The course surveys the history of Central and Inner Asia (the territory of the former Soviet Central Asian republics, Kirgizstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as Mongolia and Northwest China) from the beginnings to the present, also including in the discussion the East European steppe region when appropriate. While it looks at this vast geographical space as part of various imperial configurations (the Hun, Türk, Kazar, Mongol, Timurid, and Russian Empires, as well as the Muslim Caliphate and the Soviet Union), it discusses local historical processes and dynamics, addressing the question of in what sense the region can be considered a separate historical-geographical entity.
