Since the ancient times the historical fate of the nations of Central Asia has been connected to one another. They developed by various common, internal and external and cultural relations. The following ideas from the book “There is no future without history” by the President Islam Karimov is a brief expression of this historical truth: “Many ethnic groups, clans and tribes contributed to create our ancient culture too like our history. It is natural, because, never and nowhere there is a culture belong to only one nation. Any civilization is the result of the action of many-many nations, peoples, clans and tribes” [1].
One of the East civilization centres Central Asia has been famous for ages as the central part of the Great Silk Road, the area of corporation which East and West civilization meets and it has had an important role in international economical-cultural relationships.
The term “Cultural relationships” has quite a wide meaning, it reflects various relationships between human societies. Cultural relationships have been carried out in trade and delegational relationships, crafts, architecture, sculpture, art, religious-philosphical doctrines, exchanging of moral scales, corporation in different fields of science, spreading of technological innovations, innovational ideas and others. In the development of any civilization the economical-cultural relationships with neighbouring and far countries had a great importance and this process caused cultural rising and technological progress. Because of different reasons, in the societies which stayed behind the international relationships the beginning of the Age of Stagnation and crisis has been met many times in the history of humanity. Civilization is the factor of world progress, it is of great importance studying the questions like features of communications between civilizations and their developing laws, historical experience and modern problems.
Firstly, it helps to entirely realize the volume and importance of the contribution of Uzbekistan, the “heart” of Central Asia, to the world civilization, secondly, to understand its modern geopolitical importance in strengthening the stability and good neighbourhood.
Having a look at the history of cultural relationships, it can be noted that the following factors had a basic place among those influenced on the development of the internal and external cultural relationships in the different historical periods:
– The country’s geographical condition, nature and the size of its are;
– The number of its population;
– Mentality and character of the people;
– The structure of the government, the existence of the appropriate offices in the administrative system and the fruitfulness of their work;
– Political stability, leading of legal scales;
– Existence of the lines of communications and appropriate infrastructures.
In studying the periods of cultural relations depending on the new researches some particular historical steps can be noted. For example, the early step of the cultural relationships began in the Stone Age. Analyzing the results of the historical archeological researches carried out in the various areas of the Earth, we can see the cultural communications and corporation begin to appear among the various areas of the Earth in the ancient time which the early lines of communications began. At first this process began by sharing the innovations the field of household in the neighbouring tribes. It widened according to the progress of the society and resulted to spreading the technological innovations helping the development of the industrial forces and means, the formation of primitive religious imaginations and moral looks, units of language providing the common communication [2].
From the Mezolithic and especially the Late Stone Age southern parts of Central Asia began to be involved in the economical-cultural processes which began in Western Asia and southern-western Asia. In the consequence industrial economy — peasantry and livestock breeding and raising, pottery making, textile manufacturing, shipbuilding, building houses from packed mud walls began to appear (culture of Joytun). In the late Stone Age a new era began in the development of these processes. Material findings belonging to the Ancient East civilization in the sites pertaining to Joytun culture confirms the economical-cultural relationships, different information exchanging of the South our region with the borders of the Near East and Mesopotamia.
In this period of time Central Asia’s relationships with the borders of Eastern Turkistan and Mongolia might have begun. Particularly, there is a similarity between the general meaning and type of the crag pictures found in the cave of Khoyt Senkher in Mongolia and the ones in Central Asia, Pamir, Tian-shan and Siberia, so that scientists are concluding about the cultural relationships between these areas and the generality of cultures of the tribes migrated in the large areas from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea [3].
Some information enables us to note that in the Late Stone Age relationships between Central Asia and China began to develop. There are some ideas that in this period of time several types of plants in China were materialized under the influence of the cultural relationships with the “World of the West”, that is the areas situated in the west of China, especially with Central Asia [4].
The rise of the cultural relationships of Central Asia developed in IV-II thousands before the era too. In this time of which the Ancient East civilization centres appeared, first civilizations and their peripheries (border areas) formed in the trans-regional lines of communication social-political and cultural-ideological influence had a leading part than the economical factors. Since the Bronze Age the southern provinces of our region had been under the cultural influence of the Ancient East civilization centres. In the result of the cultural relationships with these regions the culture of irrigational peasantry developed, using the important technological innovations spinning wheels of pottery making and using wheels began, copper and bronze metallurgy appeared, development of the first city planning and the basis of state administration began. It should be noted that in this step there was a cultural influence from Central Asia on other neighbouring regions and it widened more in the next periods of time.
In the Bronze Age the protocity cultures in the south of Central Asia (Oltin depa, Namozgoh) had an economical-cultural relationship with civilization centres in the valley of the Indian river. Similar clay sculptures in the sites belonging to Khapappa culture in the Southern Turkmanistan and India, things made of ivory in the different cultural layers of Oltintepa and the effects of Kharappa and Mokhenjo-Daro culture on some clay and metal things are the result of the economical-cultural relationships of these regions [5; 6].
In this way, the nations of Central Asia had close cultural relationship with each other and other neighbouring nations since the ancient times. These relationships have been carried out by the corporation in the different fields of social-economical life, widely exchanging of different technological achievements, trade and delegational relationships, artistic crafts, architecture, sculpture, art and common influence in the other fields of culture, religious-philosophical ideas and exchanging of moral scales, the development writing and calligraphy and others. In this respect the ancient roads of the region, especially, the cultural relationships carried out along the Great Silk Road had a great importance. There were also craftsmen, scholars, scientists, poets and musicians in the trade caravans on the main caravan roads of the region, and they played a great role in spreading the other nations’ cultures. In the development of cultural relationships the centralized states and their support in the cultural relationships were of great importance.
References:
1. Каримов И. А. Тарихий хотирасиз келажак йўқ.-Тошкент, Шарқ. 1998.
2. Мавлонов Ў.М. Марказий Осиёнинг қадимги йўллари. — Тошкент: 2008.
3. Айтбоев А. Қадимда Марказий Осиё халқларининг кўчиши ҳақида // Шарқшунослик. — Тошкент, 1999. –№ 9.
4. Васильев Л. С. Земледелие в Древнем Китае // Вестник истории мировой культуры. — М., 1962. — № 2.
5. Массон В. М. Алтын-депе — город бронзового века // Сквозь века. — М.: Знание, 1986. Вып. 2.
6. Щетенко А. Я. Обмен и торговля доисторического Индостана // КСИИМК. — М., 1974. Вып. 138.
