Roaming the Steppe Silk Road

About the Steppe Silk Road

Today, the term Silk Road is virtually a household name worldwide. In general, it refers to the transportation system that has linked Europe, Asia, and Africa for millennia and can be naturally divided into two networks—land-based and sea-based—that used different means of conveyance but were also interconnected.

Meanwhile, the Overland Silk Road itself can be subdivided intothree types:

(1) Steppe Silk Road (detailed in this volume): A 10,000km-long linkage of several steppes traversing northern Eurasia. Bounded at its eastern end by the Greater Khingan mountains and the Hulunbuir Grasslands, at the western end is the East European steppe downstream of the Dnieper River (i.e., the Pontic–Caspian Steppe). This narrow region running east–west is largely flat, with a relatively arid climate, and its Asian portion borders Siberia’s taiga to the north. The Steppe Silk Road passes through these lands
(modern designations): (a) Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Xinjiang in China; (b) Mongolia; (c) southeastern, central, and northwestern Kazakhstan; (d) large portions of the Russian Federation, including the Republic of Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Tuva Republic, Altai Republic, Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Tatarstan, Chuvash Republic, Saratov Oblast, Republic of Kalmykia, Republic of Dagestan, and other regions of the North Caucasus; (e) Ukraine; and (f) Romania.

(2) Oasis Silk Road: A network of roads through the middle of the Eurasian continent, connecting China, Central Asia, West Asia, and Eastern Europe—which I will write about in a separate book— which passes through many towns in temperate agricultural regions including many oases that dot the desert.

(3) Southern Silk Road: A network of two roads running north– south, roughly parallel but partially intertwined, with no obvious starting or ending points, some of which are also popularly known as the Tea Horse Road.

As for the Maritime Silk Road, its scope is extremely extensive. It constitutes a maritime transportation network connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa, and links the following: the Sea of Japan, Bohai Sea, East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, Java Sea, Strait of Malacca, Andaman Sea, Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Aden, and the northern part of the Indian Ocean, and also includes the Red Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. I also plan to write a separate volume on my exploration of the Maritime Silk Road.

This tome highlights geographically, historically, culturally, and currently significant sites along the Steppe Silk Road, proceeding from east to west. Its content is principally the result of “my personal travels and results of related research,” to paraphrase the title of the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen’s 19th-century book about the region, and touches upon unique cultural attributes and historical anecdotes of each location, including of course, perceptions and recollections accrued during my peregrinations.

It is my fervent hope that via the 30-plus chapters in the present volume, the reader will obtain a vivid and comprehensive grasp of the Steppe Silk Road.