Books reading about the silk road asia central asia. The silk road was never a single thread but an intricate web of trade routes silk roads linking asia and europe. Different branches stretched on alternative routes, to the indian subcontinent, south east asia, across to the middle east and over sea routes to north africa. Rather than a single road, the silk road was more like a network of different routes. The silk road routes stretched from china through india, asia minor, up throughout mesopotamia, to egypt, the african continent, greece, rome, and britain. Discover the culture and traditions of hub cities along this sprawling network from china to europe. We decided to find a company called srptravel llc under silk road pearls travel in usa in order to organize tours and show our tourists the pearl of silk road, the most beautiful cities of the central asia and kavkazus.
Silk road travel guide silks and spices gave the world brilliance and flavour, but the men who travelled the silk road shared the priceless gifts of art, architecture and, above all, ideas the silk road is not a road, it is an entire history of trade and intrigue spread across a huge network of spidering tributaries linking china with central asia and continuing on to india, persia and the mediterranean. Learn more about when to visit the silk road with our responsible travel guide. Travel by road buses are the most inexpensive method of transport along the silk road but, unfortunately, they are very slow. This year, ts spring travel issue is devoted to just five stories, each an account of its writers journey along a different section of the silk road. Travelling the ancient silk road is one of the biggest adventures out there.
For a different take on the same material, 2 other books you can check out are the silk road. Silk road, ancient trade route, linking china with the west, that carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of rome and china. Book hostels for your trip, and dont forget to purchase travel insurance before you go. We kicked off silk road journey from xian on buses, fast train and plane rides.
The threeday bus ride from urumqi to kashgar with overnights in korla and aksu is highly recommended for very active travelers, offering spectacular views of the heavenly mountains and glimpses of the oasis towns along the northern rim of the taklamakan desert. Tips for travelling along silk road china travel agency. A list of books recommended by odyssey traveller for senior travellers to help them prepare for our small group tours exploring the silk road. Its one of very, very few books from any culture that takes global trade as a whole, without being biased towards one culture or viewpoint, which makes it deeply admirable. The central caravan tract followed the great wall, climbed the pamir mountains into afghanistan, and crossed to the levant. Established when the han dynasty in china officially opened trade with the west in. Aug 29, 2019 a wellknown traveler and explorer, marco polo headed for china along the silk road in the yuan dynasty 127168. It requires time, preparation and being ready for anything. May 11, 2020 this year, ts spring travel issue is devoted to just five stories, each an account of its writers journey along a different section of the silk road the ancient network of trade routes. Passing right through the heart of asia, this ancient trade route traverses a quarter of the globe from the heart of china to the mediterranean via a vast, inhospitable expanse of mountains and desert. Aug 04, 2011 a conversation with colin thubron, travel writer take a magiccarpet ride along the length of the most storied of ancient trade routes, the silk road, with colin thubron, one of the worlds. The silk road primarily refers to the land routes connecting east asia and southeast asia with south asia, persia, the. If youre looking for travel inspiration, try our game of travel roulette.
Its roots stretch as far back as 207 bc, when silk was first produced in china and transported for trade. And that the chinese signed a treaty with northern people. The fabled silk road from china to europe was, in reality, always a number of differing and competing routes, but the most successful of them passed through presentday uzbekistan. Insight guide the silk road is the complete illustrated guide to one of the worlds ultimate travel adventures.
Apr 04, 2017 the best central asia and silk road tours. The silk road travel destination that you can explore with advantour include the following countres, majority of which became availabe for tourists after fall of the iron curtain in 1989. Lands of lost borders, winner of the 2018 banff adventure travel award and a 2018 nautilus award, is the chronicle of harriss odyssey and an exploration of the importance of breaking the boundaries we set ourselves. Traveling along the silk road is a bucket list tour for historylovers and avid travellers alike. Shadow of the silk road by colin thubron, life along the silk road by susan whitfield, the silk roads. Silk road travel experts xinjiang china international. Everything you always wanted to know about the silk road, this is the benchmark book on this chapter of the history of the region. The route that made the world in ts may 17 travel issue, four writers retrace the land routes of ancient explorers, looking at food, religion, art, poetry and silkmaking. Honest advice on the best time to visit the silk road with details of when and when not go, weather and unmissable events through the year. Buy insight guides silk road travel guide with free ebook 3rd by insight guides isbn. Benefit from our many years of experience and our passion for the fabled silk road by booking one of our guided small group tours, private trips, or other travel packages designed to showcase the tourism highlights of armenia, azerbaijan, china xinjiang, georgia. It immediately conjures up images of romance, exploration and exoticism. Independent travel can be tricky any many visitors join a tour to ease complications. Shadow of the silk road by colin thubron, life along.
In xinjiang and along the entire silk road from xian to kashgar and altai prefecture to greece and albania, silk road tourism is booming. It eventually grew to link asia, the middle east and europe, branching off into the indian subcontinent and russia. So we decided to keep that name as the tagline for our travel guide. Indeed music, theater, architecture and decorative art was an important part of the ancient route that dictated trend and connected cultures. Comprehensive silk road tours starting in china xinjiang or central asia and covering five stans and three caucasus countries. The best books on central asia and the silk road region.
China kyrgyzstan kazakhstan tajikistan uzbekistan turkmenistan iran azerbaijan georgia. The silk road was a network of trade routes connecting china and the far east with the middle east and europe. The original overland odyssey has long lured travelers, from the likes of the worlds first professional traveler, marco polo, to modernday silk. In 1933 hedin helped the chinese government retain control of the sinkiang province, by mapping out the old silk road of marco polo so that it could be motorized. Far more than a history of the silk roads, this book is truly a revelatory new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come from and where we are headed next. China also received nestorian christianity and buddhism from india via the route. Please tell me about your 2017 contribution to scholarship, the silk road.
Insight guides silk road travel guide with free ebook amazon uk. Books reading about the silk road asia central asia lonely. As the pioneer of the silk road, west china qinghai, gansu, and xinjiang inbound tourism since 2005, xinjiang china international travel co. The five stans of central asia kazakhstan, kyrgyzstan, tajikistan, turkmenistan and uzbekistan are laced together with traces of the old silk road. In the book, i write about an oasis called khotan, in the northwest corner of china, that fell to islamic armies just after the year. Of course one can travel independently but going with a tour company has tremendous advantages in this remote region. My book focuses on seven silk road sites and proceeds in chronological order. The silk road is a name for a network of trade routes connecting the eurasian continent. Insight guides silk road travel guide with free ebook.
Overland trade and cultural exchange from antiquity to the fifteenth century richard c foltz st. While many different kinds of merchandise traveled along the silk road, the name comes from the popularity of chinese silk with the west, especially with rome. The silk route was actually a network of trading routes rather than one long road. Youre not quite there on the silk road the same way gibbon put you in the roman agora. Aug 21, 2018 lands of lost borders, winner of the 2018 banff adventure travel award and a 2018 nautilus award, is the chronicle of harriss odyssey and an exploration of the importance of breaking the boundaries we set ourselves. Traveling in 1863, arminius vambery was the first westerner to travel to turkmenistan, khiva, bukhara and samarkand who lived to tell the tale in several centuries. The region, which had been buddhist up until then, was conquered by muslim rulers. From the middle east and its political instability to china and its economic rise, the vast region stretching eastward from the balkans across the steppe and south asia has been thrust into the global spotlight in recent years. Silk road travel experts xinjiang china international travel agency. Traveling in 1863, arminius vambery was the first westerner to travel to turkmenistan, khiva. Frankopan has made a genuine effort to be evenhanded across thousands of years of.
So, i dont know if youve already done a lot of research into central asia and silk road tours, but there are a lot of options out there. At its full length, it stretched from xian in eastern china to constantinople, now istanbul. Sven hedin was born in stockholm, the son of ludwig hedin, chief architect of stockholm, and anna berlin hedin. Sep 11, 2018 the silk road was not a road, but a network.
The silk road is the greatest travel route of all time, spanning 8,000km across continents, weaving through deserts, mountains and grasslands and bringing traders from east to west and vice versa. Our imagination pictures the boundless sandy sea of scorched desert. Insight guides silk road travel guide with free ebook guides, insight on. Travel unforgettable experience of life as a true nomad. We can name plenty of reasons why it is not an accurate name, but the fact of the matter is, the silk road is a powerful brand. Silk road travel guide wild junket adventure travel blog. The silk road is not a road, it is an entire history of trade and intrigue spread across a huge network of spidering tributaries linking china with central asia and. One of the most wellknown europeans to travel the silk road in medieval times was marco polo 124524, a merchant, explorer and writer who recorded his travels in the book livres des merveilles du monde book of the worlds marvels, published around the year 0.
Books about central asia, mongolia and the silk road. Follow the silk road, book by book the new york times. Lonely planet calls it a peerless online travel guide to the region, while bradt guides says it is the most comprehensive online guide to travelling the silk road. Typical starting and ending points are istanbul and beijing, both of which have frequent flights to the uk. I knew that the vikings touched down in canada around the year. Multicountry trips tracing the silk road route are becoming popular among both chinese and westerners. Founder and editor of wired magazine kevin kelly thinks we are highly reliable, immensely helpful, and always inspiring.
The silk road was a network of trade routes which connected the east and west, and was central to the economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these regions from the 2nd century bce to the 18th century. The travels of marco polo, dictated by him, described chinese politics, economy, and culture in detail, which greatly aroused the desire of westerner to go to china and had a great effect on the european navigation. A journey along the silk route travel guide audley travel. The silk road traversed the territory around the taklamakan desert in northwest china and included the routes that connected china with iran. Books to read about the silk road guide for seniors odyssey. Why you must travel the silk road in your lifetime save bukhara, one of the highlights of the silk road credit.
These great trade routes were the conduit for the silks and spices that gave the world some of its brilliance and flavor, but also for ideas, art, architecture and spiritual beliefs. The silk road travel guide expert picks for your vacation. Ibn battuta was one of the great geographers and explorers of the 14th century and his book travels of ibn battuta is a treasure trove for anyone wishing to know more about asian trading routes and hubs of this era and the people and cultures that populated and surrounded them. I left content, knowing that id travel part of the silk road again, the route that has long harboured asias undiscovered treasures. The silk road spans from far western chinas snowcapped mountains, scorching deserts, and glassy lakes to the thriving metropolis that is xian. All along the eurasian silk road route, travel and touring has become popular. An overview with books about central asia mongolia, stan countries and the silk road. Jun 20, 2017 the silk road project was established in 1998 to promote the arts and facilitate dialogue across the continents as the silk road once did. Itineraries for short trips or continentspanning adventures. How to plan an amazing silk road trip caravanistan. That being said, id say there are two obvious front runners in the business.