Central Asian 8th Century Demographics
Prof. Etienne de la Vaissière (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS))
April 5, 2018, 6:00 pm (s.t.), Universität Hamburg, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, AS-Saal, 20146 Hamburg
Central Asian 8th Century Demographics
Abstract: Census data from 8th-century Eastern Central Asian oases, combined with the measurements of the oases and data from archives discovered there, allow us to calculate estimates both of the individual oases’ populations and of their respective feeding capacities, which is to say the number of people who could be fed from the output of one hectare of agricultural land. These numbers in turn have parallels in Western Central Asia, where oasis sizes can also be calculated by examination of preserved archaeological landscapes and oasis walls. It is therefore possible to reach a rough idea of the populations dwelling in the main oases and valleys of sedentary Central Asia. These results have direct consequences for one of the most disputed issue of Early Muslim history, the so-called Abbasid Revolution, starting from Marw, a Central Asian oasis.
Etienne de la Vaissière is Professor of Central Asian Medieval History at the EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) in Paris, member of the CETOBaC team ( Centre d’Études Turques, Ottomanes, Balkaniques et Centrasiatiques UMR 8032) in Paris. His research focusses on economic and social history of early medieval Central Asia.
