Silk Road and East-West contact
Contact between Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, India and China from Alexander's eastern campaigns and the Han envoys to the Mongols and the Ming and Portuguese sea voyages (c. 330 BCE-1500 CE): envoys, merchants, missionaries, travellers and the conquests that linked them.
Category: Society
- May 326 BCEBattle of the Hydaspes
In May 326 BCE (some say July) Alexander defeats the Indian king Porus on the Jhelum river in the Punjab, then confirms him as satrap. His horse Bucephalus dies, and Alexander founds Bucephala in its honour.
- c. 255 BCEThe Greco-Bactrian kingdom
About 255 BCE (some say 246) the satrap Diodotus I breaks from the Seleucids and founds a Greek kingdom in Bactria. It lasts until about 120 BCE and later reaches into India.
- c. 180 BCEDemetrius I invades India
Before 180 BCE the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius I invades northwest India and creates the Indo-Greek kingdoms. Some conquests are credited by historians to Menander instead.
- c. 138 BCEZhang Qian travels west for the Han
Emperor Wu sends Zhang Qian west c. 138 BCE to find the Yuezhi, enemies of the Xiongnu. Held by the Xiongnu about thirteen years, he reaches Dayuan (Ferghana) and Bactria and returns c. 125 BCE with one companion, reporting too on Parthia and India from hearsay.
- c. 119 BCEZhang Qian's mission to the Wusun
Zhang Qian leads a second embassy, to the Wusun, c. 119-115 BCE, and is made grand messenger on his return. A trade mission to the Wusun in 119 BCE is said to open trade between China and Persia, and Parthian missions follow around 100 BCE. He dies c. 114 or 113.
- 97Gan Ying is sent west toward Rome
In 97 CE Ban Chao sends Gan Ying toward Daqin (Rome). He reaches Parthian-ruled Tiaozhi and a great "western sea", perhaps the Persian Gulf or the Black Sea, and turns back after sailors warn of a voyage of up to two years. His report on Daqin comes from secondhand sources.
- 166An embassy from "Andun" reaches Han China
In 166 CE the Hou Hanshu records an envoy of Andun, king of Daqin, landing at Rinan with ivory, rhinoceros horn and tortoise shell. Andun may be Marcus Aurelius or Antoninus Pius. Several historians think the party were merchants, not diplomats.
- 226A Roman merchant reaches the court of Wu
In 226 CE a merchant from Daqin named Qin Lun reaches Jiaozhou, and the local prefect sends him to Sun Quan's court at Nanjing, where Sun asks him about his homeland. The Weilüe and the Book of Liang record the visit.
- 751The Abbasids defeat the Tang at Talas
In 751 Abbasid and Tang forces fight near the Talas River in Central Asia, and the Abbasids win. A later tradition that Chinese prisoners taken there introduced papermaking to Samarkand is doubted, since paper was already in use in the region.
- February 4, 781The Nestorian Stele is erected at Chang'an
On 4 February 781 a Chinese and Syriac stele at Chang'an records the Church of the East in Tang China, from the arrival of Alopen in 635. Composed by the monk Jingjing, it was buried probably in 845 and found in the 1620s. It was long suspected a forgery; scholars now accept it.
- 794Baghdad builds its first paper mill
In 794-795 Baghdad gets its first paper mill, and paper soon spreads across the Islamic world and begins to replace papyrus. The tradition that Chinese prisoners taken at Talas (751) brought papermaking to Samarkand is doubted, since paper was already used in Central Asia.
- c. 1030Al-Biruni completes his study of India
Al-Biruni (973-c. 1050), taken to Ghazni in 1017 and soon on Mahmud's campaigns in India, completes his Kitab al-Hind around 1030. His earth-radius measurement at Nandana, by horizon dip, survives; its accuracy depends on a cubit length that is unclear.
- 1219Genghis Khan invades Khwarazmia
After the Khwarazmian governor of Otrar kills a Mongol caravan in 1218, Genghis Khan invades in 1219-1221. Bukhara, Samarkand and Gurganj fall; Shah Muhammad II flees toward the Caspian and dies there around December 1220. Traditional death tolls are held exaggerated.
- May 31, 1223The Mongols defeat the Rus' and Cumans at the Kalka
On 31 May 1223 Jebe and Subutai, after riding through the Caucasus and beating the Cumans, defeat the Rus' princes and Cumans at the Kalka River. The raid covers some 8,900 km in three years. Subutai returns with Batu in 1237 and conquers Kievan Rus'.
- April 1241The Mongols defeat Poles and Hungarians
In April 1241 the Mongols beat Henry II of Silesia at Legnica (9 April) and Béla IV of Hungary at Mohi on the Sajó (11 April), destroying the Hungarian royal army; Béla flees to the Adriatic coast. They withdraw in 1242. Army sizes in the sources are disputed.
- 1245Carpini carries a papal mission to the Mongols
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine leaves Lyon on 16 April 1245 on Innocent IV's mission, witnesses Güyük's enthronement on 24 August 1246, and returns in 1247 with the khan's demand that Europe submit. His Ystoria Mongalorum is the oldest European account of the Mongols.
- 1253William of Rubruck reaches Karakorum
Sent by Louis IX in 1253, the Flemish Franciscan William of Rubruck reaches Karakorum in December and is received by Möngke on 4 January 1254. He watches a debate among Christians, Buddhists and Muslims in May and returns in 1255. His route shows the Caspian is an inland sea.
- February 1258The Mongols take Baghdad
Hulegu's army besieges Baghdad from late January 1258, and Caliph al-Musta'sim surrenders on 10 February. The caliph is executed, ending Abbasid rule in Baghdad. Casualty claims of up to two million are exaggerated; whether the House of Wisdom was destroyed is not confirmed.
- c. 1271Marco Polo leaves Venice with his father and uncle for the Mongol court
Aged about 17, Marco Polo sets out from Venice with his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo on an overland journey across Asia to Kublai Khan. The date rests largely on Polo's own account.
- c. 1275Marco Polo reaches Kublai Khan's court at Shangdu
After a journey of about three and a half years the Polos arrive at Kublai Khan's summer capital, Shangdu (Xanadu). Marco serves the khan for some 17 years; his exact role is disputed.
- 1287Rabban Bar Sauma travels from China to Europe
Born near Beijing, the Church of the East monk Rabban Bar Sauma travels west for the Ilkhan Arghun in 1287-88, seeking an alliance against the Mamluks. He meets Andronicus II, Philip IV and Edward I, and Pope Nicholas IV in Rome. The alliance fails.
- c. 1291Marco Polo leaves China from Zaitun with a Mongol princess's party
The Polos depart from the port of Zaitun by sea, escorting the princess Kököchin to Persia. Sources give 1291 or 1292.
- 1294John of Montecorvino reaches Khanbaliq
The Franciscan John of Montecorvino reaches China in 1294, just after Kublai's death, and builds a church at Khanbaliq in 1299 and a second in 1305. He translates the New Testament and Psalms into Uyghur and is consecrated archbishop of Peking in 1308.
- 1295Marco Polo returns to Venice after about 24 years in Asia
Marco Polo, his father and his uncle return to Venice in 1295 after about 24 years away, having travelled across Asia and served at Kublai Khan's court.
- c. 1298 – 1299Marco Polo dictates his Travels to Rustichello da Pisa in a Genoese prison
Held prisoner by Genoa, Polo dictates an account of his journeys to the romance writer Rustichello da Pisa. The book, in French, is later known as Il Milione. Tradition links his capture to Curzola (1298).
- c. 1302Francesco Pipino translates Marco Polo's Travels into Latin
The Dominican friar Francesco Pipino produces a Latin version of the Travels, one of the earliest translations and a source for the book's wide circulation in manuscript across Europe.
- June 14, 1325Ibn Battuta sets out from Tangier
Ibn Battuta leaves Tangier on 14 June 1325 for the hajj and does not return to Morocco for 24 years, travelling about 117,000 km. He serves six years as a qadi at Delhi. Doubts remain about parts of his account, including his chronology and whether he reached China.
- 1403Clavijo's embassy from Castile to Timur
Henry III of Castile sends Ruy González de Clavijo to Timur. The party sails from Cádiz on 22 May 1403, crosses Constantinople and Trebizond, and reaches Samarkand on 4 September 1404. Back in Castile on 24 March 1406, Clavijo writes the Embajada a Tamorlán.
- September 4, 1403The Yongle Emperor orders 200 ocean-going ships built
On 4 September 1403 the Yongle Emperor orders 200 seagoing transport ships, the start of the Ming treasure fleet. The fleet is built at Nanjing's Longjiang shipyard and others on the Yangtze.
- July 11, 1405 – October 2, 1407Zheng He's first treasure voyage to Southeast Asia, Ceylon and India
Zheng He sails from Nanjing on 11 July 1405 with about 255 ships and 27,800 men, calling at Champa, Java, Malacca, Ceylon and Calicut. The fleet returns on 2 October 1407.
- c. 1409Zheng He erects a Chinese, Persian and Tamil stele at Galle, Ceylon
A trilingual stele in Chinese, Persian and Tamil is set up at Galle in Sri Lanka, dated 15 February 1409 in most sources (one says 1411). It records offerings to Buddha, Allah and the Hindu god Tenavarai Nayanar.
- 1413 – August 12, 1415Zheng He's fourth treasure voyage reaches Hormuz and the Persian Gulf
The fourth voyage leaves Nanjing in autumn 1413, extends the usual route to Hormuz and the Maldives, and returns on 12 August 1415. Detachments visit Bengal and the Arabian coast.
- 1414A giraffe from Malindi in East Africa is presented to the Yongle Emperor
An envoy from Malindi, on the East African coast, brings a giraffe to Bengal, from where the Chinese fleet takes it to the Yongle Emperor in 1414. The court treats it as a qilin, a sign of imperial virtue.
- 1417 – August 8, 1419Zheng He's fifth treasure voyage reaches Aden and the East African coast
The fifth voyage leaves in autumn 1417 and visits Hormuz, Aden, Mogadishu, Barawa and Malindi, the farthest the Ming fleets sail, and returns on 8 August 1419.
- 1421 – September 3, 1422Zheng He's sixth treasure voyage sails to the Indian Ocean and East Africa
The sixth voyage, ordered in March 1421, takes the fleet to Ceylon, Hormuz, Aden and East Africa and returns to Nanjing on 3 September 1422. On 14 May 1421 the Yongle Emperor suspended further voyages.
- January 19, 1431 – July 7, 1433Zheng He's seventh and last treasure voyage
Zheng He sails from Nanjing on 19 January 1431 under the Xuande Emperor and visits Southeast Asia, India, Hormuz and East Africa. The fleet returns to China on 7 July 1433, and no more are sent.
- c. 1450Fra Mauro draws his world map in Venice, drawing on Marco Polo
The Camaldolese monk Fra Mauro makes a large world map at San Michele in Isola, Venice. Its Asian annotations draw on travellers such as Marco Polo and Niccolò de' Conti.
- July 8, 1497 – May 1498Vasco da Gama sails from Lisbon to India
Vasco da Gama leaves Lisbon on 8 July 1497 with four ships, rounds the Cape, crosses the Indian Ocean with a pilot from Malindi and reaches Calicut in May 1498, the first sea route from Europe to India.