84 Part II: Outsiders
that followed, trade in horses, silk, gold, and other precious goods thrived, and
lines of communication, trade, and migration connected the extremes of the
Eurasian landmass. Military conquests also swept across Central Asia, some-
times originating with the nomadic empires there, and sometimes led by neigh-
boring sedentary empires that engulfed the region. In times of war and peace,
the peoples and cultures of Central Asia were essential in connecting west and
east. Like many nomadic communities of history, once powerful and expan-
sionary, the Xiongnu and Yuezhi do not have a corresponding nation-state in
today’s world, but aspects of their cultural legacy live on in far western China
and in the countries of Central Asia.
In 2002, the Scottish author, Rory Stewart, walked across Afghanistan and
then wrote about it in his book, The Places in Between (2004). This provocative
title is a blunt challenge to learn more about Central Asia, a region of the world
too often relegated to being a place “in between” and often forgotten. Central
Asia lies between the more geopolitically dominant eastern and western
reaches of the Eurasian landmass. Stewart urges the reader to seek a deeper
cultural and historical understanding of the region than the political leaders ofThe “Flying Horse of Gansu” is a bronze sculpture from Han China in the second cen-
tury B.C.E. It represents the magnificent and much coveted horses bred in regions like
Fergana (today Uzbekistan) on China’s western frontier.