This volume introduces the geographical setting of Central Asia and follows its history from the palaeolithic era to the rise of the Mongol empire in the thirteenth century. From earliest times Central Asia linked and separated the great sedentary civilisations of Europe and Asia. In the pre-modern period 'Inner Asia' was definable more as a cultural than a geographical entity, its frontiers shifting according to the changing balances of power. Written by distinguished international scholars who have pioneered the exploration of Central Asia's poorly documented past, this volume discusses chronologically the varying historical achievements of the disparate population groups in the region.

"The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia is the single best introduction in any language to the political history of the inhabitants of Inner Asia up to Mongol times. No other collective volume approaches the comprehensiveness of its scope; nor can any single-author history claim mastery of the many fields exhibited by its collective authorship. It concentrates on the most important strand in the history of this vast and storied region, home to nomadic herdsmen, forest hunters and sedentary oasis-dwellers alike." Journal of Asian History

"...was much needed and waited for...we should be grateful to its editor and the authors." Journal of Asian and African Studies

"The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia is now the single most important work in any Western language surveying the Turkic and non-Turkic peoples and states of early Inner Asia." Turkish Studies Association Bulletin

"This volume is a splendid synthesis of narrative and analytical history, and a definitive work of reference." Choice