The review work of one of the largest Russian orientalists and religious scholars Leonid Vasiliev is devoted to the medieval East. In a relatively small space of text, the history of the pre-Islamic Middle East and Sassanian Iran, the Arab Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire, states on the territory of India and the Mughal Empire, early medieval China and the Chinese Confucian Empire, Korea and Japan, the countries of Indochina and the island world of Southeast Asia. Having defined the facets of the Eastern Middle Ages as the first centuries of our era and the middle of the 19th century and covering a gigantic territory, the author nevertheless managed to create a complete picture, linked together by mutual influences and various contacts of Asian peoples. At the same time, there was room to describe the features of their religion, culture, and way of life. In a word, this book is for those who knew little about the history of the East, but would like to learn about everything at once in an accessible and understandable presentation. Leonid Vasiliev (1930–2016) is a Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, chief researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.