Azerbaijani or Azeri (Azərbaycanca, Azərbaycan dili) is a language belonging to the Turkic language family, spoken in southwestern Asia by the Azerbaijani people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran. Azerbaijani is member of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages and is closely related to Turkish, Qashqai, Turkmen and Crimean Tatar.

The Institute of International Maritime Affairs was founded in May 2005 having the intention of stimulating the research works of humanities and social sciences with relation to the ocean and developing the interdisciplinary activities with other research fields, as well as setting up the educational-industrial-governmental-academic complex and helping to make the policies for region developments.

In the Republic of Tuva, the indigenous Tuvinians live together with people from other ethnic backgrounds, mostly Russian settlers who emigrated in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. This cultural mixture has led to the emergence of different kinds of bilingualism. The feudal clique of Tuvinians had already learned to speak Mongolian during the 16^th century and later under the Manchu Empire.

Malay was not only a lingua franca of trade in maritime Southeast Asia, but it also found its way into Javanese literature. In coastal towns in Indonesia, the contact between people from different ethnicities was particularly intense. The Sêrat Jayalêngkara, a Muslim book written in the East Javanese coastal area during the 18^th century, contains speeches by two characters in oral Malay which indicate that the author of the work was bilingual.

Ancient Korea was renowned for its textiles. It was probably closely connected to the emergence of sericulture, which had its centre in China in the nearby Shandong province. The English word “silk” might have its etymological origin in Ancient Korean. The Korean language was influenced by Western elements which reached the peninsula through China and Mongolia.

The conquest of Malacca in 1511 allowed the Portuguese to gain control over the Spice Road between Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf. In the 16^th century, Malay was a widely diffused lingua franca of intra-Asian trade and communication. The presence of the Portuguese in Southeast Asia led to linguistic exchanges: some Portuguese words, which were mostly related to navigation and trade goods, entered the Malay language, and a certain number of Malay words found their way into the Portuguese vocabulary.

In pre-Islamic times, the Sasanian Empire tried to gain control over the two Eastern systems of communication and trade, the land and sea Silk Road, as well as over the Mediterranean system in the West, which was built up by the Romans. The Sasanians tried to block contacts between the Eastern and Western trade networks. After the rise of Islam, the Silk Roads were extensively used by Muslims.

In the early 17^th century, the Dutch introduced the printing press into the Dutch East Indies. Two centuries later, Christian missionaries launched a large-scale campaign of publishing texts in Malay. Printing presses for missionary purposes were set up on the Malay peninsula and in Singapore, which became a major centre for publications of Christian books, tracts and periodicals in Malay and other vernacular languages. These writings had a significant impact on Malay culture.

At the margins of the main Silk routes, numerous secondary routes equally contributed to the exchange of goods and works of art and the diffusion of languages, religions and cultural influences. Thus, several routes through the Himalaya connected India and China after the rise of the Kushan Empire in the 1^st century AD. The route running through Nubra Valley in the Ladakh district saw the passage of several Western explorers, and it remained open until the middle of the 20^th century.

With the rise of the Han Dynasty in China, the Silk trade between China and countries as far away as Iran flourished. However, silk was by no means the only merchandise that was traded between China and the West. The merchants, who were envied, esteemed and despised, led dangerous nomadic lives. Their caravans were often joined by missionaries, and merchants played a crucial role in favouring cultural exchange and the propagation of religions.