The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of AsiaThe Silk Road, the ancient trade route passing through Bokhara to Samarkand in the west and Dunhuang to Xi'an in central China, conjures up exotic pictures of camel trains laden with bales of fine Chinese silk, and spices and perfumes in the great market of Samarkand. The Silk Road also witnessed the movement of cultural influences and this text examines the civilizations and ideas that flourished along with vast geographical route. The 19th century saw a new interest in Central Asia as Russia and Britain vied for power on the frontiers of Afghanistan. A new breed of explorer, part archaeologist, part cartographer, part spy, was seen on the Silk Road and some of the ancient cities, long buried in sand-blown dunes, began to give up their secrets. |
Contents
Note on spellings | 7 |
The Great Game and the Silk Road | 147 |
explorers | 165 |
Copyright | |
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ancient Asian Bokhara British Library Brysac Buddhist camel caravan caves Central Asia century Cherchen China Chinese Clavijo collection consul crossing described desert Dunhuang early East emperor empire envoys expedition explorers Faxian Ferghana foreign French Gansu Geographical Gobi Guanyin Hami Heavenly Horses Helen Espir Hopkirk India inhabitants jade journey Karakorum Kashgar Khan Kharakhoto Khiva Khotan Kucha London Loulan Macartney Maillart manuscripts Marco Polo merchants Mildred Cable Mongol monks mountains Nestorian oases oasis towns painting Pamirs Peking Pelliot Persia Peter Fleming Photograph Przhevalsky Rabban Sauma river route ruler Russian Samarkand sand script sent Silk Road silkworms Sir Aurel Stein Sogdian southern Silk Road St Petersburg sutras Sven Hedin Taklamakan Tang dynasty Tangut Tarim Tartary temple texts Thousand Buddhas Tibet Tibetan Timur trade translated travellers Turfan Turkestan Uighur Urumqi wall-paintings walls Warner Western whilst Xinjiang Xiongnu Xuanzang Yarkand yellow Younghusband Yuezhi Zhang Qian