5 Reasons to Study Central Asia

Despite Central Asia’s long history and enduring importance to world politics, today’s students are barely learning about this region.  When I recently thumbed through a middle school-level World History textbook issued by a major publisher, I found only 18 pages out of 800+ that touched on Central Asia.  By that estimate, Western students today spent no more than 0.02% of their time reading about one of the oldest and most important regions of the world!
 
As a former teacher, my point here is not to criticize textbooks or educators.  History is a vast subject, and there is no way to cover it all in a year.  Even if it could be done, the breakneck pace would only allow a surface-level investigation of most places and events.  And there is no single (or easy) way to organize such a large amount of information.  Thus, priority must be given to certain civilizations, cultures, or phases of societal development.  Nevertheless, Central Asia seems to have fallen between the chapters.

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Here are five reasons why Western students should spend a little more time learning about this important region:

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