The Eurasian Steppe and the World

Despite its size and location at the center of the Eurasian supercontinent, the Steppe is typically dismissed as a peripheral area or backwater. Although some historians have romanticized the region as a venue of trade and exchange, most ignored or portrayed it as a civilizational impedance, spawning only occasional disruptions. Surveying recent scholarship, this course addresses such questions as, Did the Steppe generate distinct forms of order? Did the Steppe contribute to European state formation? Will the Steppe reemerge as a pivot point of global politics?