Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

20 Proceedings of the International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa.Vol. I. 2020 The biennial International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa, the major international forum in the field of Asian and African studies in Russia, has been held at the Faculty of Asian and African Studies of the Saint Petersburg State University for more than half a century since 1961. Historically the organization of the congress has gone through a number of stages: from inter-university scholarlymethodological conferences held in the Oriental faculty of the Leningrad State University, to large international forums with the participation of many representatives from leading universities and academic centres of Russia, former Soviet Union republics, as well as universities ofAsia,Africa, Europe and USA. A Conference on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa was established by prominent Russian orientalists, historians and oriental sources experts, includingAcademician JosephOrbeli whowas head of the StateHermitageMuseum, the Institute of Oriental Studies, the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Leningrad StateUniversity and also its Department of Middle East History. Among the organizers of the congress in different periods were such famous St Petersburg scholars as Academician Boris Piotrovsky, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences Nina Pigulevskaya, professors of the Faculty of Oriental Studies Ilya Petrushevsky, Liudmila Stroeva, Anatoly Zheltiakov, Boris Mel’nichenko, Boris Doronin and others. Many of these leading Russian scholars took part in the organizing and work of the famous XXVth International Congress of Orientalists, which was held in Moscow in 1960. The Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa held in St Petersburg University in 2019 was a jubilee event – the 30th in a row. In recent years, besides the traditional historical sections, new philological and linguistic ones were added, thus covering all aspects of Oriental Studies. As a result, over the past 15 years, the number of participants has increased from150-200 specialists inAsian and EDITORIAL PREFACE