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Historical Bookshelf
Home / Historical Periods / Asia & the Islamic World

Period

Asia & the Islamic World

c. 221 BCE–1,967 CE

Asia and the Islamic World brings together major non-European settings that need strong public navigation rather than being buried in isolated regional pages. It includes imperial China, feudal and early modern Japan, Mughal and British India, the Ottoman Empire, Islamic civilisation and the modern Middle East.

The category matters because these settings involve different political traditions, religions, empires, trade networks and military cultures from the usual western European sequence. It gives readers a route into dynastic courts, samurai worlds, imperial administration, maritime trade, colonial rule, rebellion and religious conflict.

Historical fiction in this area includes samurai novels such as James Clavell’s Shōgun and Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi, novels of Mughal and British India, Ottoman and Middle Eastern fiction, and works set in imperial China. It is best used as a broad gateway, with the detailed child contexts doing the chronological and regional work.

Related people for Asia & the Islamic World

Abd-ar-Rahman III891–961 Abdul Hamid II1842–1918 Adolf Hitler1889–1945 Ahmed I1590–1617 Akechi Mitsuhide Al-Musta’sim1212–1258 Alexander VI1431–1503 Ariq Böke1219–1266 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington1769–1852 Asano Naganori1667–1701 Baji Rao II1775–1851 Bayezid II Benjamin Disraeli1804–1881 Bertrand du Guesclinc. 1320s–1380 Börte1161–1230 Catherine the Great1729-1796 Cem Sultan Chagatai Khan1183–1242 Charlemagne Charles Arbuthnot1767–1850 Charles Cornwallis Charles Elliot1801–1875 Charles George Gordon1833–1885 Charles V1500–1558 Charles V of France1338–1380 Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus1444–1487 Chattar Singh Attariwalladied 1855 Constantine XI Palaiologos Daoguang Emperor1782–1850 Daulat Rao Scindia1779–1827 David1040 BCE–970 BCE David of Trebizond1408–1463 Dewan Mulraj1814–1851 Dhoondia Waghdied 1800 Don John of Austria Dost Mohammad Khan1793–1863 Duleep Singh I1838–1893 Elizabeth I1533–1603 Emperor Meiji Empress Dowager Cixi1835–1908 Empress Myeongseong1851–1895 Franklin D. Roosevelt1882–1945 Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts1832–1914 Galeazzo II Visconti1320–1378 Genghis Khan1162–1227 George Chinnery1774–1852 George Elliot1784–1863 George Harris, 1st Baron Harris1746–1829 George IV of the United Kingdom1762–1830 Gojong of the Korean Empire1852–1919 Gordon Bremer1786–1850 Guangxu Emperor1871–1908 Gulab Singh1792–1857 Hachisuka Shigeyoshi Haile Selassie1892–1975 Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge1785–1856 Henry Montgomery Lawrence1806–1857 Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston1784–1865 Heraclius Herbert Benjamin Edwardes1819–1868 Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener1850–1916 Herod the Great75 BCE–5 BCE Hiroo Onoda Hong Xiuquan1814–1864 Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough1779–1869 Hulagu Khan1217–1265 Hyder Ali1720–1782 Hürrem Sultanc. 1505–1558 Hōjō Tokimune1251–1284 Irene of Athens752–803 Ivan the Terrible1530–1584 James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie1812–1860 James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin1811–1863 James II of Cyprus1438–1473 James Matheson1796–1878 Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy1783–1859 Jean Parisot de Valette1494–1568 Jind Kaur1817–1863 Jochi1182–1227 John III Sobieski1629–1696 John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence1811–1879 John Saris1580–1643 Jomo Kenyatta1893–1978 Joseph Chamberlain1836–1914 Juan de Homedes1477–1553 Kara Mustafa Pasha1634–1683 Kemal Reis Khosrow II Kira Yoshinaka1641–1703 Kublai Khan1215–1294 Lal Singhdied 1866 Lancelot Dent1799–1853 Leonardo da Vinci1452–1519 Lin Zexu1785–1850 M. M. Kaye1908–2004 Maeno Ryōtaku1723–1803 Mahatma Gandhi1869–1948 Mahmud II1785–1839 Mao Zedong1893–1976 Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d’Arquien1641–1716 Marino Grimani1532–1605 Martin Luther1483–1546 Mehmed II1432–1481 Menelik II1844–1913 Miyamoto Musashi Modu Chanyu Mohammad Akbar Khan1816–1845 Muhammad Muhammad Ahmad1844–1885 Muhammad al-Idrisi1110–1166 Muhammad Ali of Egypt Murad II Möngke Khan1209–1259 Najib Nassar1865–1948 Napoleon1769–1821 Napoleon III1808–1873 Nicholas I of Russia1796–1855 Oda Nobunaga Otto von Bismarck1815–1898 Paul Kruger1825–1904 Philip II of Spain1527–1598 Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari1841–1879 Prince Gong1833–1898 Qin Shi Huang Qishan1786–1864 Ranjit Singh1780–1839 Ranjodh Singh Majithia Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley1760–1842 Robert Clive1725–1774 Roger II of Sicily1095–1154 Saigō Takamori Sasaki Kojirō Selim II1913–1994 Shah Shujah Durrani1780–1842 Shapur Ic. 3rd century–272 Sher Singh Attariwalladied 1858 Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet1757–1829 Sir Frederick Currie, 1st Baronet1799–1875 Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet1787–1860 Solomon991 BCE–932 BCE Subutai1175–1248 Sugita Genpaku1733–1817 Suleiman the Magnificent1494–1566 Takuan Sōhō Tej Singhdied 1862 Tipu Sultan1751–1799 Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Tsunayoshi1646–1709 Toyotomi Hideyoshi Turgut Reis1485–1565 Umar ibn al-Khattab Valerian200–c. 260s Victoria1819–1901 Walter Hamilton1856–1879 William Adams1564–1620 William Brydon1811–1873 William George Keith Elphinstone1782–1842 William Jardine1784–1843 Winston Churchill1874–1965 Xianfeng Emperor1831–1861 Yashwantrao Holkar1776–1811 Ögedei Khan1186–1241 Ōishi Yoshio1659–1703

Series

Series about Asia & the Islamic World (2 series)

The Asian Saga in Order

by James Clavell 7 books 4.6

The Asian Saga is a sequence of large-scale novels about European and Asian encounters across nearly four centuries. Its chronological reading order moves from civil war in Japan in 1600 through the creation of British Hong Kong, the opening of treaty-port Japan, a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, Cold War…

The Islam Quintet in Order

by Tariq Ali 5 books 4.2

The Islam Quintet is Tariq Ali’s cycle of five historical novels examining encounters between Islamic societies and the Christian West across more than five centuries. Moving from the fall of Muslim Granada and the Crusades to Norman Sicily, the late Ottoman Empire and the modern transnational world, the…

Books

Books about Asia & the Islamic World (30 books)

Bestselling authors first, then star rating.

Non Fiction

Non Fiction about Asia & the Islamic World (28 books)

Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.