Étienne de La Vaissière (born 5 November 1969 in Dijon) is a French historian, professor at theÉcole des hautes études en sciences sociales, in Paris.^[1] He is teaching economic and social history of early medievalCentral Asia, before and after the arrival ofIslam. He is a specialist of theSogdian culture, its traders and nobility, and also of thenomadic invasions of the 4th-5th centuries.Some of his theories are:

• a depiction of the network which gave to the image of "Silk Road" its only historical reality during theEarly Middle Ages^[2]
• the textual proof that theHuns and theXiongnu are indeed synonymous
• a shift of two centuries in the history of EasternManichaeism (it arrived inChina in the 6th century)
• a reinterpretation ofAbbasid 9th century political history pushing the birth of themamluk phenomenon to the 860s-870s

He contributed to the expedition that led to the decipherement of theinscription of Hüis Tolgoi.

• Histoire des marchands sogdiens, De Boccard, Paris, 2002
  • New edition corrected and expanded, 2004^[3]
  • English translationSogdian traders : a history, Handbook of Uralic studies v.10, Leiden, 2005,ISBN 978-90-04-14252-7
• Samarcande et Samarra. Elites d'Asie centrale dans l'empire abbasside, Peeters, Louvain, 2007^[4]
• With Éric Trombert,Les Sogdiens en Chine,École française d’Extrême-Orient, Paris, 2005^[5]
• With Matteo Compareti,Royal Nawruz in Samarkand, supplement of theRivista degli Studi Orientali, 2006
• With M. Ghose "Ephtalites", inBulletin of the Asia Institute, 2007.[1]
• Islamisation de l'Asie centrale. Processus locaux d'acculturation du VIIe au XIe siècle, Peeters, Louvain, 2008.^[6]

• de La Vaissière, Étienne (2003)."Is There a "Nationality of the Hephtalites"?".Bulletin of the Asia Institute.17:119–132.ISSN 0890-4464.JSTOR 24049310.
• de La Vaissière, Étienne (2005)."Huns et Xiongnu".Central Asiatic Journal.49 (1):3–26.ISSN 0008-9192.JSTOR 41928374.
• de La Vaissière, Étienne (2006)."Les Turcs, rois du monde à Samarcande".Rivista degli studi orientali.78:147–162.ISSN 0392-4866.JSTOR 41913394.

• Archeao.ens.fr

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