Luc Kwanten. Imperial nomads: a history of central Asia, 500-1500 (1979)

Luc Kwanten. Imperial nomads: a history of central Asia, 500-1500. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979, XV+352 p. ISBN 0812277503

Preface … xiii

1. Introduction … 1

2. The Formative Years … 9
The Steppe Unstructured … 11
A Barbarian Dynasty in China … 15
The Nomadic Empires … 18
The Nomadic Kingdoms … 23

3. The Steppe Unified: The Turkic Empire … 27
The Origins of the Türks … 29
The Creation and Expansion of the Empire … 32
War and Trade … 39
The Structure of the Empire … 42
The Islamic Thrust into the Empire … 46

4. The Transition Empires … 49
The Triad of Uighur Empires … 50
Uighur Civilization: A Steppe Anomaly … 56
Turkic Islamization: Qarluqs and Qaraqanids … 59
Turkic Dominance in Persia: The Saljuq Empire … 62
The Twilight of Turkic Power … 65

5. The Chinese Border Empires … 69
The Decline of Chinese Power … 72
The History of the Ch’i-tan Empire … 76
The History of the Jurchen Empire … 81
The Tangut Imperial Confederation … 88
The Structure of the Ch’i-tan Empire … 92
The Culture of the Tangut State … 97
The Structure of the Jurchen State … 99
The Problem of Acculturation and Sinicization … 102

6. The Creation of the Mongol Empire … 105
The Steppe Before the Mongols … 106
The Rise of Chinggis-khan … 108
The Conquest of the World … 112
The First Tangut-Mongol-War … 113
The Conquest of North China … 114
The Middle East and Beyond … 118
The Second Tangut War … 123
The Death of Chinggis-khan … 124
The Consolidation of the Empire … 124
The Reign of Ogodei, 1229-1247 … 124
The Reign of Cuyuk, 1246-1248 … 136

7. The Mongol World Empire … 141
The Reign of Mongke 1251-1258 … 142
China: The Yüan Dynasty … 145
Persia: The Il-khans … 156
Russia: The Golden Horde … 167
The Steppe: The Chaghatai Khanate … 172
The Mongols and the West … 174

8. The Structure of the Empire … 187
The Sociopolitical Structure … 188
The Administrative Structure … 195
The Economic Structure … 208
Religion under the Mongols … 216
Cultural Life under the Mongols … 221

9. The Collapse of the Mongol Empire … 225
Disruptive Forces in the Nomadic Tradition … 226
The War of Restoration … 234
The Fall of the Yüan … 237
The Disintegration of the Il-khanid Empire … 244
The Partition of the Steppe … 249
A Periodization of the Chingizid Empire … 255

10. The Successor States … 259
The Resurgence of the Sedentary States … 260
Timur and the Timurids … 266
The Mongols on the Eastern Steppe … 272
The Sedentary Penetration of the Steppe … 279

11. Postscript … 285
Appendixes
1.A Guide to Pronunciation … 289
2. A Chronology of the Steppe Empires … 290
3. A Chronology of Chinese Dynasties … 292
4. A Chronology of Islamic Dynasties … 296
5. The Mongol Rulers … 297
6. A Chronology of Important Events … 299

Notes … 305

Selected Bibliography … 333

Index … 343