The Land
Routes of
Central Asia
The land routes of
Central Asia
•The prelude to the Age of Discovery,
however, is to be found neither in the
Norse explorations in the Atlantic nor in
the Arab activities in the Indian Ocean but,
rather, in the land journeys of Italian
missionaries and merchants that linked the
Mediterranean coasts to the China Sea.
•Indicopleustes, an Alexandrian
Geographer writing in the 6th century,
knew that Tzinitza (China) could be reached
by sailing eastward, but he added: “One
who comes by the overland route from
Tzinitza to Persia makes a very short cut.”
Goods had certainly passed this way since
Roman times, but they usually changed
hands at many a mart, for disorganized and
often warring tribes lived along the routes.
The Silk Road was originally opened up by Zhang Qian and it gradually
formed in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD).
In the Han Dynasty, the ancient road originated from the historical capital
of Chang'an (now Xi'an). This China trade route ran through Gansu
THE SILK ROAD Province via Tianshui, Lanzhou, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Jiayuguan
(an important military garrison and barrier of the Great Wall) and
Dunhuang along the Hexi Corridor. Dunhuang is famous for its Mogao
Caves and other cultural relics. It was also a key point of the route, where
the trade road divided into three main branches: the southern, the central
and the northern.
•The Silk Road was and is a
network of trade routes
connecting the East and West,
and was central to the
economic, cultural, political,
and religious interactions
between these regions from
the 2nd century BCE to the
18th century.
•The Silk Road primarily refers
to the land but also sea routes
connecting East Asia and
Southeast Asia with South
Asia, Persia, the Arabian
Peninsula, East Africa and
Southern Europe
The three main routes spread all over the
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
•The Southern Route wandered west along the
northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains, passing
Ruoqiang (Charkhlik), Qiemo (Cherchen), Hetian,
Yecheng (Karghalik), Shache (Yarkand) and reached
Kashgar (the last point of the Silk Road in China). Then
this route crossed the snow-covered Pamirs, reached
Pakistan and India via Kashmir; it could also reach
Europe through Islamabad, Kabul, Mashhad, Baghdad
and Damascus.
• The Central Route ran west along the southern foot of
Tianshan Mountains, passing Loulan (now Ruoqiang),
Turpan , Korla, Kuche (Kuqa), Aksu and Kashgar,
afterwards went over the freezing Pamirs, wound to
Mashhad via the Fergana Basin, Samarkand, Bukhara
and finally joined the Southern Route.
•The Northern Route went west along the northern foot
of Tianshan Mountains, taking merchants westwards to
Hami (Kumul), Urumqi and Yining, and then reached
the areas near the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the
Mediterranean Sea.
MONGOLS
In the 13th century the political geography changed. In 1206
a Mongol chief assumed the title of Genghis Khan and, after
campaigns in China that gave him control there, turned his
conquering armies westward. He and his successors built up
an enormous empire until, in the late 13th century, one of
them, Kublai Khan, reigned supreme from the Black Sea to
the Yellow Sea. Europeans of perspicacity saw the
opportunities that friendship with the Mongol power might
bring.
The Mongols culturally enhanced the Silk Road by
allowing people of different religions to coexist. The
merging of peoples and cultures from conquered
territories brought religious freedom throughout the
empire.
POLO BROTHERS
The greatest of the 13th-century travelers in Asia
were the Polos, wealthy merchants of Venice. In
1260 the brothers Nicolo and Maffeo Polo set out
on a trading expedition to Crimea. After two years
they were ready to return to Venice, but, finding
the way home blocked by war, they traveled
eastward to Bukhara (now in Uzbekistan in
Central Asia), where they spent another three
years. The Polos then accepted an invitation to
accompany a party of Tatar envoys returning to
the court of Kublai Khan at Cambaluc, near
Peking (Beijing). The khan received them well,
provided them with a gold tablet as a safe-
conduct back to Europe.
MARCO POLO
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant,explorer, and writer who travelled through Asia
along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of
Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione), a book
that described to Europeans the then mysterious culture and inner workings of the
Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of the Mongol Empire and China in
the Yuan Dynasty, giving their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan
and other Asian cities and countries.
Born in Venice, Marco learned the mercantile trade from his father and his uncle,
Niccolò and Maffeo, who travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they
returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an
epic journey to Asia, exploring many places along the Silk Road until they reached
Cathay (China). They were received by the royal court of Kublai Khan, who was
impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility. Marco was appointed to serve as
Khan's foreign emissary, and he was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout the
empire and Southeast Asia, such as in present-day Burma, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka
and Vietnam. As part of this appointment, Marco also traveled extensively inside
China, living in the emperor's lands for 17 years and seeing many things that had
previously been unknown to Europeans.
The Silk Road trade played a
significant role in the development of
the civilizations of China,
Korea,Japan, the Indian
subcontinent, Iran, Europe, the Horn
of Africa and Arabia, opening long-
distance political and economic
relations between the civilizations.
Though silk was the major trade item
exported from China, many other
goods and ideas were exchanged,
including religions (especially
Buddhism), syncretic philosophies,
sciences, and technologies like paper
and gunpowder. So in addition to
economic trade, the Silk Road was a
route for cultural trade among the
civilizations along its network.
Diseases, most notably plague, also
spread along the Silk Road
For Reference :
https://asiasociety.org/geographical-
setting-silk-roads
