History Lessons - thoughts on the history of the Uighurs

I've been reading Peter Frankopan's new book entitled 'The Silk Roads: a new history of the world' and it had gotten me thinking a lot.  (I had written a previous post, but am still struggling with this Blogspot App, and I deleted it!)

Anyway, the current chapter is called 'The Road to Hell' and in it the reader is introduced to Genghis Khan. Mr. Frankopan's talks about the importance of the Uighurs. That their culture was so highly developed that Genghis Khan married one of his daughters to the Uighur ruler so that he might gain access to the Uighur scribes and bureaucrats. 

The only reason I bring this up is because the Uighurs have been in the news recently because they are being crushed by the Chinese. 

Do you think that the world would be a better place if we Americans (Westerners in general) understood the glorious history of other cultures? This 'tribe', or ethnic group, was highly organized and efficient, such that they were sought after, not crushed in the 12th century. Now we know nothing of them, other than being oppressed Muslims in China. (Wait, or is it just me who knows nothing about them?)

It's humbling to think about all the knowledge that is out there but is unavailable to me because I don't speak the language. Clearly our scholars are getting better at realizing and correcting for this deficiency...

I guess I am horribly naive. Glad somebody is doing the research and understanding the ebbs and flows of nations and empires.