Originally published in Swedish under the name, En Färd Genom Asien, the travel writing is an account of Hedin's first big expedition through Central Asia during the years 1893 to 1897.
[1] The knowledge gathered and disseminated from scientists, explorers and authors aimed to be apprehended as objectively and universally valid with the ultimate goal to achieve "scientific and social progress of humanity" to "benefit the world and the species".
[2] The accumulation of knowledge from outside Europe was crucial to "the project of colonial domination" which in turn helped European scientists to facilitate their explorations in other parts of the world.
[3][4][5] Sweden was not a colonial power such as Great Britain, France or Germany at that time, hence the country was in quest of something else to secure its standing in the harsh and competitive European sphere.
The region of Hedin's first big expedition was of high value as in Central Asia the interests of major powers such as the Chinese, the Russians, and the British-Indians collided.
[8] The book starts by giving a short overview of the recent explorations in Central Asia and by setting out the objectives of Hedin's journey.
To reach the starting point of his expedition, Hedin travelled across Russia, through today's Kazakhstan, to eventually arrive in Tashkent, which was part of the Russian Empire at that time.
[7] Authors such as Danielsson claim that Through Asia was the start of many international fast-selling travel writings Hedin published that impersonated European self-fashioning and ruthlessness towards the locals.