The Turkic and Other Muslim Peoples of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Balkans

2019 ◽  
pp. 97-130
Author(s):  
R. Craig Nation
Author(s):  
Scott C. Levi

While it may seem counterintuitive, the increase in Mughal India’s maritime trade contributed to a tightening of overland commercial connections with its Asian neighbors. The primary agents in this process were “Multanis,” members of any number of heavily capitalized, caste-based family firms centered in the northwest Indian region of Multan. The Multani firms had earlier developed an integrated commercial system that extended across the Punjab, Sind, and much of northern India. In the middle of the sixteenth century, Multanis first appear in historical sources as having established their own communities in Central Asia and Iran. By the middle of the seventeenth century, at any given point in time, a rotating population of some 35,000 Indian merchants orchestrated a network of communities that extended across dozens, if not hundreds, of cities and villages in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Iran, stretching up the Caucasus and into Russia.


1972 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-186
Author(s):  
Yu. E Borshchevsky ◽  
Yu. E. Bregel

The history of literature in Persian has not been sufficiently studied although it is almost twelve centuries old, and was at times in widespread use in Afghanistan, Eastern Turkestan, India, Turkey and the Caucasus, as well as in Iran and Central Asia. The comparatively late development of Iranian studies and the condition of source materials are to blame for this situation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-254
Author(s):  
Paolo Sartori

Abstract Understanding why Persian ceded ground to the vernacular Turkic in Central Asia in the 18th century is key to detecting major cultural realignments in the Balkans-to-Bengal complex. To date, however, focus has been predominantly on the constraining of Persian’s hegemonic status in Asia, its shaping colonial knowledge, and its stamping an imprint on other literary languages in post-colonial situations. Taking this literature as a point of departure, I change perspective and examine the process whereby a vernacular idiom acquired prominence prior to the onset of Russian colonization. By setting aside the issue of scope of Persian, I turn to an exploration of writing practices in Turkic in the early modern period in Khorezm, a major oasis in Central Asia within the territory of what is today Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. Interpreted in the literature so far as an isolated phenomenon, the ascendance of Chaghatay Turkic in Khorezm has been in fact studied in isolation from similar processes of vernacularization. By reconnecting writing practices in this oasis to patterns of literary consumption in Central Eurasia more generally, I point to an area of shared vernacular sensibilities across Khorezm, the Middle Volga, the Kazakh Steppe and the Tarim Basin. Furthermore, I argue that the promotion of the vernacular among Turkic-speaking Muslims in the Russian empire in the early 20th century was built on earlier processes of elevation of a written culture from the demotic to the literary.


Balcanica ◽  
2014 ◽  
pp. 203-219
Author(s):  
Jelena Milojkovic-Djuric

At the beginning of his diplomatic career in Constantinople in 1835, David Urquhart was instrumental in promoting the British cause by endorsing its political grand design and mercantile interests in Turkey, Greece, the Caucasian region, Crimea, Serbia and adjacent Balkan principalities. While observing the complexities of the Eastern Question, Urquhart recognized the underlying importance that Serbia had attained in the context of competing imperial interests in the Balkans. His engaged commentaries on the crucial changes in Serbian political discourse elucidated as well his understanding of Serbian history and culture past and present. Urquhart discerned a correspondence between Serbian political affairs and the inherent situa?tion in the region of the Caucasus and Circassia.


Author(s):  
Morteza Nouraei ◽  
Bahman Zeinali

The necessity for peaceful coexistence today makes the study on tolerance a must have. The vast region from Central Asia-Khorasan to the Balkans has had its ups and downs for centuries. The diversity of nations and tribes along this path highlights the attention to common cultural components. Meanwhile, the existence of various Sufi groups throughout the history in the region has a special character. The idea of Sufism was essentially based on tolerance and grew into a Peaceful coexistence. However, various Sufi groups have experienced violence at historic junctures by entering the political arena. But it must be said that the distinction between cultural and ideological Sufism has shown peaceful life. This article endeavor to introduce the Sufism growth and development in different regions so that a significant and plausible path can be drawn as a Sufi Road. In addition, the legacy of Sufism has been activated by its cultural image in the areas in question, showing many similarities between different Sufi groups in various countries. The homogeny among the cultural components of Sufism in the geography of the region are a way for dialogue. As a result, one can experience cultural exchange in the form of coexistence and tolerance.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document