SILK ROADS, GREAT GAMES AND CENTRAL ASIA

摘要

The ancient Silk roads covered a vast area stretching beyond what we would now call Central Asia, originally a somewhat vague geographical and cultural concept, but certainly the locus of the 19th century great game between Russia and Britain. In 1924, the borders of the five “stans” were delimited, intended as administrative borders, not the international borders they became at the break-up of the Soviet Union, when the then presidents played a key role in managing the successful transition to full statehood. As the “stans” human and mineral resource differ widely, their prospects are also different. But, in contrast to the 19th century, they are now independent states and thus masters of their own destiny.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2011.605601