Feudalism in Central Asian Khanates (18th – Early 20th centuries).

Comprising the territories between the Amu and Syr Rivers (Mawaranahr in Arabic), Xinjiang or Chinese Central Asia,Khwarizm, Afghanistan, North West Frontiers of India including Sind, Multan and Kashmir, Mongolia and Tibet. Located on the cross roads of Grand Silk Route, the region had several fascinations: the home to diverse ethnic groups, and rich arts, cultures, faiths, learning and philosophy. Nonetheless, the region was largely landlocked and characteristic of barbarism and backwardness due to the presence of a swath of ethno-tribal and nomadic and semi-nomadic groups and communities. With the discovery of Sea Routes, Central Asia lost strategic importance, and the world focus shifted to outward, seaward, and westwards thereby subjecting the region to partial hibernation. Although the entire dynamics of the regions past was meticulously highlighted by the Western and Russian scholars, the issues concerning land tenures and tribal organization were not analytically examined by them for certain limitations. True the foreign travelers plugged the gap. But since they belonged to a different educational background, they could not, as such, present a scientific view of the land tenures in terms of feudal mode of production.Digital copy of ThesisUniversity of Kashmir