Where did the Silk Roads run?
What is the Ferghana Valley?
What mountains did caravans cross?
What was the role of Afrasiab in the Silk Roads?
What is the name of the mountain chain that connects Central Asia and China?
Where did caravans arrive in the Alay Valley?
Where is Turfan located?
See 4 more
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Sogdians – Silk Road Research
The Sogdians were the principal merchants along the Silk Road . Not only did the they transfer goods they also facilitated cross-cultural exchanges, especially with the Chinese and the Turks. The descendants of the Sogdians, known as Yagnobis, live in a remote valley in Tajikistan and to this day speak a language similar to ancient…
Sogdians in China: A Short History and Some New Discoveries
Gansu were sent to the invading army, and the Sogdians were already on a par with the greatest merchants of An-tiquity, the Kushan ones. The next step in the history of the
SOGDIAN TRADE – Encyclopaedia Iranica
SOGDIAN TRADE. The people of Sogdiana were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia from the 5th to the 8th century. Origins. Little is known of the origins of Sogdian trade.
Where did the Silk Roads run?
The two main branches of the Silk Roads, running to the north and south of the Taklamakan Desert, converged at Dunhuang.
What is the Ferghana Valley?
The Ferghana Valley is in part defined by its southern geographical boundary, the Alay Mountains, the northernmost range of the Pamir Mountains. Finding a way through and over these mountains would begin the next stage of the Sogdians’ journey. JAPAN CHINA KOREA MONGOLIA INDIA AFGHANISTAN HIMALAYAS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
What mountains did caravans cross?
Starting their trek across the Pamirs, caravans took the Taldyk Pass at 11,860 feet (approx. 3,600 meters), which allowed them to navigate through the eastern portion of the Alay Mountains. Once through the pass, caravans would arrive in the Alay Valley, an open space within the Pamirs bounded to the north by the Alays and to the south by the Trans-Alay Range. This wider, flat-bottomed valley with meandering rivers was much easier to traverse. But this respite would be short-lived, as travelers were eventually funneled eastward out of the valley and through another difficult pass at Irkeshtam at 9,680 feet (approx. 2,950 meters) that would take them between the Pamirs and the Tian Shan Mountains. Just as their journey through the mountains was coming to an end, they would have to contend with yet another obstacle: the Taklamakan Desert.
What was the role of Afrasiab in the Silk Roads?
Located in a fertile Zerafshan River valley at the junction of trade routes between India and China, the city of Afrasiab played a key role in commerce along the Silk Roads. As one of the most important cities in Sogdiana (along with Bukhara, Paikend, Kesh, and to a lesser extent, Panjikent), its economy was based on a combination of agriculture, ...
What is the name of the mountain chain that connects Central Asia and China?
The Pamirs are a complex mountain chain connecting several of the highest ranges in Central Asia, together known as the “Roof of the World.”. Their scale and placement have long made the Pamirs one of the most significant obstacles to overland trade between Central Asia and China.
Where did caravans arrive in the Alay Valley?
Once through the pass, caravans would arrive in the Alay Valley, an open space within the Pamirs bounded to the north by the Alays and to the south by the Trans-Alay Range . This wider, flat-bottomed valley with meandering rivers was much easier to traverse.
Where is Turfan located?
Turfan 吐魯番. located in present-day Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region 新疆维吾尔自治区, China. Water runoff from the towering Bogda and Qoltag Mountains flows into the northeastern margins of the Taklamakan, creating the oasis of Turfan.
Where did the Silk Road pass through?
The Silk Road routes from China to the west passed to the north and south of the Taklamakan Desert , and Dunhuang lay on the junction where these two routes came together. Additionally, the city lies near the western edge of the Gobi Desert, and north of the Mingsha Sand Dunes (whose name means ‘gurgling sand’, a reference to the noise of the wind over the dunes), making Dunhuang a vital resting point for merchants and pilgrims travelling through the region from all directions. As such, Dunhuang played a key role in the passage of Silk Road trade to and from China, and over the course of the first millennium AD, was one of the most important cities to grow up on these routes. Dunhuang initially acted as a garrison town protecting the region and its trade routes, and a commandery was established there in the 2 nd century BC by the Chinese Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). A number of ancient passes, such as the Yü Guan or "Jade Gate" and the Yang Guan, or "Southern Gate", illustrate the strategic importance of the city and its position on what amounted to a medieval highway across the deserts.
What was the role of Dunhuang in the Silk Road?
As such, Dunhuang played a key role in the passage of Silk Road trade to and from China, and over the course of the first millennium AD, was one of the most important cities to grow up on these routes.
What are the scrolls in Dunhuang?
Although the majority of the scrolls are in Chinese and Tibetan, there are also texts in Sanskrit, Khotanese, Uighur, and Sogdian, as well as one Hebrew prayer, folded and carried in a small purse and probably worn as a talisman by a traveller or merchant. These were all languages of the traders who travelled to Dunhuang from the surrounding regions, and their storage in the Mogao Caves suggests that these foreign trading communities were a vital part of the city’s social structure and of the wider, cosmopolitan community.
Where is Dunhuang located?
The city of Dunhuang, in north-west China, is situated at a point of vital strategic and logistical importance, on a crossroads of two major trade routes within the Silk Road network. Lying in an oasis at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, Dunhuang was one of the first trading cities encountered by merchants arriving in China from the west. It was also an ancient site of Buddhist religious activity, and was a popular destination for pilgrims, as well as acting as a garrison town protecting the region. The remarkable Mogao Caves, a collection of nearly 500 caves in the cliffs to the south of the city, contain the largest depositary of historic documents along the Silk Roads and bear witness to the cultural, religious, social and commercial activity that took place in Dunhuang across the first millennium. The city changed hands many times over its long history, but remained a vibrant hub of exchange until the 11 th century, after which its role in Silk Road trade began to decline.
Where did the woodblock printing technique originate?
Crafts and skills also moved along the Silk Roads as traders and craftsmen met and exchanged notes, and a small number of scrolls in the Mogao Caves illustrate the use of woodblock printing in Dunhuang, a technique that originated in China in the early 8 th century.
What are the Mogao Caves?
The Mogao Caves illustrate not only the religious importance of Dunhuang however, but also its significance as a centre of cultural and commercial exchange. One of the caves, known as the ‘library cave’, contains as many as 40,000 scrolls, a depositary of documents that is of enormous value in understanding the cultural diversity of this Silk Road city. The earliest text is dated to 405 AD, whilst the latest dates to 1002 AD. The arrangement of documents in this library cave suggests that they were deliberately stored there, and it seems likely that the local monasteries used the cave as a store room. They provide a picture of Dunhuang as a vibrant hub of Silk Road trade, and give an indication of the range of goods that were exchanged in the city. According to these documents, a large number of imports arrived from as far away as north-east Europe. Interestingly, the scrolls that mention merchant caravans are usually written in Sogdian, Uighur, or Turco-Sogdian, indicating that they were produced by the foreign traders in the city. The range of imported goods included brocade and silk from Persia, metal-ware, fragrances, incense and a variety of precious stones, such as lapis lazuli (from north eastern Afghanistan), agate (from India), amber (from north east Europe), coral (from the ocean) and pearl (usually from Sri Lanka). Dunhuang was not simply a recipient of trade however, and had a very active export market too. The scrolls refer to a large number of goods that were produced in city and its surrounding regions and sold to merchants, including silks of many varieties, cotton, wool, fur, tea, ceramics, medicine, fragrances, jade, camels, sheep, dye, dried fruits, tools, and embroidery. This unique view of the imports and exports from the markets of Dunhuang illustrates the vibrancy of Silk Road trade along the routes into western China.
Where did the Silk Roads run?
The two main branches of the Silk Roads, running to the north and south of the Taklamakan Desert, converged at Dunhuang.
What is the Ferghana Valley?
The Ferghana Valley is in part defined by its southern geographical boundary, the Alay Mountains, the northernmost range of the Pamir Mountains. Finding a way through and over these mountains would begin the next stage of the Sogdians’ journey. JAPAN CHINA KOREA MONGOLIA INDIA AFGHANISTAN HIMALAYAS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
What mountains did caravans cross?
Starting their trek across the Pamirs, caravans took the Taldyk Pass at 11,860 feet (approx. 3,600 meters), which allowed them to navigate through the eastern portion of the Alay Mountains. Once through the pass, caravans would arrive in the Alay Valley, an open space within the Pamirs bounded to the north by the Alays and to the south by the Trans-Alay Range. This wider, flat-bottomed valley with meandering rivers was much easier to traverse. But this respite would be short-lived, as travelers were eventually funneled eastward out of the valley and through another difficult pass at Irkeshtam at 9,680 feet (approx. 2,950 meters) that would take them between the Pamirs and the Tian Shan Mountains. Just as their journey through the mountains was coming to an end, they would have to contend with yet another obstacle: the Taklamakan Desert.
What was the role of Afrasiab in the Silk Roads?
Located in a fertile Zerafshan River valley at the junction of trade routes between India and China, the city of Afrasiab played a key role in commerce along the Silk Roads. As one of the most important cities in Sogdiana (along with Bukhara, Paikend, Kesh, and to a lesser extent, Panjikent), its economy was based on a combination of agriculture, ...
What is the name of the mountain chain that connects Central Asia and China?
The Pamirs are a complex mountain chain connecting several of the highest ranges in Central Asia, together known as the “Roof of the World.”. Their scale and placement have long made the Pamirs one of the most significant obstacles to overland trade between Central Asia and China.
Where did caravans arrive in the Alay Valley?
Once through the pass, caravans would arrive in the Alay Valley, an open space within the Pamirs bounded to the north by the Alays and to the south by the Trans-Alay Range . This wider, flat-bottomed valley with meandering rivers was much easier to traverse.
Where is Turfan located?
Turfan 吐魯番. located in present-day Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region 新疆维吾尔自治区, China. Water runoff from the towering Bogda and Qoltag Mountains flows into the northeastern margins of the Taklamakan, creating the oasis of Turfan.
