THE SPREAD OF RELIGIONS ACROSS THE SILK ROADS BEFORE c.600 AD Ural
Vo lga
Jax ar t
Alexandria
s
OP
O TA
Babylon Jerusalem
Rayy Behistun
MIA
Basra
Persepolis
Myos Hormos Yathrib (Medina)
Ni le
Berenike
Bamiyan Alexandria-ad Caucasum
S
H
R
Kabul Peshawar Taxila
Alexandria-Bucephalous H
I
Multān
Kerman
Naksh-i Rustām Fars Siraf
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Mathura
Mohenjo-Daro
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s
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T A K L A M A K A N D E S E R T
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BACT R IA
SĪ STĀN Alexandria-in Arachosia
Yazd
G XINJIAN
Ga
Memphis
N
Herat
KHUZISTAN
Uruk
Nīshāpūr
Dunhuang
Kucha
Qyzyl caves
Kashgar I
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Ctesiphon Gundeshapur Susa
Tilya Tepe
Alexandria-in-Aria
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N
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Alexandria Eschate Panjikent
IN
Damascus
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ph rat e
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Bukhara
H
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Samarkand D ar
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M
Antioch Orontes
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P
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Urumqi Turfan
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Nicaea Athens
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sp
Chalcedon
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KARAKUM DESERT
DU
S
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C A U C A S U
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FERGHANA VALLEY
( es
Aral Sea
Y
A
S
Pataliputra Varanasi
Ujjain
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Mecca
Re d Se a
Arabian Sea
Najrān
Kolhapur
Bay of Bengal
Sana‘a Axum
Soqotra
Kanchipuram Vanavasi Coimbatore Pattanam Madurai
Laccadive Islands
0 0
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SRI LANKA
2000 kilometres 1250 miles
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Map 1 (page 36/37) THE SPREAD OF RELIGIONS ACROSS THE SILK ROADS BEFORE c. 600 AD At this time (c. 600 AD) religions were carried by pilgrims and merchants. Buddhism, helped by Emperor Ashoka’s adoption in India, went everywhere; its influence reached far to the west, past the Hindu Kush, into what is now Afghanistan – where the Buddhas of Bamiyan were cut into the rock and remained there for 1,500 years until destroyed in 2001. Although Christianity later dominated the western worldview, at one time it spread as far as Kashgar (now predominantly Muslim) in modern-day Xinjiang. [81 words]
Bulgar
BULGHARS
BA
Smolemsk
SH
Wolin
Chernigov
Vistu la
L
T
I
S e a
Alexandria
Orontes
Ramla Tinnīs
Bamiyan Kabul Ghazni
A
V
Kandahar
I D
R
T A K L A M A K A N D E S E R T
S
Srinagar H
I
Lahore
S
M
an
Sīrāf
si a
Mathura
P
er
nG
u lf
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A
L
ges
A
Y
S
A
Karachi
Ni le
Medina
Mecca
Re d Se a
Arabian Sea
Trade routes Nomad peoples 0 0
500 250
1000 500
KHAZARS
1500
Axum
Aden
Bay of Bengal
Soqotra Muziris
2000 kilometres
Laccadive Islands
750 1000 1250 miles
Map 2 (page 111) THE EXPANSION OF ISLAM AND TRADE ROUTES c. 850 AD
I
N
D I A
Anuradhpura Sigiriya Polonnaruwa
Madurai
SRI LANKA
N
O
B E
I
S
G A N S U
H
Mashad
G H Herat A Z N
Dunhuang
G XINJIAN
G
Fustāt Cairo Memphis
I
Balkh
U K US
is Tigr
up Rayy Samarra Antioch hr ate Behistun s Palmyra Damascus Baghdad Ctesiphon Yarmuk Seleukia Jerash Kūfa Jerusalem Qādisiyyah Shiraz Basra Petra
Kashgar
M
Mosul
E
M e d i t e r r a n e a n
Mahdia
Jurjān Nīshāpūr
T
E
A
Dara
S TAUR U
FERGHANA VALLEY
I
N H A
S
N
O D
P
Athens
Erevan Nisbis
M U K T A R R E A S K DE
ly s Ha Edessa
G
Balāsāghūn
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(A Khiva Samarkand m Bukhara u Da ry a) Panjikent Nisa Merv
ea nS
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ia
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C A U C A S U
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sp
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Bl ack S e a
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tes QAR ( AK HĀ Aral N Sea ID S
) rya Da
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Split
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A
GS Jaxa r
Dan ube
Genoa
PECHE NE
r Sy
Venice
Atil
S
A
MA
RS G YA
AR
Ural
Dn ies tr
Krakow
Prague
THE EXPANSION OF ISLAM AND TRADE ROUTES c. 850 AD
KHAZ
Kiev Mainz
ND
de r
Indus
O
GIR D
HI
Hedeby
C
E
A
N
This map shows the spread of the Islamic faith and the major trade routes followed. After the death of Muhammad, Muslim armies conquered large territories to the east and west. One point of resistance was from the Khazars, who ruled the steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas. They did not adopt Islam but in the middle of the ninth century they decided to become Jewish. [67 words]
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES Mongol campaigns Spread of the Black Death Neva
Novgorod Suzdal Vitebsk
K H A N AT
Smolensk Vistu la
E OF THE GOLDEN HORDE
Kiev
Dnie pr
E
D
E
S
G A N S U
G XINJIAN
T
KH
A
R
R
T A K L A M A K A N D E S E R T
T
Hejian
C O R R I D
O
d Se
Chengdu
I
M
an g
e
N HUA SIC
gts
Lahore
Y
Chongqing
A
L
es
A
Y
Sopara
East China Sea
Ganzhou Zhangzhou Nanning Guangzhou
Paharpur
Mecca
Lin’an
S
A
Dali
Muscat
a
Ni le
Yellow Sea Zhongqing
Luoyang
Chitor
Medina
Gaegyeong
Longxing
R
Ningxia
Bam
lf
Liaoyang
Beijing
S
G
Re
Gu
N
Longcheng
H
AT E ( P E R S I A )
Sīrāf
I
P
er sia n
B
H
Isfahan
HAN
Basra
O
Dunhuang
U K US
Kabul
HI
ILK
I
Balkh
Mashad Herat
N
Kashgar M
Haifa Tinnīs
Nīshāpūr
E
I
N H A
S
A
up
hr ate s Baghdad Damascus Acre Caesarea Jerusalem
Tripoli
Merv Rayy
T
FERGHANA VALLEY
a
P
Da ry
s
Cairo
Am u
Samarkand Bukhara
Tabriz
Edessa Aleppo
i Tigr
S e a
Alexandria
) rya Da
Ayas
Antioch Damietta
r Sy
S
E
M e d i t e r r a n e a n
EA
T
G
)
TAURU
Tripoli
Sea
lys Ha
Athens
Ox us (
KARAKUM DESERT
i an
S
Constantinople
Naples
Mahdia
C A U C A S U
sp
Black Sea
Ragusa
Palermo
GR
Karakorum
TA I K H A N AT E CHAGA
Jaxa rte s(
Aral Sea Zara
Ca
Rome
L
TE O F TH E
I
Dn ies tr
Venice Florence
KHANA
)
A
Vienna
Pisa
HAK
A
Kraków
Genoa
(KIPC
Ural
ND
de r
Volg a
Indu s
O
Nizhny Novgorod
Ryazan
an
Polotsk
Arimaddanapura
Sanjan Chiang Mai
Arabian Sea
Bay of Bengal
Devagiri
Sukhodaya
Indrapura
Angkor
Vijaya
South China Sea
Soqotra Calicut Cochin Laccadive Islands
SRI LANKA Kedah
0 0
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750 1000 1250 miles
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Map 3a (page 170/171) DEATH AND DESTRUCTION IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES In the thirteenth century the Mongols brought death and destruction from the east. At Nīshāpūr every living thing was butchered – not even dogs and cats were to be left alive. The Mongols took Kraców in Poland, and probably would have advanced further west, but for the fact that their leader, Ögödei, the Great Khan, died and they elected to turn back to the east. Arguably, the Black Death, carried by rats, killed many more people than the Mongols. The trading routes connecting Europe to the world now became highways for the transmission of the disease. [95 words]
a
S
S
A
I
Odessa
a
1873
Am Khiva 1868 u Da Bukhara ry a)
Damascus Jerusalem
Mosul hr ate s
Tehran Qom
1865
Tashkent
Baghdad
PERS
Isfahan Masjed Soleymān
IRAQ Basra
Ābādān
IA
MESOPOTAMIA
sia n
Gu
Ghazni
R
S
Indus Jalalabad Peshawar Rawalpindi H
Lahore
Kandahar
I M
Quetta
A
Delhi
I
lf
N
d Se a Mecca
an
ge s
D
0
500 250
1000 500
1500 750
A
I
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0
L
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E
O S
G C O A R R
T A K L A M A K A N D E S E R T
Medina
Re
Ni le
I
AN
P
er
Kerman
Sistan
H
D
N H A
G XINJIAN
G
Khushk Shiraz Bushihr
A
FG
I
S
N
1876
1868
IST N A Kabul
E
Khokand
Dushanbe
Mazar-i-Sharif
T
FERGHANA VALLEY
Samarkand
Merv
Herat
Alma Ata
Bishkek
M
up
Meshad
G
A
Ashgabat
1865
P
1873
) ya ar
e nS
SYRIA
Cairo
Krasnovodsk
AZERBAIJAN
is Tigr
Aleppo
E
Alexandretta
Alexandria
Baku
s(
Dates of Southward Russian expansion (Sy
1884
S TAU R U
Haifa
KARAKUM DESERT
ia
Erzerum
lys Ha
Yerevan
Ox u
sp
Batumi
C A U C A Derbent S U Tbilisi S
Ca
Bl ac k S e a
Southerly Russian pressure
rD
Sebastopol
PALESTINE Me di terran ean Sea
Jaxa rtes
Aral Sea
British invasion of Afghanistan
U K US H
U
THE GREAT GAME IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
ND
R
Dni epr
al Ur
Dn ies tr
Orenburg
HI
Vistu la
Y
A
S
A
2000 kilometres 1250 miles
Map 5a (page 297) THE GREAT GAME IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY The Great Game was a political and diplomatic confrontation between Britain and Russia. Britain was fearful of Russian moves towards Afghanistan, feeling that the Jewel in the Crown, India, was threatened. There was an atmosphere of distrust, spies, intrigue and talk of war. Britain invaded Afghanistan in 1838 – a well-known disaster – in order to create a buffer state against possible attack from the north. [64 words]
est r
Aral Sea
Odessa
Baku
Yerevan
ea nS
Tbilisi
Erzerum
KARAKUM DESERT
ia
Ha lys
sp
C A U C A Derbent S U S
Batumi
ya)
Krasnovodsk
AZERBAIJAN
Ox Khiva us (A m Bukhara u Da ry a)
TAU RU
S
Merv
Aleppo
Alexandretta Orontes Qana’ Haifa
Mosul
Meshad Tehran
Qom
SYRIA Damascus
British Red Zone
Kirkuk
French ‘A’ Zone
Alexandria
PERS
Baghdad T ig r i s
IRAQ
British ‘B’ Zone Jerusalem
Cairo
MESOPOTAMIA
Eu
phr
Isfahan Basra
Ābādān
KUWAIT
rs Pe
Neutral Zone
al-Dammām Medina
Ni le
Jeddah
Herat
IA
Masjed Soleymān
ates
ia
Khushk Kerman Shiraz Bushihr BAHRAIN Bandar ‘Abbās
n
Gu
Samarkand
Ashgabat
French Blue Zone
International Zone
Dar
Ca
Black Sea
PALESTINE
(Syr
THE GREAT GAME IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Sebastopol
Istanbul
Jaxa rtes
Sistan
Mazar-i-Sharif
FG AKabul
Ghazni
Kandahar Quetta
lf
Riyadh
Mecca
Re d Se
Arabian Sea
a
Oil pipelines
Sana‘a Aden
Soqotra
Sykes–Picot agreement 0 0
500 250
1000 500
1500 750
1000
2000 kilometres 1250 miles
Map 5b (page 338) THE GREAT GAME IN THE MIDDLE EAST Sir Mark Sykes, British Secretary of State for War, and François Georges-Picot, a French diplomat, created the boundaries for modern-day Iraq and Syria in 1915 and 1916. Britain and France both claimed that they were freeing populations from the tyranny of the Turks. Yet one element in the background was the discovery of oil in Persia. In 1928 the French and British came to an accord known as the ‘Red Line Agreement’, which split the oil assets of the region between the Anglo-Persian and Turkish Petroleum companies (the British government was a major shareholder in Anglo-Persian). [96 words]
SILK ROADS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Warsaw
Voronezh
Rostov-on-Don
Odessa
Bucharest
Maikop
Sevastopol
up hr ate s
Tehran Qom
PERS
s
Isfahan
Ābādān
Khushk Shiraz
sia n
A
IA Kerman
Sistan
FG
H
NI
S
le Ni
Re
500
1500 750
1000
2000 kilometres 1250 miles
Mecca
XIN T A K L A M A K A N D E S E R T
R
S
Peshawar Rawalpindi
Kandahar Quetta
Lahore H
Delhi
an g
I
es
I N D I A
lf
Arabian Sea
a
250
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Se
0
500
N
Jalalabad
H
Medina
d
0
Gu
N TA
Kabul Ghazni
P
er
Herat
A
A
G
Cairo
Basra
M
Tig ri
Qazvin
Khokand
I
Mazar-i-Sharif
H
S
E
N H A
S
A
Baghdad
Samarkand
I
T
N
P
IRAQ
Jerusalem
rya Da
Alexandria El Alamein
Haifa
Erbil Kirkuk
FERGHANA VALLEY
Dushanbe
Ashgabat Merv
Mosul
Damascus
Bukhara
Alma Ata
Bishkek
Tashkent
ya ar
S e a
Khiva uD Am
Tobruk
Aleppo
SYRIA
PALESTINE
Krasnovodsk
E
Benghazi
S TAU R U
Baku
ea nS
Athens
ia
Yerevan
KARAKUM DESERT
Erzerum
lys Ha
Tripoli
S
Tbilisi
Istanbul
M e d i t e r r a n e a n
sp
Batumi
Rome
C A U C A S U
Ca
Black Sea
Aral Sea
Grozny
r Sy
Dan ube
Belgrade
H
Venice
Stalingrad
Donetsk
Vienna Budapest
R U S S I A
Kharkov
KUS
L’vov
Kiev Dni epr Vinnitsa
al Ur
Zhitomyr
Indus
Vist ula
DU
de r
IN
O
Berlin
Map 6 (page 370) SILK ROADS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR During the Second World War the German armies had more or less conquered all of Europe. Adolf Hitler’s dream was to create Lebensraum (living space) for the German people in the east – the USSR; he also needed petroleum products to keep the armies going and had eyes on the Caucasus and the Middle East. German troops got as far as Stalingrad and the Caucasus before being pushed back. In tandem with the Soviet drive west against the Germans, Britain and the United States supplied tanks, aircraft and armaments to the USSR through the Persian Corridor. [95 words]
THE NEW SILK ROAD St Petersburg Novgorod
Novosibirsk
Volg a
Moscow
Omsk
Warsaw
Voronezh
Dni epr
Rostov-on-Don
pi
Ox us (A m u
K AR AKUM DESERT
Tashkent
Bishkek T
FERGHANA VALLEY
I
A N S H
N
E
XINJIAN
s
P
GA
Dunhuang
G
K A N T
O
B
NS
U
D
I
CO
RR
E
S
E
R
T
Pyongyang
Beijing ID
Tianjin
OR
Seoul
Yellow Sea
KUS
H
M
G
A
In
Pe
Ni le
L
Arabian Sea
Sana‘a Aden Djibouti
Mumbai
Y
A
Shanghai
ng Ya
Hangzhou
East China Sea
S
Kunming Guangzhou
Shenzen
Hanoi
Pune
Bangalore
Soqotra
Wuhan
Chongqing
Surat
Mecca
ea
500 1000 1500 2000 kilometres
Chengdu
N HUA SIC
ts e
Xi’an
IN
s
dS Re Khartoum
0
G
A
a
i Tig r
Eu
M e d i t e r r a n e a n
T
Urumqi
Alma Ata
Tbilisi T A K L A M A D D E S E R Baku Samarkand Kashgar Yerevan ly ry a Ha Ashgabat Tabriz ) Dushanbe I R S Ceyhan Edessa Merv TAU R US Jalalabad Balkh Mosul Mashad Peshawar ph Aleppo ra Herat Kabul Qom Tehran te s Islamabad Beirut H Baghdad Damascus Isfahan H Rawalpindi S e a Qana’ I Lahore Kandahar M Jerusalem Quetta Kerman A Shiraz Basra Cairo Delhi ang es us d Bandar ‘Abbās rsi an Gu lf Dubai Medina Doha Adu Riyadh Aswan Muscat Karachi Dhabi Sea
Athens
an
S
(S
) rya Da yr
as
C A U C A S U
Istanbul
Jaxar tes
Aral Sea
C
Sevastopol Black Sea
L
Volgograd
Donestsk
Odessa
Belgrade
Ulaanbaatar
A
I
Dn ies tr
Budapest
TRANS-SIBERIAN ROUTE
A
Prague Vienna
Kiev
a tul Vis
Astana
Ural
Kharkov
DU
Łodz
Tripoli
Irkutsk
Minsk
Hamburg Berlin
Rome
Railways Oil pipelines Proposed Oil pipelines Gas pipelines Proposed Gas pipelines
SINO-EUROPE RED ROUTE
Helsinki
Oslo Stockholm
Bay of Bengal Chennai
South China Sea
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City Laccadive Islands
0 250 500 750 1000 1250 miles
SRI LANKA
Kuala Lumpur
Map 7 (page 512) THE NEW SILK ROAD
I
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N
O
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A N
The New Silk Road is a network of railways, roads, oil and gas pipelines spreading across Asia and linking the east to the west again. It could be said that the world’s centre of gravity is shifting back to where it was long ago. In Kurdistan oil reservoirs produce 250,000 barrels a day – worth hundreds of millions of dollars a month. In Kazakhstan there are deposits of beryllium, dysprosium and other ‘rare earths’ vital for making mobile phones, laptops and rechargeable batteries, as well as uranium essential for nuclear energy. Cities are booming, with new airports, tourism resorts and luxury hotels. [101 words]