The Silk Road by Sven Hedin
Linking East and West, Asia with Europe, the Silk Road was once the most important trading route in the world. A conduit for the exchange of prized silks, spices and jewels as well as philosophies, cultures and religions, the Silk Road was a catalyst for the rise and fall of some of the greatest civilisations in history, from the empires of Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan. It was through its great caravans that the western world discovered paper, gunpowder and the compass and through them that Buddhism spread to China. Its very name has become iconic, synonymous with exoticism, adventure and mystery. The second in the trilogy - 'the War', 'the Road' and 'the Lake' - this is the account of Sven Hedin's 10,000-mile journey along the ancient Silk Road, as he carried out a mission for the Chinese to create a road linking China with the rogue province of Xinjiang. Forbidden by the government to conduct archaeological investigations, Hedin ignored the restriction and was imprisoned for it but the research that he brought back with him has formed the basis of much of the West's knowledge of the Silk Road and its history. Today, as waves of tourists tread its abandoned routes and explore its ruined caravanserais, they follow in the footsteps of this original Silk Road explorer.
Sven Hedin (1865-1952) was one of the world's greatest explorers. His travels through Russia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Central Asia, China and Tibet led to some of the most important discoveries and achievements of their kind. He produced the first detailed maps of vast parts of the Pamir Mountains, the Taklamakan Desert, Tibet, the Silk Road and the Himalayas. He was the first to unearth the ruins of ancient Buddhist cities in Chinese Central Asia and in 1899 he discovered the ancient Chinese garrison town of Lou-Lan in the Taklamakan. The many manuscripts he found there are of huge historical importance. His great goal - never realised - was to reach the forbidden city of Lhasa. His books, which include Through Asia, A Conquest of Tibet, A Journey through Persia and Mesopotamia, Transhimalaya and My Life as an Explorer have been excerpted, translated and published in dozens of languages throughout the world.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781845118983 |
| ISBN 10 | 1845118987 |
| Title | The Silk Road |
| Author | Sven Hedin |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2013-06-30 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |