Academician Barthold’s famous work begins in the late 7th century with the Muslim invasions of what became Russian Central Asia and carries the history of the region through the period of Abbasid centralization, that of the rise of local Muslim dynasties and successive phases of Turkish dominance down to the arrival of Chingiz Khan in the early 13th. Barthold’s mastery of the historical and geographical sources and his sound critical judgement were remarkable and ‘Turkestan’ remains a basic work of reference for the area it covers. The book first appeared in St Petersburg in 1900 in the form of a Russian doctoral theses. The English edition of 1928 was thoroughly revised by the author, and that of 1968 supplemented by the translation of a further chapter found among his papers after his death: ‘Turkestan under Mongol Domination (1227-69)’. A 2007 reprint contains an updated map of the region.
