Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 5.9. The Silk Road. From classical antiquity until the Middle Ages, traders
used this network of routes to transport high-value goods from the Orient to the
Occident. Goods from China and India traveled over land; spices from the Spice
Islands near Java came to the West by sea. Image by San Roze.
aged the development of long-distance land routes for trading. The Silk
Road emerged at about this time, around 100 BCE, and persisted in one
form or another for many centuries, long after all four of the empires of
classical antiquity had fallen apart.
Zhang Qian 18 witnessed the beginnings of the Silk Road. He was an
envoy sent westward by the Han emperor Wudi, with an escort of 100 men,
to seek out allies against the marauding Xiong-nu ''barbarians.'' However,
he was captured by the Xiong-nu and held prisoner for 12 years. Despite
being ''barbarians,'' the Xiong-nu treated him well. Eventually, Zhang Qian
escaped with his men and fled further west, still trying to fulfill the mission
of his emperor. He was seeking the Yueh-chi, a nomadic people who, he
had heard, might be willing to fight against the Xiong-nu and who had
magnificent horses, better than those of the Chinese. During his period of
captivity, the Yueh-chi had moved even further to the west, and Zhang
Qian followed them. He traveled across the Tian Shan Mountains as far as
Bactria, where he found the Yueh-chi and their fabulous ''heavenly horses.''
He stayed a year with these people but could not persuade them to wage
18. Pronounced ''Jang Chyen.''
 
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