In this book, the renowned historian of Islamic art Oleg Grabar introduces Western audiences to Persian painting, which consists primarily of miniatures illustrating works of literature, but also includes murals and small ceramics decorated with pictures. The masterpieces of this art form have a visual richness that requires the use of the intellect as well as the eye for their appreciation, and Grabar seeks to situate the reader within their world, that of Islamic culture in Iran from the Middle Ages to Modern times.

Ibn Battuta's voyages around the world in the 14th century stand as an extraordinary testimony to the fluidity of movement along trade routes in the Middle Ages.  Ross Dunn here recounts the great traveler's remarkable career, interpreting it within the cultural and social context of Islamic society and giving the reader both a biography of an extraordinary personality and a study of human interchange across cultures and societies in medieval times.

This volume is the first English-language anthology of primary documents for the study of Central Asian history. Scott C. Levi and Ron Sela draw from a vast array of historical sources to illustrate important aspects of the social, cultural, political, and economic history of Islamic Central Asia. These documents - many newly translated and most not readily available for study - cover the period from the 7th century Arab conquests to the 19th century Russian colonial era and provide new insights into the history and significance of the region.

This book considers the economic, social and political importance of the silk trade in Safavid Iran. It focuses on four aspects of this trade: the role of silk in Iranian commercial policy, the interaction between agents of the state and foreign merchants, the routes along which silk was transported and, critically, the economic and social difficulties that contributed to the collapse of the regime in the 1720s. This represents a major contribution to the current debates on the social and economic history of the premodern world.

Based on original research in the archives of Uzbekistan, this book surveys early modern commercial relations between India and Central Asia and examines the emergence, economic function, social organization, and decline of an Indian merchant diaspora. This diaspora consisted of tens of thousands of Indian merchant-moneylenders living in communities across Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, the Caucasus and much of Russia.

This is a study of the activities and economic significance of the Indian merchant communities that traded across Iran, Central Asia and Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries, and their role within the hegemonic trade diaspora of the period. The author has made use of Russian material, hitherto largely overlooked, to highlight the importance of these mercantile communities, and to challenge the conventional view of world economic history in the early modern era.

This volume by Thomas T. Allsen breaks new scholarly boundaries in its exploration of cultural and scientific exchanges between Iran and China. Contrary to popular belief, Mongol rulers were intensely interested in the culture of their sedentary subjects. Under their auspices, various commodities, ideologies and technologies were disseminated across Eurasia. The result was a lively exchange of scientists, scholars and ritual specialists between East and West. The book is broad-ranging and erudite and is a vital tool for historians in this field.

In the thirteenth century the Mongols created a vast transcontinental empire that transported skilled artisans from one cultural zone to another. Among those transported were Muslim textile workers, resettled in China, where they made clothes for the imperial court. In a fascinating account, the author considers the significance of cloth and colour in the political and cultural life of the Mongols.

The Mongol Empire was the largest continuous land empire known to history, and its creation a major political event in the thirteenth century world. In this volume, David Morgan explains how this vast Empire was organized and governed, examining the religious and political character of the steppe nomadic society. He assesses the astonishing military career of Chingiz (Genghis) Khan, considers the nature of Mongol imperial government, and the effects of Mongol campaigns on the countries and peoples they conquered in China, Russia, Persia and Europe.

The Sogdian Traders were crucial to the passage of trade across Central Asia in the early Middle Ages. Originally from the regions around Samarkand, Bukhara and Tashkent, their presence as traders across the expanse of Central Asia is attested by texts, inscriptions and archaeology from China to Turkey.