Research in Central Asia until the beginning of the 19th century did not have any system and was carried out by individual missionaries. In the 19th century, the role of scientific societies and institutions in research on the Asian continent sharply increased. In 1829, the outstanding German geographer Alexander von Humboldt, at the invitation of the Russian government, visited the Urals, Altai, southwestern Siberia, and the Caspian Sea. From his pen comes the three-volume book “Central Asia” and the two-volume book “Fragments on the Geology and Climatology of Asia.”
In 1845, the Russian Geographical Society was created and immediately became involved in the study of Siberia and the Far East. The close interest of government and scientific circles in Central Asia was due to the fact that, starting from the mid-19th century, tensions in Russia’s relations with England and France were growing. After the Crimean War of 1853-1856, trade relations with leading European powers deteriorated sharply. Russia was forced to look for new markets, primarily in the East (as we see, history repeats itself). Due to the geopolitical situation Russian government pays attention to its southern and eastern borders. There is a need to obtain reliable information about the natural resources of these territories, the population, and the economy. It was necessary to study the area, put reliable information on maps, establish borders with neighbors, and find out potential opportunities for expansion in this region. All this could contribute to both the economic and geopolitical goals of the Russian Empire in strengthening its prestige both in the region and on the world stage as a whole.
In 1853 Russian scientist Peter Semyonov studied geography and geology at the University of Berlin. Here he was engaged in the translation of the huge work “Geography” (in particular “Geography of Asia”) by the most authoritative European geographer Karl Ritter, whose lectures Semyonov listened to in Berlin. Semyonov also consulted with Humboldt. Trained in the Alps. Mental work and physical training in Europe they served as preparation for the scientist for a grandiose expedition to Central Asia, to the Tien Shan. The territory of Central Asia in the mid-19th century was a huge blank spot on the map, and the Tien Shan mountain system (translated from Chinese as “heavenly mountains”) was known mainly from Chinese sources. By this time, the Russian state had advanced its borders to the Aral Sea and Lake Issyk-Kul, and the gradual annexation of the Northern Tien Shan began. In 1854, the Russian settlement of Zailiyskoye was founded here (later names of the settlement were Verny and Alma-Ata). It was this that served as the starting point for Semenov’s expeditions in 1856-1857. But before this point, the traveler, having left St. Petersburg, managed to visit the Urals and Altai, Lake Balkhash and the Dzungarian Alatau. Two trips to Lake Issyk-Kul were very fruitful from a scientific point of view: the ridges of the Trans-Ili Alatau, Terskey-Alatau, Kungei-Alatau, the valleys of the Chilik, Chu, Tyup and other rivers were studied. After wintering in Altai, Semenov continued his research in the Northern Tien Shan, being the first European to visit many corners of this mysterious region and climb the slopes of the Khan Tengri massif.
The results of the expedition led by Semenov were more than impressive: in two years it was possible to draw up and establish the features of the orographic diagram of the entire Northern Tien Shan, study the ridges of this mountain system over a considerable extent, trace the altitudinal zones and determine the position of the snow line of the ridges. The scientist was able to refute the opinion of the luminary geographical science that time Humboldt about the volcanic origin of the Northern Tien Shan.
Upon returning to the capital, Semenov had to deal with important administrative issues of the state, in particular, together with other members of the Russian Geographical Society, he was involved in the compilation of the five-volume “Geographical-Statistical Dictionary” Russian Empire" - the main reference book on the geography, demography and economy of Russia in the mid-19th century.
And in 1873, Pyotr Petrovich was elected vice-president of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Fyodor Petrovich Litke, a famous sailor and scientist, recommended him for this post. Semyonov remained in this post from 1873 to 1914 (until his death); in 1906, on the 50th anniversary of the expedition to the Tien Shan, by royal decree the prefix Tien-Shansky was added to the surname of Semyonov in memory of the great merits of the scientist.
Semyonov-Tien-Shansky, due to his busy schedule in the capital, was no longer able to participate in large-scale geographical expeditions, however, thanks to him, expeditions of outstanding scientists N.M. were organized. Przhevalsky, Potanin, Kozlov, Roborovsky and others.
An outstanding Russian traveler was Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, a military man (future major general) and geographer. The meeting with Semyonov-Tien-Shansky in 1867 in St. Petersburg influenced his further research destiny. It was Pyotr Petrovich who contributed to the organization of Przhevalsky’s expedition to the Ussuri region in 1867-1869, the purpose of which was to explore the routes to the borders of Manchuria and Korea, and to study the local indigenous peoples. During the expedition, Przhevalsky mapped the Russian shores of Lake Khanka, as well as the territories along the Amur and Ussuri rivers, and brought information about the nature and peoples of the region.
Semyonov was also the inspirer of Przhevalsky’s four expeditions to Central Asia in 1870 to 1888. The expeditions came at a turbulent time in military and political terms for these places. The territory served as the site of the “great game” between Russia and England.
In his first expedition to Central Asia in 1870-73, exploring Mongolia, China and Tibet, Przhevalsky found out that the Gobi was not a rise, but a depression with hilly terrain. Nanshan is not a ridge, but a mountain system. He discovered the Beishan Highlands, the Tsaidam Basin, three ridges in Kunlun and seven large lakes. The results of the expedition brought him world fame; Przhevalsky was awarded the highest award of the Geographical Society - the Great Konstantinovsky Medal.
During the second Central Asian expedition of 1876-77, Przhevalsky discovered the Altyntag Mountains; the first description of the “nomadic” Lake Lop Nor (now dried up) and the Tarim and Konchedarya rivers feeding it is given; the border of the Tibetan Plateau has been “moved” more than 300 km to the north.
In the third Central Asian expedition of 1879-80, which Przhevalsky himself called the First Tibetan Expedition, he identified a number of ridges in Nanshan, Kunlun and the Tibetan Plateau (including Tangla and Bokalyktag), photographed Lake Kukunor, the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze.
Despite his illness, Przhevalsky set off on the fourth (Second Tibetan) expedition of 1883-85, during which he discovered a number of new lakes and ridges in Kunlun, having traveled 1800 km, delineated the Tsaidam Basin, almost 60 years before the discovery of Victory Peak (7439 m) indicated to his existence.
According to the official versions, from typhoid fever. According to his will, on the scientist’s grave there is an inscription: “Traveller N.M. Przhevalsky."
The research of an outstanding scientist, honorary doctor of several universities, who received the highest awards of a number of geographical societies, was continued at the turn of the two centuries of the 19th and 20th by other Russian travelers, including the geographer Grigory Efimovich Grumm-Grzhimailo, the ethnographer Gombozhab Tsebekovich Tsybikov, Mikhail Vasilyevich Pevtsov , and students and participants of Przhevalsky’s expeditions: Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov and Vsevolod Ivanovich Roborovsky.
After the sudden death of Przhevalsky, which delayed the start of the Tibetan expedition, Mikhail Vasilyevich Pevtsov was appointed its head. He already had experience of major travels - to Eastern Dzungaria in 1876 and to the Gobi Desert in 1878-1879. The expedition, which began during Przhevalsky’s lifetime, ended in 1891 and turned out to be very fruitful: Kunlun was explored, the plateau of Northwestern Tibet was discovered, and detailed orographic and hydrographic descriptions of the west of Central Asia were given. After this trip, Pevtsov was awarded the Konstantinovsky medal of the Geographical Society. Roborovsky and Kozlov took part in the expedition; they were also awarded high awards from the society.
Around the same time, together with Przhevalsky’s expeditions, expeditions of another outstanding scientist Grigory Nikolaevich Potanin were organized. A former anarchist, thanks to his acquaintance with P.P. Semenov, who convinced him to devote his life to science, after being pardoned at the request of the Geographical Society, upon his arrival in St. Petersburg, under the leadership of Semenov, he prepared additions to “Asia,” the work of Karl Ritter. At the same time, he was preparing an expedition to Northern Mongolia. In 1876-1877, the traveler visited the Mongolian Altai, the Gobi Desert, and the Eastern Tien Shan. Next came the second Mongol expedition.
In 1884, Potanin visited Tibet, traveling by sea from Odessa to China. The expedition explored the cities and monasteries of Sichuan province, crossed Nanshan and the Mongolian Altai.
In Potanin’s fourth expedition in 1892-1894, at the suggestion of the Russian Geographical Society, geologist Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev took part, who worked a lot in Central Asia, was engaged in the exploration of coal and gold deposits in Siberia, and whose merits were noted by the society.
During the expedition, Potanin and Obruchev had independent routes: Potanin and his wife (an ethnographer and artist) headed to the province of Sichuan, which he had explored on a previous expedition, and Obruchev was supposed to study the geology of the regions of Northern China and the adjacent inaccessible ridges and deserts.
In two years, Obruchev walked almost 14 thousand km. Throughout the entire route, the traveler kept a diary, and was engaged in photography and daily mapping of the area. Almost half of the territory was unknown to European man. For a long time, Obruchev’s diaries were the only documentary sources for a number of regions of Northwestern China and Mongolia. An important discovery was the establishment of the geological origin of Central Asia. Obruchev proved the continental origin of this territory, refuting the theory of Richthofen, a German geographer who adheres to the theory of the maritime origin of the region.
Upon his return, Obruchev was awarded the Konstantinovsky gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society. The scientist’s excellent style later brought him wide fame as a writer: he wrote several works that were included in the golden fund of Russian science fiction.
In 1893, an expedition was organized to the Eastern Tien Shan, Nanshan, Northern Tibet and Sichuan. It was attended by Roborovsky (the head of the expedition) and Kozlov, who had to split up due to multitasking and the small number of the expedition. In February 1894, scientists met and began studying Nanshan, which had previously been primarily explored by Obruchev. Repeatedly crossing this mountainous region, they established the boundaries of ridges and intermountain valleys, and refined the maps of Nanshan. For 2.5 years, travelers covered about 17 thousand km, mapped about 250 thousand sq. km of territory, and collected rich scientific collections.
Due to illness, Roborovsky was no longer able to participate in expeditions, and Kozlov conducted further research on his own. In 1899, under his leadership, the Mongol-Tibetan expedition took place, from which rich materials of a natural scientific and ethnographic nature were also brought. The two subsequent expeditions (1907 and 1909) were mainly archaeological in orientation. In 1907, during the Sichuan-Mongolian expedition, Kozlov discovered the “black city” of Khara-Khoto, finds from which are now kept in the Hermitage.
For their services, both Roborovsky and Kozlov were awarded the Konstantinovsky gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society.
The names of outstanding scientists, real travelers who dedicated themselves to serving science and the Fatherland are recorded on geographical maps.
In honor of P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky named a number of geographical objects in Central and Central Asia, the Caucasus, Alaska and Spitsbergen and about 100 new forms of plants and animals.
In honor of N.M. Przhevalsky named: a city, a ridge in Kunlun, a glacier in Altai, several species of animals and plants.
Name V.A. The hoops are worn by: a mountain, a mountain range in Siberia, the largest glacier in the Chersky Range on Pobeda Peak, an oasis in Antarctica.
Name G.N. Potanin is immortalized in the mountainous regions of Nanshan and Altai.
MUSEUM OF THE TRAVELER P.K. KOZLOVA
HISTORY OF CENTRAL ASIA STUDY
History of Central Asian Studies
Central Asia: the region and its researchers
For the first time, Central Asia (hereinafter referred to as Central Asia) was identified as a separate region by the German geographer and traveler, the founder general geoscience Alexander Humboldt (1841). With this term he designated all the internal parts of the Asian continent, stretching between the Caspian Sea in the west and a rather vague border in the east. A more precise definition of Central Asia was given by another German geographer Ferdinand Richthofen, who actually divided the region into two parts. Central Asia itself, according to Richthofen, covers the space from Tibet in the south to Altai in the north and from the Pamirs in the west to Khingan in the east. Richthofen attributed the Aral-Caspian lowland to the transition zone. In the Soviet geographical tradition, the entire Central Asian region was divided into Central Asia (the republics of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan) and Central Asia (Mongolia and Western China, including Tibet). The same approach largely continued in the 1990s and early 2000s.
At the same time in modern Russia V last years The Western interpretation of the term Central Asia, going back to Humboldt’s definition, became widespread. According to the authoritative UNESCO publication “History of civilizations of Central Asia” (Vol. I. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1992), Central Asia consists of territories lying within the borders of Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, Pakistan, northern India, western China, Mongolia and the Central Asian republics of the former USSR.
Central Asia, which was studied by Russian expeditions in the 19th - early 20th centuries, is, strictly speaking, Chinese Central Asia - Mongolia, Western China (Chinese Turkestan) and Tibet. then part of the Chinese Empire. This region in English-language literature is also often called Inner or Mountain Asia ( Inner Asia, High Asia).
The total area of Central Asia is about 6 million square meters. km. Its surface is formed by numerous gravelly or sandy plains, bordered or crossed by mountain ranges. According to its relief, Central Asia is divided into three belts, stretching from west to east:
1) northern mountain belt. Main mountain systems: Tien Shan, Mongolian Altai and Khangai;
2) the middle zone of the plains - the Gobi Desert (Shamo) and the Kashgar depression, occupied by the Taklamakan Desert;
3) Tibetan Plateau (predominant heights 4-5 thousand m), limited by: the Himalayas in the south, the Karakoram in the west, Kunlun in the north and the Sino-Tibetan mountains in the east.
The largest rivers in Asia originate in Central Asia - the Yellow River, the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Salween, the Brahmaputra, the Indus, the Amur, etc. There are many lakes, the largest of which is the high-mountain Lake Kukunor (4,200 sq. km).
The systematic study of Central Asia began with two trips to the Tien Shan region - the “Heavenly Mountains” - in 1856 and 1857. P.P. Semenov, better known as Semenov Tian-Shansky (1827–1914). Semyonov conducted the first comprehensive study this mountain system, and his method was successfully used later by other Russian travelers.
The Imperial Russian Geographical Society received the opportunity to organize expeditions to Central Asia only after the conclusion of the Tianjin and Beijing Treaties between Russia and China (1858 and 1860). Initially, however, these were short-term trips for a general acquaintance with the natural features of the areas near the Russian border (Mongolia, Manchuria). The era of large - multi-year - expeditions to Central Asia, covering vast territories within the continent with their routes, began in 1870 when N.M. Przhevalsky went on his first trip to Mongolia and China.
The period of the most intensive research of Central Asia by Russian expeditions occurred in the 1870s – 1890s. The greatest contribution to the scientific development of the region was made by a brilliant galaxy of travelers - N.M. Przhevalsky, M.V. Pevtsov, G.N. Potanin, G.E. Grum-Grzhimailo, V.A. Obruchev, P.K. Kozlov, discoverers and trailblazers of many hard-to-reach areas of Central Asia. The initiator and organizer of all expeditions in Central Asia was invariably the Russian Geographical Society, created in St. Petersburg in 1845.
N.M. Przhevalsky is the most outstanding of the Russian explorers of Central Asia. From 1870 to 1885 he made four large expeditions to Mongolia, China and the northern outskirts of Tibet. As a result of these travels, the then virtually unknown areas of the Tarim Basin and Northern Tibet were for the first time explored in detail and explored large areas Central Asia. Przhevalsky took photographs of more than 30 thousand km of the path he traveled and astronomically determined hundreds of heights and areas, giving their exact reference to geographic maps. In addition, he managed to collect extensive mineralogical, botanical and zoological collections.
He discovered and described the wild camel, the wild horse - the Dzungarian horse (Przewalski's horse) and other species of vertebrates.
The scientific results of Przhevalsky's expeditions were presented by him in a number of books that give a bright picture nature and characteristics of the relief, climate, rivers, lakes of the studied territories. A city on the shore of Issyk-Kul (Karakol), a ridge in the Kunlun system, a glacier in Altai, as well as a number of species of animals and plants discovered by the traveler are named after Przhevalsky.
As an officer in the Russian army, Przhevalsky invariably traveled with a military convoy of Cossacks (Russian and Buryat), and the military department also participated in equipping his expeditions, along with the Russian Geographical Society ( General base), which thus gained the opportunity to collect information about countries adjacent to Russia.
Przhevalsky modestly called his travels “scientific reconnaissance,” believing that with them he was only paving the way deep into Asia for future “more prepared and more special observers.”
Unlike Przhevalsky, who traveled throughout Central Asia in the 1870–1890s. G.N. Potanin did not have an escort, he traveled in civilian clothes and with his wife, and lived for a long time in one place. He knew how to win over people and win their trust, which helped him in studying the life and customs of Asian peoples.
Potanin made five major trips to Mongolia, China and the eastern outskirts of Tibet. One of the Nanshan ridges and the largest valley glacier in the Mongolian Altai are named in honor of Potanin.
After Przhevalsky’s death in 1888, the exploration of Central Asia was continued by his companions - M.V. Pevtsov, V.I. Roborovsky and P.K. Kozlov, who were also military men.
M.V. Pevtsov studied in most detail the system of Kunlun - a giant mountainous country, the “vertebral column of Asia”, and Kashgaria lying to the north of it.
IN AND. Roborovsky became famous mainly for his travels to Nanshan and Eastern Tien Shan in 1893–1895. Following Pevtsov, Roborovsky combined “reconnaissance” route studies with the organization of hub bases from which radial and circular routes were carried out. He was the first to succeed in creating stationary points where his companions regularly kept records.
PC. Kozlov is Przhevalsky’s most consistent student, having learned and developed his methods of work.
His first trip P.K. Kozlov performed as part of Przhevalsky’s Fourth Expedition in 1883–1885; the second - under the leadership of M.V. Pevtsov, the third, known as the “Expedition of Przhevalsky’s satellites”, as the first assistant to its chief V.I. Roborovsky.
After such thorough preparation, P.K. Kozlov carried out three independent expeditions - the Mongol-Tibetan (1899–1901), the Mongol-Sichuan (1907–1909) and the Mongolian (1923–1926). On the last journey of P.K. Kozlov was also attended by his wife, the famous ornithologist E.V. Kozlov-Pushkarev.
In his study of Central Asia, Kozlov was most attracted to problems of geography and natural science. He studied in detail the hydrological region of the lower reaches of Edzin-gol and lakes Sogonor and Gashun-nor, and carried out the first limnological work on Lake Kuku-nor.
The first of the Europeans P.K. Kozlov visited and described the northeastern corner of the Tibetan Plateau - the provinces of Amdo and Kam, the region of the northern Gobi near the Holt Valley, thoroughly studied the southeastern Khangai, collected rich natural-geographical collections, including very valuable new species and genera of animals and plants.
However, the traveler’s worldwide fame was brought primarily by his sensational archaeological discoveries made during excavations of the “dead city” of Khara-khoto on the outskirts of the Gobi (1908) and burial mounds in Noin-ul, north of Ulaanbaatar (1924–1925) .
Unique archaeological finds by P.K. Kozlova are kept in the Hermitage; ethnographic objects, including examples of Buddhist iconography, are kept in the Russian Ethnographic Museum (REM) and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE). Zoological and botanical collections are concentrated in the Zoological Museum and Botanical Garden, where similar collections of other Russian travelers are located.
Western travelers also made a significant contribution to the study of Central Asia, in whose books one can find valuable geographical, historical and ethnographic information. A whole galaxy of Tibetan researchers deserves special mention. In the first half of the 19th century, these were the British: T. Manning, who visited Lhasa and Gyantse in 1811, and W. Moorcroft, who, according to some information, lived in Lhasa for 12 years, G. and R H. and R. Strachey, 1846–1848; French Lazarist missionaries E. Huc and J. Gabet (1844–1846), German travelers brothers Hermann, Adolf and Robert Schlagintweit (1855–1857). In the 2nd half of the 19th century. after Tibet (the domain of the Dalai Lama) became completely inaccessible to Europeans, research was carried out mainly in China by individual travelers, among whom mention should be made of the American geologists R. Pompelli and A. David (1846), a German geologist F. Richthofen (1868–1872), Hungarian c. Section (1877–1880), American diplomat W. Rockhill (1889, 1891), Frenchmen G. Bonvalot and Henry d'Orlean (1889–1890), J. Dutreuil de Rens and F. Grenard (J.L. Dutreil de Rins, F. Grenard, 1892). In the 1860s - 1890s. On the initiative of the Geodetic Survey of India (Great Trigonometrical Survey), specially trained scouts, the so-called “pandits” (Nain Sing, Kishen Sing, etc.), were sent to Tibet from the Himalayas under the guise of pilgrims to carry out route surveys and other instrumental observations. Their work made a great contribution to the cartography of Central Asia. Russian travelers, including N.M., also used maps compiled on the basis of the filming of the “pandits”. Przhevalsky.
Three trips to Tibet (in 1893–1896, 1899–1901, and 1905–1908) were made by the outstanding Swedish traveler Sven Hedin (1865–1952). The first two expeditions, which brought Hedin world fame, were carried out from the territory of Russian Central Asia with the support of the tsarist government. S. Gedin actively collaborated with the Russian Geographical Society, repeatedly spoke within the Society’s walls in St. Petersburg (For more details about S. Gedin and his contacts with Russia, see A.I. Andreev. Russian letters from the archive of Sven Gedin in Stockholm // Ariavarta (S.- Petersburg), 1997 (1), pp. 28-76).
In the 1920s The Museum of Natural History in New York organized several expeditions to Central Asia (Northern China, Inner Mongolia, southern Gobi within the Mongolia), led by paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews (1884–1960). Field geological and paleontological research in Mongolia was also carried out by the staff of Andrews C.R. Berkey, F.K. Morris and archaeologist Henry Osborne. The material obtained by these researchers was of great scientific importance. The works of R. Andrews' expeditions were published in the 1930s. in a 4-volume edition in the series “Natural History of Central Asia”.
The two largest expeditions to Central Asia in the pre-war years, which received great resonance in the world press, were the Chinese-Swedish expedition of Sven Hedin (1926–1935) and the Asian automobile expedition of Andre Citroen (1931–1932) with the participation of a group of scientists (archaeologists, historians, geologists ), filmmakers and one Russian emigrant artist A.E. Yakovleva.
Central Asia and Central Kazakhstan
See photographs of the nature of Central Asia: Northern Tien Shan, Western Tien Shan and Pamir-Alai in the Nature of the World section of our website.
General features of nature
The characterized territory is characterized by originality and exceptional contrast of physical and geographical conditions. Plain landscapes here give way to mountainous, dull, monotonous landscapes - bright, colorful, majestic and picturesque.
The highest mountains in the USSR rise in Central Asia - the peak of Communism in the Pamirs (7495 m), Pobeda Peak in Tien Shan (7439 m) - and at the same time the lowest surface points in the USSR are located - Karagiye (“black mouth”) in the southern part of Mangyshlak (-132 m), Akchakaya near the Ishek-Ankrenkyr plateau in the Northwestern Karakum (-81 m). The highest ridges and highlands with huge glaciers, eternal snow and high-mountain tundra are located next to the hottest and driest deserts of our country. Relatively close to the huge ice streams and eternal snows of the Pamirs, in the middle reaches of the Amu Darya, in the Termez region, the “heat pole” of the Soviet Union is located.
The desert plains of Central Asia receive very little precipitation (in the center of the Turan Lowland less than 100 mm per year), but here, among the waterless deserts, is located one of the largest lakes in the world - the Aral Sea, which receives powerful river arteries - the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, crossing the deserts. These and other rivers, as well as large lakes, provide a sharp contrast to the waterless deserts.
The uniqueness of the nature of Central Asia and Central Kazakhstan is determined by the sharply continental and desert climate over large areas, which is associated with the inland and at the same time southern position of the territory in the USSR, with the distance from the oceans, with mountain barriers fencing the country from the south and southwest and impeding the penetration of Mediterranean cyclones and the South Asian monsoons. It has the lowest amount of precipitation in the USSR and the highest evaporation from the surface of water bodies. Cool, and in the north, harsh winters give way to hot summers; Annual and daily temperature fluctuations are significant, characterized by an abundance of hours of sunshine and high radiation intensity. Over vast areas, this is a country of cloudless skies, scorching sun, sun-scorched deserts, where the main agent of relief formation is the wind.
The stamp of desert also lies on the mountainous part of the country, but the contrasts of nature here are especially striking. For example, in the Eastern Pamirs there is as little precipitation as in the driest areas of the desert plains, and to the west, on the Pamir-Alai ridges, in some places it falls over 1000 mm in a year; Instead of high mountain deserts, there are lush deciduous forests of walnut, maple, fruit trees.
With the exception of the northern parts of the Kazakh small hills and the Turgai plateau, lying north of the Aral-Irtysh watershed, the described territory does not have a flow of water into the World Ocean or the seas associated with it. The entire territory of Central Asia proper is internal drainage area.
Climatic features determined the pronounced seasonality of soil-forming processes, especially the large role of parent rocks and salts in soil formation.
In the plant and animal world there are amazing examples of adaptation to geographical conditions, often extremely unfavorable. The nature of the flora and fauna clearly shows the influence of the adjacent Iranian-Mediterranean and Central Asian regions.
On larger area The country is dominated by desert and semi-desert landscapes. In the mountains, the altitudinal zonation of landscapes is more or less clearly manifested, significantly different in structure from the altitudinal zonation of northern and western, less continental countries, for example the Caucasus.
The warm climate of the plains, more precisely, long hot summers, fertile soils subject to artificial irrigation, the possibility of irrigating vast territories determined by topographic and hydrographic conditions, the abundance of lowland and mountain pastures, a variety of minerals - oil, gas, coal, iron ores, non-ferrous and rare metals, mining and chemical raw materials - all this creates favorable conditions for the development of the national economy of the Central Asian republics and Kazakhstan.
Central Asia is a country of ancient and new irrigated lands dominated by cotton, rice, grapes and fruit trees. In the north of Central Kazakhstan, as well as in the foothills and mountains, rain-fed agriculture is developed. In the mountains of Central Asia, agriculture rises higher than anywhere else in the USSR. Animal husbandry is an important branch of the national economy.
We find some information about Central Asia, including borrowed from ancient Persian sources, from historians and geographers of Ancient Greece and Rome.
At the end of the 7th century. Arab conquerors came to Central Asia. In Arabic literature of the Middle Ages there is geographical information about Central Asia, and many of the original descriptions were made by natives of Khorezm, Balkh, Samarkand and Bukhara, including major scientists (al-Biruni). In the 13th century. The Mongols conquered Central Asia. At this time, Western European travelers visited here for the first time, for example Marco Polo, who visited at the end of the 13th century. Pamir.
Russian travelers made a huge contribution to the study of Central Asia. In the 17th century Ivan Khokhlov and after him Boris Pazukhin with diplomatic missions went to Khiva and Bukhara. The expansion of geographical knowledge of Asia was facilitated by Peter I, who strove to develop Russian trade with distant countries and sent trade scouts, embassies and expeditions for this purpose. At the beginning of the 18th century. The expedition of A. Bekovich-Cherkassky worked on the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea. In 1722, Peter I's ambassador Ivan Unkovsky visited Dzungaria and Tien Shan. In the second half of the 18th century. Philip Efremov lived in Bukhara as a prisoner for several years, who described Bukhara, a visit to Samarkand, Khiva, campaigns through the Karakum and Kyzylkum deserts, his escape through Fergana and Tien Shan to Kashgaria, Tibet and India. In the first half of the 19th century. The nature of the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, Western Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan (including Semirechye) was studied by the famous naturalist G. S. Karelin.
A new period of research (second half of the 19th century) is associated with the annexation of Central Asian territories to Russia. It is characterized by the works of the greatest Russian scientists and represents brilliant pages in the history of Russian geography.
The pioneer of the scientific study of the mountains of Central Asia was P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, who made his famous travels in 1856-1857. He explored the Dzungarian Alatau and Tien Shan, penetrated from the Issyk-Kul basin into the inner parts of the Tien Shan, to the sources of Saryjaz and Naryn. N. A. Severtsov (1857, 1864-1878) made a geographical description of the huge mountain systems and carried out important zoogeographical research; A.P. Fedchenko (1869-1871) discovered the Trans-Alai ridge in the Pamir-Alai system, studied its flora and fauna; I.V. Mushketov (1874-1880) explored the Tien Shan, Pamir-Alai, in particular the Northern Pamirs, and made a long route along the Amu Darya. He gave a description of the geological structure and relief of Central Asia (in 2 volumes) and compiled its first geological map. V.F. Oshanin (1878) first described the ridge of Peter the Great and discovered bottom part Fedchenko glacier; G. E. Grumm-Grzhimailo (1884-1887, 1911) explored all the main mountain systems of Central Asia. The great merits of botanists and geographers A. N. Krasnov, V. L. Komarov, V. I. Lipsky. The first of them explored the Central Tien Shan (1886), the second - the Zeravshan valley (1892-1893), the third - the ridge of Peter the Great, and in particular its glaciers (1896-1899).
In the deserts of Central Asia in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. worked: A.P. Fedchenko (1871), who explored the eastern part of the Kyzylkum desert; V. A. Obruchev (1886-1888) and V. L. Komarov, who studied the Karakum; L. S. Berg (1889-1906), who explored the Aral Sea and other lake basins, as well as the deserts adjacent to the Aral Sea; S. S. Neustruev, who carried out important soil-geographical studies and established new type soil, which he called serozem (1910). In 1912, to study the processes characteristic of sandy deserts, a sand station was founded in Repetek (Karakum).
The Soviet period of geographical study of Central Asia and ventral Kazakhstan was marked by many new features. This is, first of all, the massive scale, detail and practical orientation of the research. Large specialized and complex expeditions are studying Central Asia. Particularly important are the studies of the expeditions of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the academies of sciences of the union republics, II IPY and IGY 1, the Ministry of Geology and Subsoil Protection (formerly the Committee for Geological Affairs), GUGK, the USSR Hydrometeorological Service, Tashkent University, etc. Among the researchers of Central Asia during this period such prominent Soviet scientists as A.E. Fersman and D.I. Shcherbakov, L.S. Berg, I.P. Gerasimov, S.V. Kalesnik, K.K. Markov, I.S. Shchukin and others worked A great contribution to the study of the nature of Central Asia was made by geologist-geomorphologist S. S. Shultz, botanist E. P. Korovin, zoologist D. N. Kashkarov, geographers N. L. Korzhenevsky, E. M. Murzaev and many others.
Limited information about the geography of Asia was known to the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia. The campaigns of Alexander the Great (4th century BC), Egypt’s trade with India, and the presence of a trade route (“Silk Road”) from China to Western Asia contributed to the gradual accumulation of information about Asia. However, deeper knowledge about this part of the land was obtained later. Stimulated and international trade outside Mongolian world. The Hansa, a union of German trading cities that emerged in the 13th century, engaged in trade with Novgorod, presenting a demand for furs, wax, lard, flax and oriental goods that came to Novgorod through the Volga region. The trade route ran through Sarai, which was a huge city. “The city of Saray,” writes Ibn-Batuta, an Arab traveler who visited Saray-Berke in 1333, “is one of the most beautiful cities, reaching extraordinary size, on flat ground, crowded with people, with beautiful bazaars and wide streets.... In it live different peoples, somehow: the Mongols are the real inhabitants of the country and its rulers; some of them are Muslims; aces who are Muslims; Kipchaks, Circassians, Russians and Byzantines, who are Christians. Each people lives separately in its own area; there are their markets. Merchants and foreigners from both Iraqs, from Egypt, Syria and other places live in a special area where a wall encloses the property of the merchants."
Second stage (7th-17th centuries)
Exploration of Asia by scientists and travelers of the East.
In the 7th century. the Buddhist monk Xuan-Tsang, who wandered through Central and Central Asia and India, presented information on the geography, ethnography and history of the countries he saw in one of his main works, “Notes on Western Countries,” completed in 648. Arab traveler and geographer Ibn Khordadbeh (9 -10 centuries) described the provinces of Western Asia. Biruni compiled a work on India, Masudi gave a geographical and historical description of Muslim countries, India, China, Palestine, Ceylon. In the 9th-11th centuries. various regions Central and Western Asia were studied by Mukadassi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Fadlan and Ibn Rust. The Arab traveler Idrisi (12th century), who lived most of his life in Sicily, described in his summary geographical work Asia Minor which he visited. In the 14th century Ibn Battuta, who visited many Asian countries, wrote a large work in which he gave a very colorful and vivid description of these countries, including information about minerals. .
European exploration of Asia.
In the 12th-13th centuries. Europeans who carried out the Crusades collected information about the countries of Central and South Asia. In 1253-55, a Flemish traveler, the monk Rubruk, undertook a diplomatic journey to Mongolia. The report on this most significant (before M. Polo) journey of a European to Asia contained valuable information on the geography of Central Asia (in particular, it indicated that the Caspian Sea is not a sea, but a lake). A significant contribution to the development of ideas about Asia was made by the traveler M. Polo (1271-95), who lived in China for about 17 years. “The Book” (1298), recorded from his words in a Genoese prison, where he was sent during the war between Venice and Genoa, first introduced Europeans to Persia, Armenia, China, India, etc. It was a reference book for such great navigators as Columbus , Vasco da Gama, Magellan and others. The Venetian merchant and traveler M. Conti, who traveled around India in 1424, visiting the islands of Ceylon, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, on behalf of the Pope in 1444 dictated a report on this journey. In 1468-74, the Russian merchant A. Nikitin undertook a trip to India. His travel notes, containing many-sided observations, were published under the title “Walking across the Three Seas.” .
In the middle of the 15th century. Europeans began to look for sea routes to Asia. Portuguese sailors reached India in 1497-99 (Vasco da Gama), visited Malacca, Macau, the Philippines, and Japan. In the second half of the 16th-17th centuries. The Dutch, British, and Spaniards continued to penetrate into the countries of South Asia. In 1618-19, the Siberian Cossack I. Petlin visited Mongolia and China, plotted the route on a map, and outlined what he saw in a book translated into English, French and other languages. One of the first Europeans to visit Japan in 1690-92 was the German naturalist and doctor E. Kaempfer, who collected extensive material about the nature, history and life of the people. His book, published in 1728 in London, has long served as the main source of information about Japan.
Exploration of Asia by Russian explorers.
During this period, the greatest contribution to the exploration of the northern regions of Asia, where Europeans did not penetrate, was made by Russian explorers. By the end of the 16th century, after Ermak’s campaign, it became general outline Western Siberia is known. In 1639 I. Yu. Moskvitin with a detachment of Cossacks reached the coast Sea of Okhotsk. In 1632-38, a detachment under the leadership of E. P. Khabarov studied the Lena River basin. In 1649-53 he crossed the Stanovoy Ridge, traveled to the Amur region, and was the first to draw up a map of it. In 1643-46, a detachment of V.D. Poyarkov passed along the Lena, Aldan, Zeya and Amur rivers, who also presented drawings of the routes taken and collected valuable information about the Far East. In 1648, the expedition of S.I. Dezhnev circled the Chukotka Peninsula and discovered the strait separating Asia from America, and the cape, which is the extreme northeastern point of Asia. The Siberian Cossack V.V. Atlasov in 1697-99 traveled through Kamchatka, reached the Northern Kuril Islands and compiled a description (“skask”) of the discovered lands.
In the 17th century Russian explorers, despite extremely difficult climatic conditions, overcoming vast spaces, they discovered almost all of Siberia. This stage ended with the compilation of the first maps of Siberia, made by the Tobolsk governor P. Godunov and his fellow countryman, geographer and cartographer S. Remizov. .
Since ancient times, Europeans have been attracted to the distant countries of Asia - India, China, Mongolia, Tibet. Precious metals and stones were mined there, and spices were ripened, which were so highly valued in Europe in the Middle Ages. But achieving the desired goal was very difficult. The path to the east stretched across a huge continent, through places where warlike Mongol-Tatar tribes lived, and later through the territory of a powerful Turkish state, hostile to Europe, the Ottoman Empire.
In the 7th century, monks began to penetrate into the interior regions of Central Asia, mainly for diplomatic purposes. Later, travelers penetrated there: in the 13th century - Guillaume de Rubruquis, Plano di Carpini, and the Venetian merchant Marco Polo. With their stories and notes, they expanded the range of Europeans’ knowledge about the peoples and countries of Central and East Asia. Arab travelers of the 8th-13th centuries also visited there. Thus, Abdul-Hasan-Ali, better known under the name Masudi, visited Transcaucasia, and from there, through Iran and India, reached China. In 947, he wrote a book about his travels, which he called “Golden Meadows.” The existence of this book in the West was not known for a long time, but it indicates that the Arabs had a relatively good understanding of the regions of Central Asia and even the mysterious Tibet, which Masudi described under the name of a blessed country, “where the inhabitants never stop laughing out of happiness.”
However, there was a huge gap between the general ideas that these travelers gave about Central and East Asia and the actual knowledge of the interior of these regions. In fact, even two hundred years ago, hardly more was known about these countries than in the times of the Egyptian pharaohs or Alexander the Great. Only in the 19th century did a closer study of Central Asia begin.
The turning point was the expeditions of Russian travelers and scientists undertaken on the initiative of the Russian Geographical Society. The pioneer of this scientific feat was N. M. Przhevalsky. Then the work he started was continued by his companions and students - M.V. Pevtsov, V.I. Roborovsky, P.K. Kozlov and others. Remarkable research in the field of geology and geography of Central Asia was done by Academician V. A. Obruchev.
Before the appearance of Russian scientists in the steppes and deserts of Mongolia and Dzungaria and in the mountainous regions of China and Tibet, maps compiled from old sources almost did not correspond to the true geography of these places. They were full of speculation. They showed fantastic mountain ranges, rivers arose where in fact there were waterless spaces, and the currents of these rivers acquired the most incredible shapes.
N. M. Przhevalsky and his successors were the first to determine the astronomical position of a number of geographical points - mountain ranges and individual peaks, settlements, roads and rivers - and thereby made it possible to draw up the first accurate geographical map.
Travelers' routes sometimes coincided. But in most cases they did not repeat, but complemented each other. And each new expedition of Przhevalsky or Pevtsov, Kozlov or Obruchev clarified the map, introduced new details into it
Create in all respects true and full map at that time it was not yet possible. The exploration of these vast and difficult to explore areas was just beginning. But the one compiled by Russian travelers was the most accurate and the only plausible one in the cartographic literature of its time. There are many “white spots” left on it, but the most important thing has already been reflected. Before the organization of expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society in Europe, neither the relief, nor the climate, nor the vegetation, nor the fauna of East and Central Asia were known.
All expeditions, starting with Przhevalsky's expedition, collected extensive and diverse collections of plants, mammals, birds and insects. Thanks to various specialists studied the zoological and botanical collections brought by these expeditions, the previous idea of natural conditions Central Asia.
All expeditions were carried out under the leadership of the Geographical Society. They worked according to a general plan and pursued the goal of broad knowledge of the nature and population of Central Asia. The expeditions achieved remarkable results and made a major contribution to world geographical science.
Russian Geographical Society
In 1845, by the highest order of Emperor Nicholas I, the Russian Geographical Society was established in St. Petersburg - one of the oldest in the world.
Among the founders of the Society were outstanding scientists, public figures and travelers: polar explorers Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel and Fyodor Petrovich Litke, linguist Vladimir Ivanovich Dal, famous statistician and historian Konstantin Ivanovich Arsenyev, expert on Siberia Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov-Amursky and others.
According to the first charter, approved by Emperor Nicholas I, only a member of the imperial family could be appointed head of the Russian Geographical Society.
The Charter briefly and clearly defined the purpose of the Society: “Collect, process and disseminate in Russia geographical, ethnographic and statistical information in general and especially about Russia itself, as well as disseminate reliable information about Russia in other countries.” Pyotr Petrovich Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, who was its vice-chairman for 40 years, said that the basis and meaning of the activities of domestic geographers lies in “connecting geography with the life of the people.”
In the 19th century The Russian Geographical Society was glorified by a whole galaxy of figures such as Pyotr Alekseevich Kropotkin, revolutionary, anarchist theorist, author of “Research on ice age"; scientific secretary of the Geographical Society, ethnographer Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay; Ivan Demidovich Chersky, famous researcher of Transbaikalia; Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, who was the first to study and describe the nature of Central Asia; Grigory Efimovich Grumm-Grzhimailo, an outstanding geologist and zoologist; author of articles on geography and ethnography, specialist in Central and Central Asia Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev.
The most striking aspect in the life of the Geographical Society has always been its expeditionary activities. The Society's expeditions explored vast territories in Russia east of the Urals, in Eastern China and the Tibetan Plateau, in Mongolia and Iran, in New Guinea, in the Arctic and Pacific Ocean. These studies have earned the Society worldwide fame.
IN Soviet time The Geographical Society has preserved the traditions of large expeditionary work. In the 20-30s. XX century under the leadership of the last pre-war chairman of the Society, Academician Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov, the most ancient centers of agriculture were explored. The activities of the Society during this period are closely connected with the names of Lev Semenovich Berg, Stanislav Viktorovich Kalesnik, Alexey Fedorovich Treshnikov, Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin, Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov.
The society has always strived to disseminate information and instill geographical culture in various groups population. Geographical culture, in contrast to international geographical science, is part of the culture of any people and nation. It includes the culture of communication with nature, the culture of interethnic relations and is determined by the nature of the local nature and the traditions of the people. Since its creation, the Russian Geographical Society has never confined itself to the sphere of professional problems of geographers. The principle of “think globally, act locally” meant for the Society that it has always given Special attention history of geography, protection of natural and cultural monuments, global and regional ecology.
Marco Polo
Italian traveler (1254-1324). In 1271-95. traveled through Central Asia to China, where he lived for about 17 years. While in the service of Mongol Khan, visited different parts of China and the regions bordering it. The first Europeans to describe China, the countries of Central and Western Asia (“The Book of Marco Polo”).
The book of the Venetian traveler to China Marco Polo is mainly compiled from personal observations, as well as from the stories of his father Niccolo, uncle Maffeo and the people he met. The older Polos crossed Asia not once, like Marco himself, but three times, twice from west to east and once in the opposite direction during their first trip. Niccolò and Maffeo left Venice around 1254 and, after a six-year stay in Constantinople, left there for trading purposes in the Southern Crimea, then moved to the Volga in 1261. From the middle Volga, the Polo brothers moved southeast through the lands of the Golden Horde, crossed the Trans-Caspian steppes, and then crossed the Ustyurt plateau to Khorezm to the city of Urgench.
Their further route ran in the same south-eastern direction, up the Amu Darya valley to the lower reaches of Zerafshan and up along it to Bukhara. There they met with the ambassador of the conqueror of Iran, Ilkhan Hulagu, who was heading to the Great Khan Kublai, and the ambassador invited the Venetians to join his caravan. With him they walked “north and northeast” for a whole year. They ascended along the Zerafshan valley to Samarkand, crossed into the Syr Darya valley and descended along it to the city of Otrar. From here their path lay along the foothills of the Western Tien Shan to the Ili River. Further east they walked either up the Ili valley, or through the Dzhungar Gate, past Lake Alakol (east of Balkhash). They then advanced along the foothills of the Eastern Tien Shan and reached the Hami Oasis, an important stage on the northern branch of the Great Silk Road from China to Central Asia. From Hami they turned south into the valley of the Sulekhe River. And further east, to the court of the Great Khan, they followed the same path that they took later with Marco.
They returned to Venice in 1269. Niccolo and his brother, after a fifteen-year journey, did not easily put up with a relatively monotonous existence in Venice. Fate persistently called them, and they obeyed its call. In 1271, Nicollo, Maffeo and seventeen-year-old Marco set off on a journey. Before this, they met with the newly ascended Pope Gregory X, who gave the Polo brothers papal letters and gifts intended for the Great Khan Kublai Khan.
They knew the road from their previous travels, they knew how to speak local languages, they carried letters and gifts from the highest spiritual shepherd of the West to the greatest monarch of the East, and - most importantly - they had a golden tablet with the personal seal of Kublai, which was a safe conduct and guarantee that they would be provided with food, shelter and hospitality throughout almost the entire territory through which they had to pass. The first country they passed through was “Little Armenia” (Cilicia) with the port of Layas. There was a lively, widespread trade in cotton and spices here.
From Cilicia, travelers came to modern Anatolia, which Marco calls “Turkomania.” He reports that the Turkomans make the thinnest and most beautiful carpets in the world. Having passed through Turkomania, the Venetians entered the borders of Greater Armenia. Here, Marco reports, on the top of Mount Ararat is Noah's Ark. The next city the Venetian traveler talks about was Mosul - “all silk and gold fabrics, which are called mosulins, are made here.”
Mosul is located on the western bank of the Tigris, it was so famous for its wonderful woolen fabrics that to this day a certain type of fine woolen fabric is called “muslin”. The travelers then stopped in Tabriz, the largest trading center where people from all over the world gathered - there was a thriving merchant colony of the Genoese. In Tabriz, Marco first saw the world's greatest pearl market - pearls were brought here in large quantities from the shores of the Persian Gulf. In Tabriz it was cleaned, sorted, drilled and strung on threads, and from here it was distributed all over the world.
Leaving Tabriz, the travelers crossed Iran in a southeast direction and visited the city of Kerman. After seven days of travel from Kerman, travelers reached the top high mountain. It took two days to cross the mountain, and the travelers suffered from severe cold. Then they came out into a vast flowering valley: here Marco saw and described bulls with white humps and sheep with fat tails.
Undaunted, the Venetians moved towards the Persian Gulf, towards Hormuz. Here they were going to board a ship and sail to China - Hormuz was then the final point of maritime trade between the Far East and Persia. The transition lasted seven days. At first, the road followed a steep descent from the Iranian plateau - a mountain path. Then a beautiful, well-watered valley opened up - here they grew date palms, pomegranates, oranges and others fruit trees, countless flocks of birds were flying.
The Venetians came to the conclusion that a long voyage on the local unreliable ships, especially with horses, was too risky - they turned to the northeast, inland towards the Pamirs.
For many days the Venetians traveled through hot deserts and fertile plains and ended up in the city of Sapurgan (Shibargan), where, to Marco’s pleasure, game was abundant and hunting was excellent. From Sapurgan the caravan headed towards Balkh, in northern Afghanistan. Balkh is one of the oldest cities in Asia, once the capital of Bactriana. Although the city surrendered to the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan without resistance, Balkh was wiped off the face of the earth. The Venetians saw sad ruins before them, although some of the inhabitants of the city who had survived the Tatar sword were already returning to their old place. It was in this city, as legend says, that Alexander the Great married Roxana, the daughter of the Persian king Darius. Leaving Balkh, the travelers spent many days moving through lands abounding in game, fruits, nuts, grapes, salt, and wheat. Having left these beautiful places, the Venetians again found themselves in the desert for several days and finally arrived in Badakhshan (Balashan), a Muslim region along the Oka River (Amu Darya). There they saw large mines of rubies called “balashes”, deposits of sapphires, lapis lazuli - Badakhshan was famous for all this for centuries.
The caravan stayed here for a whole year, either due to Marco’s illness, or because the Polo brothers decided to live in the wonderful climate of Badakhshan to ensure the young man’s complete recovery. From Badakhshan, travelers, rising higher and higher, went towards the Pamirs - upstream of the Oka River; They also passed through the Kashmir Valley.
From Kashmir, the caravan went northeast and climbed to the Pamirs: Marco’s guides assured that this was the highest place in the world. Marco notes that during his stay there the air was so cold that not a single bird was visible anywhere. The stories of many ancient Chinese pilgrims who crossed the Pamirs confirm Marco’s message, and the latest researchers say the same.
Descending from the Pamirs along the gorge of the Gyoz River (Gyozdarya is a southern tributary of the Kashgar River), the Polos entered the wide plains of Eastern Turkestan, now called Xinjiang. Here deserts alternated between rich oases, watered by many rivers flowing from the south and west. The Polos first of all visited Kashgar - the local climate seemed moderate to Marco, nature, in his opinion, provided here “everything necessary for life.”
From Kashgar, the caravan’s route continued to the northeast.. During his journey, Polo described ancient city Khotan, where emeralds have been mined for centuries. But much more important here was the trade in jade, which from century to century went from here to the Chinese market. Travelers could observe how workers dug out pieces in the beds of dried up rivers. gemstone- this is how it is done there to this day. From Khotan, jade was transported through the deserts to Beijing and Shazhou, where it was used for polished products of a sacred and non-sacred nature.
Having left Khotan, Polo, stopping to rest at rare oases and wells, drove through a monotonous desert covered with dunes. The caravan moved through vast desert spaces, occasionally bumping into oases - Tatar tribes and Muslims lived here. The transition from one oasis to another took several days; it was necessary to take with you more water and food. In Lon (modern Charklyk), travelers stood for a whole week to gain strength to overcome the Gobi Desert (“gobi” in Mongolian means “desert”). A large supply of food was loaded onto camels and donkeys.
And now the long journey through the plains, mountains and deserts of Asia is coming to an end. It took three and a half years: during this time, Marco saw and experienced a lot, and learned a lot. One can imagine their joy when they saw on the horizon the cavalry detachment sent by the Great Khan to accompany the Venetians to the Khan's court.
The head of the detachment told Polo that they had to make another “forty day's march” - he meant the path to Shandu, the summer residence of the Khan, and that the convoy was sent to ensure that the travelers arrived in complete safety and came straight to Kublai. The rest of the journey flew by unnoticed: at every stop there was a man waiting for them. best welcome, they had everything they needed at their service. On the fortieth day, Shandu appeared on the horizon, and soon the exhausted caravan of Venetians entered its high gates.
The Venetians, upon arrival in Shandu, “went to the main palace, where the Great Khan was, and with him a large gathering of barons.” The Venetians knelt before the khan and bowed to the ground. Kublai mercifully ordered them to stand up and “received them with honor, with fun and feasts.” After the official reception, the Great Khan talked for a long time with the Polo brothers: he wanted to find out about all their adventures, starting from the day they left the Khan’s court many years ago. Then the Venetians presented him with gifts and letters entrusted to them by Pope Gregory, and also handed over a vessel with holy oil, taken at the request of the khan from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and carefully preserved through all the vicissitudes and dangers of the long journey from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
Marco was included in the list of courtiers. The young Venetian very soon attracted the attention of Kublai Kublai - this happened thanks to Marco’s intelligence and ingenuity. Marco began to collect information, making notes about every place he went to, and always sharing his observations with the khan. According to Marco himself, the Great Khan decided to test him as an ambassador and sent him to the remote city of Karajan (in Yunnan province) - this city was so far away that Marco “barely turned around in six months.”
The young man coped with the task brilliantly and provided his ruler with a lot of very interesting information.
The Venetian remained in the service of the Great Khan for seventeen years. Marco never reveals to the reader exactly what kind of cases he was sent on as a confidant of Kublai Khan for many years. It is impossible to accurately trace his travels in China. Marco reports about the peoples and tribes of China and its neighboring countries, about the amazing views of the Tibetans on morality; he described the indigenous population of Yunnan and other provinces.
As a reward for his loyalty and in recognition of his administrative abilities and knowledge of the country, Khubilai appointed Marco ruler of the city of Yangzhou, in the province of Jiangsu, on the Grand Canal, near its junction with the Yangtze. Considering the commercial importance of Yangzhou and the fact that Marco lived there long term, one cannot help but be surprised that the traveler devoted one short chapter to him. Having stated that “Mr. Marco Polo, the same one about whom this book is spoken of, ruled this city for three years” (from approximately 1284 to 1287), the author sparingly notes that “the people here are commercial and industrial,” which they do especially a lot here are weapons and armor. The Venetians enjoyed the patronage and great favors of Kublai, and in his service they acquired wealth and power.
But the khan's favor aroused envy and hatred towards them. The Venetians made more and more enemies at the court of Kublai Kublai. And they got ready to go. However, the khan at first did not want to let the Venetians go. Kublai called Marco to him along with his father and uncle, told them about his great love for them and asked them to promise, after visiting a Christian country and at home, to return to him. He ordered to give them a golden tablet with commands so that throughout his land there would be no delays and food would be given to them everywhere; he ordered them to be provided with escorts for safety, and also authorized them to be his ambassadors to the pope, the French and Spanish kings and other Christian rulers.
After spending many years in the service of Kublai Kublai, the Venetians returned to their homeland by sea - around South Asia and through Iran. They accompanied, on behalf of the Great Khan, two princesses - a Chinese and a Mongolian, who were married to the Ilkhan (the Mongol ruler of Iran) and his heir, to the capital of the Ilkhans, Tabriz.
In 1292, the Chinese flotilla moved from Zeytun to the southwest, across the Chip (South China) Sea. During this passage, Marco heard about Indonesia - about the “7448 islands” scattered in the Chin Sea, but he only visited Sumatra, where the travelers lived for five months. From Sumatra the flotilla moved to the island of Sri Lanka past the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. From Sri Lanka, ships passed along Western India and Southern Iran, through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf. Marco also talks about African countries adjacent to Indian Ocean which he, apparently, did not visit: about the great country of Abasia (Abyssinia, i.e. Ethiopia), about the islands “Zangibar” and “Madeigascar” located near the equator and in the southern hemisphere. Marco was the first European to report on Madagascar.
After a three-year voyage, the Venetians brought the princesses to Iran (around 1294), and in 1295 they arrived home. According to some sources. Marco took part in the war with Genoa and around 1297 during sea battle was captured by the Genoese. In prison in 1298, he dictated the “Book”, and in 1299 he was released and returned to his homeland. Almost all the information given by biographers about his subsequent life in Venice is based on later sources, some of which even refer to XVI century. Very few documents from the 14th century about Marco himself and his family have survived to our time. It has been proven, however, that he lived out his life as a wealthy, but far from wealthy, Venetian citizen. Most biographers and commentators believe that Marco Polo actually made the journeys he talks about in his Book. However, many mysteries still remain. How could he, during his travels, “not notice” the most grandiose defensive structure in the world - the Great Chinese wall? Why doesn't Polo mention anywhere such an important and characteristic Chinese consumer product as tea? But it was precisely due to such gaps in the Book and the fact that Marco undoubtedly did not know either the Chinese language or Chinese geographical nomenclature (with minor exceptions) that some of the most skeptical historians in the first half of the 19th century suggested that Marco Polo I've never been to China.
In the XIV-XV centuries, “The Book” of Marco Polo served as one of the guides for cartographers. The “Book” of Marco Polo played a very important role in the history of great discoveries. Not only did the organizers and leaders of the Portuguese and first Spanish expeditions of the 15th-16th centuries use maps compiled under the strong influence of Polo, but his work itself was a reference book for outstanding cosmographers and navigators, including Columbus.
"The Book" of Marco Polo is one of the rare medieval works - literary works and scientific works, which are being read and re-read at the present time. It has entered the golden fund of world literature, translated into many languages, published and republished in many countries around the world.