ABSTRACT
History is always celebrated as either Western or Eastern. In the lands of Central Asia, however, these two civilisations collided, resulting in massive changes and challenges for the local setup. The brutal Mongol onslaught in the early thirteenth century and the Russian invasion in the nineteenth century further convoluted the situation of Central Asia. By the fourteenth century, virtually the entire Central Asian region was Muslim, which by all probability meant that Central Asians inhabited a world wherein they shared common institutions, a common belief system, and common social and cultural values. By inflicting a strong defeat on the Ottoman Sultan Yildirim Beyezit, and shattering the power of the Mongol Golden Horde, Temur established an unrivalled empire, expanding beyond Central Asia into present-day Iran, Arabia, northern India and parts of Russia. South Central Asian fertile soil noted since antiquity for high-quality cotton crops was the only neighbouring option that Russians annexed without much standing in their way.
