The Transcontinental Routes of Asia

Tht: Ullihar. "./,,, 1..". t",,,',',,f 0"(;""11,1 from r,,;ro to Shu/lft1l. tell" tilt: ;dory of 'he gnlllt"",,,.A,jr, rUIII<.. from AI<.£lwder II/(' Ureal 10 1',e8e1l1 ,;"',.". THE TRANSCONTINENTAL ROUTES OF ASIA By \VALTER J. KAHLER HE first condition for the economic (in tbe vicinity of Mosul), Alexander con development of a country and the quered Babylon, Susa., and Persepolis. T obtaining of markets for its products Later on he turned nortbeastward in pursuit. is the presence of routes of communication. of Darius. He marched via Hecatompyloll ] n the construction of these, three factors (DlI.mghan) to Meshed and thence made a have to be taken into account: first, the detour t.hrough soutbern Afghanistan. In geographical nature of the terrain and its tbe middle of tbe winter of 330 B.C. be obstacles, such n,,1 difficult mountain passes, crossed the snowed.up pas.'ICS (4,000 to 5,000 precipitous river valleys, arid deserts, etc; meters higb) of the Hindu Kusb range. In :<ccondly, the presence of oases or water the following years be was occupied with holes to be uSt,'<! as resting places; and the conquest of Bactria and Sogdiana. thirdly, political conditions in the regions In the spring of 326 B.C., Alexander through which the road is to pass. undertook a campaign against India, st.an The principal features which give Asia. ing from Kabul witb an army of 120,000 its characteristic appeara.nce are the flat men. After crossing the Punjab, he bad a northern steppes of Siberia, the steppes and Heet built at Hydaspes and sailed witb it de.'lert.s in Western and Central A.sia, and down tho Indus River till be reached tho t.he verdant tropical &reIl8 of the south Indian Ocean. ]<'rom here he sent one part comprising India, Burma, Thailand, and of his troops by ship up tbe Persian Gulf, fndo·China. This tropical region is sepa· while he himself led the main body of his rat.ed from Turkestan and Mongolia by the army through the desert of southern PClllia. mountain wall of the Rindu KushfPamir/ Three quarters of his army succumbed to Himalaya massif and by the Tibetan pili.' tho rigors of these marches, dying of heat, teau. privation, and lack of water. These topographical features have deter. After rejoining bis fleet at Susa, Alexander mined the movements of the great migra. made bis triumphal entry into Babylon in tions of peoples in tbeir search for fertile the 8pring of 323 B.C. ShortJy afterwards areas as well as tbe direction of the trans he suddenly feU ill with a fever after a continental caravan roads. Three principal banquet. A few days later he died. He routes evolved: (1) the trans·Siberian route; was then barely thirty-three years old. The (2) the old silk roads leading through Chinese expedition, during which this great military Turkestan; and (3) the southern route via leader covered a distance of at least 15,000 Iran/Baluchistan/India and the Burma Road. kilometers, took eight whole years. ALEXANDER THE GREAT'S CAMPAION THE o~ ~IL!t~O~ Tho earliest information about Central ABill. camo to us through the expedition of As early 6S one hundred years before the Alexander the Great to India. 2,274 years Christian era, one of the first of those great ago he advanced to tbe Pamir plateau and transcontincntal routes developed which thence across tbe Ox-us (Amu Darya) River traverse the wbole Asiatic continent from as far as Maracanda (Samarkand). Through CIl8t to west. These were tho old silk roods him, Gr<.-'6k coins and Greek art were in which conneeted "Sera," the distant eastern t,roduced to Bactria (Balkh) and westeru country of silk, with the Mediterranean lndia. ports. This journey was tartoo early in 313 B.C. Two tbousand years before Cbrist, China with the campaign against Darius, whicb was already producing silk, a commodity in was launched from Egypt. After defeating great demand in the countries of the East. t.llC army of the Pl'rsian King at Gaugamela What vistas of trade opcned up ~hould THE TRA.NSCONTDH.XTAL ROUTES 010' ASIA DeW markets in the West be found for this whose influence extended at that time a highly prized product! far as the Caspian Sea. In tho second century RC. the empcrorg After scvt'ral otht'r expeditions sent 01lt of the Han dynasty (206 B.C. to 220 A.D.), by Emperor Wu Ti had also endpd in fa.ilurf', under whom 'hina experienced her most Ho Kiu.ping, n. young, cn('rgetic lead('r, spectacular rise. had expanded the Chinese managt'd to rt'ach the capital of Fergana Empire in the wcst almost as far as Lake \\;th an army of 60.000 mcn consi. ting of Lob Nor. The nt'ighboring rt1gion of ea::ltern infantry and cavalry. At the same tim('. Turkestan (now the province of Sinkiang) he succeeded in driving the Huns toward til£' wa inhabit~d by the Hiungnu or Huns, II. nort,h and in seizing the Tarim basin for restless, predatory nomad tribe wbich con· China. Thus the great t ob tael had stantly menaced China's borders ill the WCllt been removed, and trade connection wit II and in the north. the eastern provinces of thl' Roman Empire could at last be established. It remained for Hsin. Wu Ti (140.87 B.C.), tbe grcate.'lt emperor of the Han dynasty, For the safeguarding of the new trade to conlitruct the fir t caravan road to the routes, fortified military posts, watchtowers. count,ries of the West. Emperor Wu Ti relay stations .lor horses, in liS, and customs first sent Geneml Chang Kien with an stations, were erected along the roads 8 t embassy to the Yue Chili (the Tokhars) regular intervals. Transports were gULLrde I who bad settled in Tn Yuan (now the provo by mounted patrols, and mail was forwarded inces of Fergann. and Sama.rkand) after the b) mounted couriers. Buns had driven them westward-in order In 114 B.C, tho first carvan started on to establish relations with these people and its way to the west, From that time on conclude n. treaty with them against the ward, every month wituesst."<! the departur!' Huns. In 126 B. -'. Chang Kien returned to of long columns of donkeys, pack hor;;e , ox hi country without having achieved any carts, and camels ladcn with silk, cotton, concrete results, but bringing with him 0. tortoise sbell, spices, pearls, an.1 oth r great deal of valuable information. He gave valuable goods for the ports of the Mediter an account to the Emperor about the foreign ranean, They rcturnt'd to 'hina with amber. peoples in Turkestan, the thoroughbred coral~, woollen cloth, wine, grape~, drug,:, horses of Fergana, tbe caravan roads to legumes, and glass of "llrioU;l color". Thus yria, Rml about the mighty Roman Empire two thousand YClll'S ago the "~ilk roads' Trans-Asiatic Routes Alexander the "real Silk ReGaS MarCO PoIO'S Dou e ,?,. I S C'lfoen·Hoaro Expt'O':'OIl ,0 t ••Q32 AUlt>cr', Qoue '03'- '9 ~ 7 8:lunJcnes In vi w of the llJ1l1~t1l\lIy lorg(' number of 1'13('0 nnmes mentioned in the lIrtide, tho mup contl\in•. (or reu Ons o( clarity, only the most important onC!! 250 THE XXth CENTURY developed, of which some sections, gradually ·LOulan. It was left for Rven Hedin during foUowing the trend of motorization. are still his expedition into the Takla Makan Desert tI:-led today. in 1900 tOl'rediseover this ancient town buried in the sand. Among the most SKlRTINli THE DESEIIT valuable discoveries made here bv the The Central Asiatic route forks at Tun Swedish explorer were-apart from' orna hwang, a town lying in the western portion mental objects, old coins, wood carvings, of present-day Kansu Province. The Yu bronze spoons, and pieces of woollen cloth Men just behind this town is a na.rrow gorge with Hellenic patterns-old ChinefIC writings in the rocky mountains which separate on wood, silk, and paper. They are beLicTCd C&8tern Turkestan from China. This gate to date from the year 200 A.D. owes its name to the yu (nephrite, jasper, or jade) found in the vicinity of Khotan in MOUNT.o\lNS the rubble of the mountain streams, and The highest mountain 'barrier which had transported through this rock gate since to be surmounted was the Pamir plateau, time immemorial. At this gate and at the 'which is frequently covered with deep snow:. Yang gate to the south of it were the two The broad valley basins of this desert lie at customs stations at the end of the Great an altitude of between 3,.300 and 4,000 Wall. meters, while the surrounding peaks rise to The heart of eastern Turkestan is formed more than 7,000 meters. But this mountain bv the Takla Makan Desert with the Tarim ,wall also po8llC8SC8 gates through which the basin. It is encircled by three high moun regions of the Amu Darya, Syr Darya, and tain rangc8: ill the north by the Tien Shan, Indus Rivers can be reached. in the west by the Pamir plateau, whose From Kashgar there were three routes to S.OOO.meter-high mountain walls drop pre the west. The northem one, which is still cipitously toward the deep Tarim basin, and in use today, leads via. the Terek Dawan in the south by the Kunlun Mountains. Ilass (3,900 meters).

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