Connexions module: m17841 1
Central and Northern Asia: A.D. 901
to 1000
∗
Jack E. Maxeld
This work is produced by The Connexions Project and licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License
†
1 CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ASIA
Back to Central and Northern Asia: A.D. 801 to 900
1
Just northwest of the western end of the Great Wall of China, the Tanguts (a Tibetan tribe) founded the
powerful kingdom of Hsi-hsia in the areas of Ninghsia and Kansu. The Khitan Mongols, under their dynastic
founder, Ye-lu A-pao-Chi (907-926) conquered all Inner Mongolia and, as we shall see later in the chapter,
most of Manchuria and northern China. (Ref. 119
2
, 279
3
) To the southwest the Khwarism (Khorezm) Turks
took their name from their ancient and medieval state centered on the basin of the lower Amu Darya River
and in 995 the country was united under the emirs of north Khwarism whose capital, Urgench, became a
major seat of Arabic learning. (Ref. 38
4
, 8
5
, 125
6
)
Afghanistan fell to the Turks of Turkistan in A.D. 962. The Samanid Emirate, extending east from Persia,
was partially crushed and Transoxiana lost to the Karakhanid Turks in 990 but it remained for another
Turk, General Mahmud, one of the greatest gures in Central Asian history, to completely overthrow the
Samanids in 999, initiating the Ghaznawid Emirate in that entire area of southern, central Asia. Bokhara
and Samarkand continued to be great centers of learning and art while the great Friday Mosque at Herat
was already attracting scholars and philosophers from all over the Islamic world. (Ref. 137
7
, 144
8
)
In Tibet the two wives of one of the kings converted him to Buddhism and after that Chinese writings
were brought into the nation. One such writing, the "Tanjur" contained medical information. (Ref. 125
9
)
∗
Version 1.2: Oct 14, 2008 10:51 pm GMT-5
†
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
1
"Central and Northern Asia: A.D. 801 to 900" <http://cnx.org/content/m17833/latest/>
2
"A Comprehensive Outline of World History: Bibliography", reference [119]
<http://cnx.org/content/m17805/latest/#oneonenine>
3
"A Comprehensive Outline of World History: Bibliography", reference [279]
<http://cnx.org/content/m17805/latest/#twosevennine>
4
"A Comprehensive Outline of World History: Bibliography", reference [38]
<http://cnx.org/content/m17805/latest/#threeeight>
5
"A Comprehensive Outline of World History: Bibliography", reference [8]
<http://cnx.org/content/m17805/latest/#eight>
6
"A Comprehensive Outline of World History: Bibliography", reference [125]
<http://cnx.org/content/m17805/latest/#onetwove>
7
"A Comprehensive Outline of World History: Bibliography", reference [137]
<http://cnx.org/content/m17805/latest/#onethreeseven>
8
"A Comprehensive Outline of World History: Bibliography", reference [144]
<http://cnx.org/content/m17805/latest/#onefourfour>
9
"A Comprehensive Outline of World History: Bibliography", reference [125]
<http://cnx.org/content/m17805/latest/#onetwove>
http://cnx.org/content/m17841/1.2/
