The Caspian World is a wide-ranging exploration of the strategic, political, and commercial significance of the Caspian Sea, a site where empires―Russian, Persian, Ottoman, and British―competed, warred, and collaborated. As with the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, or the Black Sea, the geography of the Caspian Sea creates a sphere of unique political dynamics and possibilities, and the essays in this volume describe the role of the Caspian as a force of connection, as well as a source of threats, to the states on its shores.

Rather than narrating history through binary, state-to-state relationships, however, The Caspian World uncovers the sea as a space of multi-sided exchanges and numerous centers, tracing how the Caspian has shaped the commercial, intellectual, diplomatic, and imperial projects throughout the region.

Contributors: Ulfat Abdurasulov, Abbas Amanat, Elena Andreeva, George Bournoutian, Iurii Demin, Layla S. Diba, Etienne Forestier-Peyrat, Kevin Gledhill, Guido Hausmann, Kayhan A. Nejad, Matthew P. Romaniello, Saghar Sadeghian, Alisa Shablovskaia, Ernest Tucker, Denis V. Volkov, Murat Yaşar, Rustin Zarkar