Early Modern Central Asia in World History

Abstract Scholars have long recognized that Central Asia played a key role in trans‐Eurasian trade, positioned as it was at the crossroads of the overland “Silk Road” network of caravan routes. The economic advantages associated with the region’s geography are presumed to have supported the great nomadic empires of the Eurasian interior in the classical and medieval eras, and to have come to an abrupt end in the early modern era. This generally has been attributed to the rise of European commercial interests in the Indian Ocean, which signaled the end of the overland Silk Road trade and sent Central Asia into a centuries‐long period of decline. This essay draws attention to a number of foundational assumptions that have informed this interpretation, and it advocates for moving beyond the decline paradigm to employ an integrative method of analysis that more effectively situates the region in its global context and invigorates the study of early modern Central Asian history.