life, stands out as a literary monument of first magnitude. Written partly in prose and partly in epic poetry, it is the major native source on Činggis Qan, also dealing with part of the reign of his son and successor Ogodei (r. 1229-41). This true handbook contains an historical introduction, a full translation of the chronicle in accessible English, plus an extensive commentary. Indispensable for the historian, the Sino-Mongolist, the Altaic philologist, and...

This then is the first full dictionary of the earliest Mongol version of the thirteenth-century moral guide Sa skya Legs bshad that was compiled in Tibetan by the famous high priest and scholar Sa skya Pandita, and as such an indispensable tool for the study of Tibeto-Mongol translation techniques, and Mongol language history in general. The medieval Mongol translator Sonom Gara's words written in Uygur letters or printed in Kubilai's Square Script are listed here in transcription together with an English interpretation and their equivalents in the Tibetan original. Parallel passages are...

In the thirteenth century, the Armenians of Greater Armenia and of the Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia were invaded by Mongol nomads of the Inner Asian steppe. The ensuing Mongol-Armenian relations were varied. The Greater Armenians became subjects of the Mongol Empire, whereas the Cilician Armenians, by entering into vassalage, became allies and furthered the Mongol conquests. In order to enhance our understanding of this turning point in medieval history, the effects of long distance military raids, missions, diplomacy, collaboration, administrative assistance and confrontation as well as the...

Some 100 years ago, Mongolia gained independence from Qing China, and more than 20 years ago it removed itself from the collapsing Soviet Bloc. Since then, the country has been undergoing momentous social, economic and political changes. The contributions in Change in Democratic Mongolia: Social Relations, Health, Mobile Pastoralism, and Mining represent analyses from around the world across the social sciences and form a substantial part of the state of the art of research on contemporary Mongolia. Chapters examine Buddhist revival and the role of social networks, perceptions of risk,...

In The Sabdan Baatır Codex, Daniel Prior presents the first complete edition, translation, and interpretation of a unique manuscript of early twentieth-century Kirghiz poetry, which includes detailed accounts of nineteenth-century warfare. Dedicated to the chief Sabdan Baatır, the Codex occupies an illuminating position in a network of oral and written genres that encompassed epic poetry and genealogy, panegyric and steppe oral historiography; that echoed oral performance and aspired to print publishing. The Codex's fresh articulation of concepts of Kirghiz...

At the turn of the seventeenth century, a new dynastic party established authority across Central Asia. In Four Types of Loyalty in Early Modern Central Asia, Thomas Welsford offers the first detailed account of how and why this happened. By examining some of the ways in which various social groupings helped to facilitate the Tūqāy-Tīmūrids' acquisition of power, Welsford considers how such an instance of dynastic change might reflect the shifting loyalties, beliefs and preferences of an often overlooked wider subject population.

For nearly a millennium, a large part of Asia was ruled by Turkic or Mongol dynasties of nomadic origin. What was the attitude of these dynasties towards the many cities they controlled, some of which were of considerable size? To what extent did they live like their subjects? How did they evolve? Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City-life aims to broaden the perspective on the issue of location of rule in this particular context by bringing together specialists in various periods, from pre-Chingissid Eurasia to nineteenth-century Iran, and of various disciplines (history, archaeology,...