This article was downloaded by: [Koch, Natalie R.] On: 15 December 2009 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 917830121] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 3741 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Central Asian Survey
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Palgrave concise historical atlas of Central Asia Natalie R. Koch a a University of Colorado at Boulder,
Online publication date: 15 December 2009
To cite this Article Koch, Natalie R.(2009) 'Palgrave concise historical atlas of Central Asia', Central Asian Survey, 28: 3,
335 — 336
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/02634930903421889 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02634930903421889
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Central Asian Survey Vol. 28, No. 3, September 2009, 335 –345
Book reviews
Downloaded By: [Koch, Natalie R.] At: 15:38 15 December 2009
Palgrave concise historical atlas of Central Asia, by R. Abazov, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, 144 pp., £14.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-1403975423 An affordable atlas of Central Asia is hard to find. In an attempt to fill this niche, Rafis Abazov has compiled an atlas of the region in the format offered by the Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas series. Its avowed purpose is ‘to provide students and the general public with an effective tool that will help them visualize historical changes in the Central Asian region’ (p. viii). Although Peter Rutland’s back-cover review suggests that it may serve regional scholars, it is clearly designed to reach a broader public with limited knowledge of Central Asia. With a total of 50 maps, the atlas is divided into six sections: Introductory Maps, Early History, the Islamic Golden Age, The Mongols and the Decline of Central Asia, The Era of Colonialism and Nation-State Building, and Post-Communism and Independence. Each map is accompanied by a one-page text describing historical events during the given period. Due to the space restrictions of the Palgrave series, the history is necessarily painted in broad strokes – a limitation acknowledged by the author in the preface. More interested readers are thus referred to a ‘concise’ (sevenand-a-half-page-long) bibliography of more specialized references at the end of the text. One of the most attractive elements of the Atlas of Central Asia is that it is markedly less expensive than other competitors, such as Yuri Bregel’s (2003) An historical atlas of Central Asia, which is nearly 20 times the price. Abazov’s atlas is also unique in that it dedicates 11 maps to the post-independence period of Central Asia’s history. Each of the five republics has a map and accompanying description, while others address ‘Interethnic conflicts and the collapse of the USSR’ (Map 40), ‘Ethnic composition and major territorial disputes’ (Map 46), ‘Central Asia and the war on international terrorism’ (Map 47), ‘Border disputes in the Farghona valley’ (Map 48), ‘Major oil and gas pipeline proposals’ (Map 49), and ‘Transportation routes’ (Map 50). With these particular maps, the author pays explicit attention to popular topics in the region’s contemporary history. Incorporating these topics with the region’s historical treatment makes for a more holistic study than nearly any other atlas of Central Asia. Cartographically, the atlas follows the format of other Palgrave Concise atlases, with maps only produced in two colours (greens and greys). Abazov explains that this is an issue of cost-effectiveness and accessibility of the information to the general public (p. viii). This is unfortunate because the maps are simply too basic to be of much use to the regional scholar, and probably the general public as well. Setting aside the problem of the historical and linguistic evolution of toponyms, which the author acknowledges as a major difficulty in developing such a historical atlas, there are several disconcerting cartographic omissions and mistakes. For example, the Aral Sea is depicted in all 50 maps at its 1960 size. This could be excusable for the historical maps given the difficulty of ascertaining the Sea’s size at those times, but it is not excusable for the contemporary maps, given that the Aral Sea is presently only 10% of the 1960 size. Many maps also use arrows or lines to display movements of people, war campaigns or trade routes. Most are often too broad to impart much information. Of the 50 maps, 44 are exactly the same size, covering exactly the same area. This means that important information about the Parthian or Timurid empires, for example, is excluded, simply because their influence lay further south than the cartographer’s narrow focus area. Although it may be tempting to write off these oversights as a limitation of the Palgrave series, one can find much more sophisticated and varied maps in The Palgrave concise historical atlas of Eastern Europe (Hupchick and Cox 2001). ISSN 0263-4937 print/ISSN 1465-3354 online http://www.informaworld.com
Downloaded By: [Koch, Natalie R.] At: 15:38 15 December 2009
336 Book reviews The text accompanying the maps faces strict length limitations, leaving it extremely general. The writing of history, however limited, is seldom neutral – and the Atlas of Central Asia clearly articulates a sensational view of the region. One is first alerted to certain ideological underpinnings of the project when the text describing ‘Map 1: Physical geography’ describes the region in the context of Halford Mackinder’s Heartland Theory – a geopolitical vision that is far from an objective description of Central Asia’s physical geography. With an eye to highlighting the geopolitical (strategic) importance of the region, Abazov tells the history of great battles, warfare, and empires. Although he explains in the preface that space limitations mean that he can only cover ‘major events and changes’, the texts are symptomatic of an avowedly ‘objective’ style of writing geography and history. In such a view, geography is a tabula rasa or theatrical stage on which the real drama, Politics and History, unfolds. The effect of Abazov’s strong focus on Central Asia’s history of warfare is to create an image of it as a violent and unstable region. This textual and cartographic focus on warfare also comes at the expense of attention to everyday life of the non-elites, the economic and social organization of society. As with the example of the Aral Sea, the text is understandably thin further back in time, but strange oversights in terms of more recent history abound. For example, Russian colonization of Central Asia (Maps 31 and 32) is depicted almost wholly positively, neglecting mention of the violence done to local populations in the process. The description of administrative structures since the Tsarist rule of Central Asia also omits any mention of Muslim Spiritual Boards and their successor institutions in the Soviet and independence eras. The treatment of the Bolshevik revolution and concomitant political changes in the early Soviet Union (Maps 34– 38) strangely omits the role of the Jadids in their early cooperation with the Bolsheviks. It absolutely fails to mention the hujum that followed, in which they, and Islam in general, were subject to severe assault. Given the author’s early declaration of the region’s central importance in religious exchange (Map 5), this neglect of religion throughout is puzzling. Equally puzzling is the description of Central Asia under the Soviet Union after 1936, which is limited to a one-page description of ‘Economic changes in Central Asia’ (Map 39). Although an ambitious project, The Palgrave concise historical atlas of Central Asia may disappoint the critical scholar looking for a nuanced view of the region’s geography. It is easy to accept that it is simply not designed to meet the needs of regional scholars, but the image it paints of Central Asia for the general public is somewhat disconcerting. That is to say, it confirms popular images of the region as a site of interest primarily because of its violent history and relevance to current security concerns about interethnic conflict (Map 40) and oil and gas supplies (Map 49). Although this may serve to engage popular attention, it is not a useful starting place for encouraging the nuanced views of Central Asia needed to understand its complexities and role in contemporary geopolitics. Given that the region is often a black hole in the mental maps of those in the West, Abazov’s Atlas of Central Asia highlights a niche that could just as easily be illuminated with critical accounts of the region’s unique and engaging history and geography. References Hupchick, D.P. and Cox, H.E., 2001. The Palgrave concise historical atlas of Eastern Europe, New York: Palgrave. Bregel, Y., 2003. An historical atlas of Central Asia. Boston: Brill.
Natalie R. Koch University of Colorado at Boulder Email:
[email protected] # 2009, Natalie R. Koch DOI: 10.1080/02634930903421889
