Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

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FOREWORD
This book explores a vast region that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to
the Pamir mountains in the east; from the Kopetdag and Hindu Kush mountains in
the south to the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in the north.
In geographical and historical academic literature, the name Central Asia,
Srednaya Aziya in Russian (literally ‘Middle Asia’), has long been used to describe
this region. In the early 1990s the Russian name to describe the region changed to
Tsentral’naya Aziya (Central Asia) and this usage has since been increasingly common
both in academic literature and in everyday life. Often, especially recently, both these
designations have been used concurrently, which is very confusing when it comes
to understanding exactly what territory is being referred to. In Russian-speaking
academia, Tsentral’naya Aziya has always been understood to refer to the territory of
the Altai, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Western China and Tibet, a region which in European
academic literature is referred to as ‘Inner Asia’ as opposed to ‘Central Asia.’
Although this book primarily focuses on Srednaya Aziya – Middle Asia, it also
covers Tsentraly’naya Aziya – Central Asia, China and the Far East – and the historical
past and interactions with these regions as well as with Mediterranean countries.
For the purposes of this translation, the designation Central Asia is used to cover
the meaning of ‘Middle Asian’ territories in the senses of the Russian designation
mentioned above. ‘Inner Asia’ is used on occasions where it is deemed necessary to
refer to a broader territory covering part of today’s Western China, Mongolia, the
Russian Far East and Siberia.
Some sections of the book place greater emphasis on the region between the two
major rivers of Middle Asia that is referred to as Transoxiana in European literature.
This name was first introduced into the academic literature by the French scholar M.
D’Herbelot. The Arabs referred to this region as Mā Warā’ al-Nahr, ‘That Which Lies
Beyond the River’. The name ‘Turan’ was also used, which probably derives from the
tribe called Tur mentioned in the Avesta, and was first used by Firdousi. The border
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