Reviewed Work: The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World

Abstract

One of the most interesting but, until now, least-studied regional empires in pre-Mongol Central Asia was that created by the Qara Khitai. It was truly an empire "in the middle." Located in one of the most remote regions of Eurasia, between Lakes Balqash and Issyk Ku! in present-day Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, the Qara Khitai governed a highly disparate group of peoples and client states that shared no common language, religion, or culture. They created an empire that differed considerably from neighboring sedentary or nomadic empires and was known by at least two quite different names, Qara Khitai and Western Liao.