Vasily Bartold

Vasily Vladimirovich Bartold ( _ru. Василий Владимирович Бартольд, also known as Wilhelm Barthold; OldStyleDate|15 November|1869|3 November in Saint Petersburg — 19 August 1930 in Leningrad) was a Russian and Soviet historian who succeeded Wilhelm Radloff as the greatest authority in the field of Turcology. His contributions to the understanding of the medieval culture of Central Asia are particularly valuable, earning him the moniker of the "Gibbon of Turkestan".

Bartold's lectures at the University of Saint Petersburg were annually interrupted by extended field trips to Muslim countries. In the two volumes of his dissertation ("Turkestan down to the Mongol Invasion", 1898-1900), he pointed out the many benefits the Muslim world derived from Mongol rule after the initial conquests. Bartold was the first to publish obscure information from the early Arab historians on Kievan Rus'. He also edited several scholarly journals of Muslim studies, and contributed extensively to the first edition of the "Encyclopaedia of Islam". In 1913, he was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences. In February 1917 he was appointed to the Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of Russia.

After the Russian Revolution, Bartold was appointed director of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, a post he held from 1918 to 1921. He wrote three authoritative monographs on the history of Islam, namely "Islam" (1918), "Muslim Culture" (1918), and "The Muslim World" (1922). He also contributed to the development of Cyrillic writing for the Muslim countries of Central Asia. Most of his writings were translated in English, Arabic, and Persian. Bartold's collected works were reprinted in 9 volumes between 1963 and 1977, and whilst Soviet editors added footnotes deploring his 'bourgeois' attitudes, his prestige was such that the text was left uncensored, despite not conforming to a Marxist interpretation of history. Some of his works have been reprinted more recently in Moscow.

Notable works by Bartold

* "Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion" (London: Luzac & Co) 1928 (Trans. T. Minorsky & C.E. Bosworth)
* "A Short History of Turkestan" (1920) in "Four Studies on the History of Central Asia" (Leiden: E.J. Brill) 1956 (Trans. V. & T.Minorsky)
* "An Historical Geography of Iran" (Princeton: Princeton University Press) 1984 (translated by Svat Soucek; edited by C.E. Bosworth)
* "Собрание сочинений" (Москва: Издательство Восточной литературы) 1963-77 9 Vols.
* "Отчет о поездке в Среднюю Азию с научною целью" (С.Пб.: Тип. Имп. Академии Наук) 1897
* "История культурной жизни Туркестана" (Москва: Изд. Академии наук СССР) 1927
* "Работы по исторической географии" (Москва: Изд. фирма «Восточная литература» РАН) 2002