Highland Asia as a World Region: An Introduction

Abstract

Imagine, for a moment, that there are no borders, geopolitical tensions, political conflicts, or stringent visa regimes; a world where trails and paths fork out uninterrupted by states haunted by manifest anxieties over territory, sovereignty, and the reverberations of political cartography. In such a world, it would be possible for you, provided you possess extraordinary stamina, determination, and abundant time, to trek from Kyrgyzstan to Vietnam without ever having to set foot in a single lowland.This handbook refers to this massive, contiguously hilly and mountainous expanse as Highland Asia.