On buses, donkey carts, trains, jeeps and camels, travel writer Colin Thubron traces the drifts of the first great trade route out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran into Kurdish Turkey. In Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, the late journalist and historian Peter Hopkirk tells the story of the men who led these long-range archaeological raids, incurring the undying wrath of the Chinese.Īlso by the same author: Trespassers on the Roof of the World, The Great Game Huge wall paintings, sculptures and priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the ton, and are today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries. But legends grew of lost cities filled with treasures, and in the early years of the 19th Century foreign explorers began to investigate these legends, soon beginning an international race for the lost treasures of the Silk Road. Yet in time, it began to decline the traffic slowed, the merchants left and finally its towns disappeared beneath the desert sands to be forgotten for a thousand years. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of Buddhist art and learning. Along it travelled precious cargoes of silk, gold and ivory, as well as revolutionary new ideas. The Silk Road was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth. These are some of the best books, documentaries and films about the Silk Road to read and watch while you're waiting to travel.įoreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Treasures of Central Asia by Peter Hopkirk It was on the Silk Road that overland travel was born, and to this day it remains one of our most popular routes. For centuries, the great civilizations of East and West were connected by the Silk Road, a network of shifting intercontinental trade routes linking China with Central Asia and continuing on to India, Persia and the Mediterranean.
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