Objective
The general objective of the project is to gain new insight into the economic and social transformation of the oases of Central Asia (Khanate, later Amirate, of Bukhara) from the 16th to the early 20th century from an internal perspective. The main source material for the project is documents which are preserved in collections in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The project aims at surveying document collections in the ancient cultural and political urban centres of the region, Bukhara and Samarkand, and to publish requests of documents relating to the economic and social history. Besides making new material accessible to the scientific community, this procedure aims at preserving this important, but endangered segment of the cultural heritage of Central Asia in the local context in which it was historically formed.
Individual, yet closely interconnected case studies focus on the complex matter of intra- and interregional communication of the urban centres of the Khanate/Amirate of Bukhara. These sub-tasks combine studies on the urban elite and city-hinterland relations, the rôle of muslim and non-muslim (Jewish, Hindu) minoritarian communities, communication, and trade relations with Iran. The chronological frame is the period from the establishment of the Khanate in the 16th century to its end in the aftermath of the October Revolution, though most attention will be paid to the 18th-early 20th centuries, the period of growing direct and indirect influence of Russia and the West
The results will be published as requests of the documents with indices and selected facsimiles, together with the results from the case studies. Catalogues, databases and photo files will remain with the respective collections. The local collections will thus become more easily accessible
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
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44780 Bochum
Germany