Central Asian arts, literary, performing, and visual arts of a large portion of Asia embracing the Turkic republics (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan), Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and parts of Russia and China. As used here, the term denotes only those traditions that were not influenced by the religion of Islam. This immense tract of land-with its highly varied topography and climate and its diversity of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds-encouraged the development of greatly varied artistic styles and traditions among the inhabitants of widely separated regions. These differences were magnified by the emergence of dissimilar religions, which in turn encouraged the formation of distinctive schools or traditions of art. Further artistic variances can be attributed to cultural time lag, for comparable stages of artistic development were not reached simultaneously throughout the area. The essential history of one of the most diverse and culturally vibrant regions on the planet, this book reveals how Central Asia has been profoundly shaped by the forces of modernity, from colonialism and social revolution to culturally vibrant.

Central Asian arts, literary, performing, and visual arts of a large portion of Asia embracing the Turkic republics (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan), Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and parts of Russia and China. As used here, the term denotes only those traditions that were not influenced by the religion of Islam. This immense tract of land-with its highly varied topography and climate and its diversity of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds-encouraged the development of greatly varied artistic styles and traditions among the inhabitants of widely separated regions. These differences were magnified by the emergence of dissimilar religions, which in turn encouraged the formation of distinctive schools or traditions of art. Further artistic variances can be attributed to cultural time lag, for comparable stages of artistic development were not reached simultaneously throughout the area. The essential history of one of the most diverse and culturally vibrant regions on the planet, this book reveals how Central Asia has been profoundly shaped by the forces of modernity, from colonialism and social revolution to culturally vibrant.