Premodern Travel in World History

Premodern Travel in World History This book features some of the greatest travellers in human history—people who undertook long journeys to places they often knew little or nothing about—and returned home to share their experiences. From Herodotus and Roman tourists, to the establishment of the Silk Road, to an epic trek from China to India in the seventh century, to Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta, through the first speculations on space travel, Premodern Travel in World History provides an overview of long-distance travel in Afro-Eurasia from around 400 BCE to 1500. This survey uses succinct accounts of the most epic journeys in the premodern world as lenses through which to examine the development of early travel, trade, transportation, and cultural interchange between China, Central Asia, India, the Middle East, and Europe while also discussing themes such as the growth of empires and the spread of world religions. Chapters include: • The classical period • The establishment of the Silk Road • The post-classical period • Muslim travelers, 700–1400 CE • Marco Polo and the heritage of Christian travel • The explosion of maritime travel in the fifteenth century Complete with maps, this concise and fascinating study analyzes how travel pushed and shaped the boundaries of political, geographical, and cultural frontiers. Stephen S. Gosch has taught world history at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for the past twenty-five years. He is the co-editor (with Peter N. Stearns and Ernest Grieshaber) of Documents in World History, 2 vols, 4th ed. (Longman, 2006). He has traveled extensively. Peter N. Stearns is Provost and Professor of History at George Mason University. He is author of Gender in World History (2000), Consumerism in World History (2001) and Western Civilization in World History (2003), all in this series. His other recent publications include The Global Experience (Longman, 2005) and World History in Brief (Longman, 2007). Themes in World History Series Editor: Peter N. Stearns The Themes in World History series offers focused treatment of a range of human experiences and institutions in the world history context. The purpose is to provide serious, if brief, discussions of important topics as additions to textbook coverage and document collections. The treatments will allow students to probe particular facets of the human story in greater depth than textbook coverage allows, and to gain a fuller sense of historians’ analytical methods and debates in the process. Each topic is handled over time—allowing discussions of changes and continuities. Each topic is assessed in terms of a range of different societies and religions—allowing comparisons of relevant similarities and differences. Each book in the series helps readers deal with world history in action, evaluating global contexts as they work through some of the key components of human society and human life. Gender in World History Revolutions in World History Peter N. Stearns Michael D. Richards Consumerism in World History: Migration in World History The Global Transformation Patrick Manning of Desire Sports in World History Peter N. Stearns David G. McComb Warfare in World History The United States in World Michael S. Neiberg History Disease and Medicine in World Edward J. Davies, II History Food in World History Sheldon Watts Jeffrey M. Pilcher Western Civilization in World Childhood in World History History Peter N. Stearns Peter N. Stearns Religion in World History The Indian Ocean in World John Super and Briane Turley History Milo Kearney Poverty in World History Steven M. Beaudoin Asian Democracy in World History Alan T.Wood Premodern Travel in World History Stephen S. Gosch and Peter N. Stearns First published 2008 by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park,Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2008 Stephen S. Gosch and Peter N. Stearns, selection and editorial matter; the contributors, their chapters All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-92695-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN13: 978-0-415-22940-1 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-22941-8 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-93622-1 (ebk) For Eileen, Dana, and Larry, inspirations all, with love (SSG) For Sarah Gipson and Kari Gunn, both fine travelers, with love (PNS) Contents List of Illustrations viii Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Beginnings to 1000 BCE 7 PART I The classical period 19 3 The Middle East and the Mediterranean region, 1000 BCE–500 CE 21 4 China, Central Asia, and the establishment of the Silk Road, 200 BCE–500 CE 50 PART II The post-classical period 73 5 Buddhist journeys, 400–900 CE 75 6 A decisive new framework 104 7 Muslim travelers, 700–1400 CE 112 8 Marco Polo and the heritage of Christian travel 134 9 An explosion of travel: the fifteenth century and beyond 161 10 Conclusion 175 Index 178 List of Illustrations Map 1 The travels of Herodotus 27 Map 2 The Silk Road 57 Map 3 The travels of Xuanzang 76 Map 4 The travels of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta 111 Map 5 The travels of Zheng He 164 Map 6 The fifteenth century explosion 168 Preface This book is the result of a collaboration that began several decades ago at Rutgers University when one of us supervised the Ph.D. dissertation of the other. In those days we focused mostly on European history. But the world changed in subsequent years and so did we. Gradually, by indepen- dent routes, we moved into the emerging field of world history, one of us becoming a leading author of textbooks and more specialized works, the other concentrating on teaching. Two approaches to the human past combine in this book. One of us is more of a ‘parachutist’ (to borrow the imagery of a distinguished French scholar), surveying the salient features of the landscape below, while the other is more of a ‘truffle-hunter,’ digging into the lives of individual travelers. Readers will judge for themselves how successful we have been in weaving together these two approaches and to what extent they lead to new understandings of the meaning of travel in the premodern world. Many people helped move this book along the road to completion. We thank Kevin Reilly, Wilma Clark, Robert Gough, Edward Friedman, Peter Perdue, Ingolf Vogeler, James Oberly, Matthew Waters, and Chad Anderson for reading or listening to early versions of various chapters and offering valuable advice. At Routledge, Victoria Peters has been a most patient and considerate editor; Emma Langley and Jason Mitchell have been models of courtesy and efficiency. At the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, we thank the Department of History, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for International Education, and the Office of University Research for providing essential funding and opportunities for travel. We are also grateful to Victoria Fletcher and several colleagues on the George Mason side of things. Finally, special thanks go to Eileen Kramer, one of the hardiest and most congenial of present-day travelers, for reading, listening to, criticizing, and encouraging several drafts of this book. Chapter 1 Introduction WHY TRAVEL? World history teachers have come to love Ibn Battuta. This North African traveler journeyed over 75,000 miles in his life, on foot and by donkey and ship, visiting three continents and many islands and reporting on them with a combination of keen description and vigorous value judg- ments. He tells us much about societies of his time—the fourteenth century—and his travels more broadly suggest the larger context for inter- regional contacts, including available transportation. But there is more than reportage. His motivations—why would someone go so far, amid such demanding conditions?—invite speculation about what moved some extraordinary people to indulge such wide curiosity. The consequences of his travels count too: his trips, and others like them, helped motivate other kinds of connections, in a crucial period in which world history turns from largely a story about separate places to an analysis of mutual influences. * * * This book is about some of the greatest travelers in human history— people who journeyed often thousands of miles, into places they knew little or nothing about, before travel was made easier by mechanical transportation or hotel reservations. The book is also about unknown people, again before modern times, who also went great distances but did not leave a personal record. They, too, helped cause change through their voyages. Travel, particularly across cultural or political frontiers, is always exciting. The stories of the great premodern travelers have their share of adventure. But there is more to travel than some stirring anecdotes. Travel also reveals much about the societies in which it occurs. It involves not only transportation systems, but also political organization and patterns of trade, even religious beliefs. The motives of the travelers themselves are a mirror of the times they lived in.

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