The warehouse of Bamiyan economic life in medieval Afghanistan Arezou Azad ; with contribution by Pejman Firoozbakhsh

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Azad, Arezou, 1970- author.

Contributor:

Firoozbakhsh, Pejman, contributor.

Series:

Islamicate East

The Islamicate East : new approaches to texts and history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Commerce--History--Medieval, 500-1500.

Commerce.

Bāmyān (Afghanistan)--Commerce--History.

Bāmyān (Afghanistan).

Bāmyān (Afghanistan)--Economic conditions--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press [2025]

Summary:

"Uncovers the untold history of rural life in medieval Bamiyan Provides a new, bottom-up history of eastern KhurasanReveals the operations of a medieval warehouse, offering insights into the daily lives and interactions of local communities with the stateBased on newly discovered documents from Bamiyan, with a focus on scholarly methods for reading historical records 'against the grain'Highlights eastern Khurasan's significance in the Islamicate world, offering a fresh perspective on the diverse and often overlooked roles of agricultural societies in medieval historyOffers insights into the development of early New Persian as a legal and administrative languageBamiyan, in present-day Afghanistan, is famous for its giant Buddhas, but what was life like for its rural inhabitants 500 years after the Muslim conquest? The Warehouse of Bamiyan uncovers the untold history of the region's warehouse, revealing the lives of farmers, landholders, the taxes they paid, and their role in the economy. Based on newly discovered documents studied since the late 2010s, Arezou Azad details the reconstruction of the archive and the scholarly methods used behind the scenes to read medieval documents 'against the grain.' The book offers a fresh perspective on the medieval eastern Islamicate lands through the lens of medieval Bamiyan, highlighting the significance of agricultural societies and shedding light on the diverse roles of rural communities often overlooked in royal narratives"-- De Gruyter Brill

Contents:

Introduction : the invisibility of people of the medieval Islamicate East

Methods, aims and sources

Assumptions and paradigms about rural administration and land management

The warehouse

Landholding patterns in Bamiyan

The documentary and archival context

Conclusion : uncovering life beyond the palace walls

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed December 19, 2025)

Other Format:

Print version Azad, Arezou, 1970- Warehouse of Bamiyan

ISBN:

9781399546713

1399546716

9781399546720

1399546724

OCLC:

1553062508

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license