SILK ROAD: SOGDIAN A BRIDGE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST
From ancient times to the early twentieth century, the legendary Silk
Road united to the Mediterranean and China, where the caravans went in at the
gate of jade, a voyage of 11,000 km through steppes, mountains and deserts. For
700 years a nomadic people, the Sogdians had the monopoly of the crossing of
these hostile regions and became his specialty organize and guide the caravans
between east and west.
The Sogdians are known mostly by Chinese chronicles, in them over a
thousand years old describe their customs; chronicle tells us that the Sogdians
learned to read and write when they turned five. With twenty years men were not
for agriculture, were encouraged to leave the village to start a commercial apprenticeship,
the Sogdians were not warriors; merchants were half and half farmers. This
ancient commercial tradition was a result of the geographic position of
Sogdians, spent most of the caravans going from India to Russia and from the
Mediterranean to China.
This trade route was used as any other in the history of humanity. The
chroniclers describe a wild region where the Huns pillage and massacre caravan
travelers, Chinese emperors sent military expeditions to pacify the region. In
the V century AD are built fortified towns along the route, but not become less
dangerous. The Sogdians were a specialty organize and guide the caravans
throughout Central Asia, had a monopoly when it comes to cross these hostile
regions. A pilgrim crosses towards the year 620 Sogdian relates that it does
with a caravan of 600 camels led by 240 Sogdians and carrying more than 10,000
pieces of silk.
Pendjikent Sogdian in the heart of a western village on the banks of
Sharakshan Tajikistan, today the region is populated by Tajiks, descendants of
the Sogdians, at the exit of the village, the ruins occupy an entire hill where
the Sogdians had built one of the Sogdians used little stone and wood was
scarce in these arid regions, houses and walls were built of mud bricks stamped
with the sun, the houses were on the ground floor, with many small rooms that
were no more than two meters wide, the ceilings were vaulted, walled city
occupied thirteen hectares and had a high density of homes, farms were built
outside the house. When a family home rose growing one or two stories and
sometimes ruthlessly dealt Street, was the only way to respond to the city's
inability to expand beyond a wall that protected the next hostility. Among the
S. X and XII had Pendjikent 7000 census to bed. Living confined within their
walls (Marshak, 2002)
With the discovery of fifty
beautiful frescoes, some of which have just been damaged by the weather, have
been restored with the participation of the University of Tokyo who has
entrusted the task to specialists desgatados by brightening their thousand years
old. Pendjikent was the city that caravans discovered at the end of a long
journey, were traversing the door to go to the market situated in the city
center, a market where products offered for sale from across Eurasia,
silverware Persian Indian pepper tea and Chinese brocades. (Levinson & Christensen,
2002)
The Chinese came here to
acquire the famous Sogdian celestial horses who legend sweated blood.(De la Vaissière,
2004) Sogdian
mints its own currency; this bronze piece imitates the Chinese sapeque because
Sogdians traded mainly with China. The Sogdians were not empire builders, was
above all great travelers, who won as the great merchants of the Silk Road.
Their culture was unique because all cultures merge achievement of Eurasia (Boris
Marshak).
A Pendjikent image, other cities had Sogdian merchant caravan. Oasis
towns were organized in city-states like Samarkand and Bukhara, were
competitors because there was no central power Sogdian. The Sogdians were not a
political and military power, had only small city-states, as Pendjikent
therefore tried to grow through trade, commerce opened the world, from central
Asia to China itself. (Marshak, 2002).
With their caravans were over four thousand meters peaks of the Tian
Shan Mountains, crossing the fearsome Taklamakan Desert, reaching the markets
of the Chinese empire.
Turfan, between the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts, is the first Chinese
outpost on land nomad was the first, the oldest and one of the most important
stages of the commercial Silk Road, in fact was inevitable. (China Radio International.CRI)
After Turfan caravans for several weeks had to face the Gobi desert
before finally reaching the famous jade gate that marked the entrance to the
Middle Kingdom. If they arrived safely with all their goods, it is because they
paid a tribute to the nomads of each region crossed, only way to ensure their
protection. The safest way to travel was to join the caravan, was what they did
Buddhist monks and pilgrims, Christian priests from Persia and Zoroastrians of
Bactria.
The business of the Sogdians relied heavily on solidarity, organized in
clans in most Chinese cities where they lived grouped.. (Cervera, 2005)
The political and commercial information circulated throughout the
Sogdian network covering all of China, the Sogdian success was to a large
extent on their ability to obtain and benefit from this information. Colonies
developed from stage to stage, from west to east; the Sogdians had a huge sales
network, not only traded between China and Central Asia, but also in North
Asia, with India and Persia, are the pillars of Asian trade the Middle Ages. (Sims-Williams)
Xiang then capital of successive dynasties that originated in China, the
Hang and Tang, was the ultimate goal of the caravans. These flowed into Xiang
through the main road, to the Silk Road. It was the end of a tour of Eurasia
11,000 km from Byzantium to China a unique journey, one of the most unique in
the history of humanity. (Zhou, 1998)
The Sogdians came to China brought with them a culture enriched by all
his meetings with all the other peoples of Central Asia, the West had collected
all the Chinese appreciate, especially music, dance, fashion, and cuisine
vines. Buddhism also unveiled the Persian Zoroastrianism and Christianity and
contributed to its spread, it was they who carried the imperial court of
colored crystals, pearls, coral, and blue makeup Persian appreciated by Chinese
empresses. (Luo & Lerner, 2010)
The Sogdians as traders had a good knowledge of fashion were well aware
of what the demand and what is sold easily. Legend Sogdians the Chinese stole
the secret of silk manufacture, which they so jealously guarded, because it
would floss west. (Sheng)
In the eighth century the Tang Empire was at its peak at the height of
his power, in the arts is the classicism sumun Chinese-Wei Wang founded the
school of Chinese painting, poetry and Li Po Tofu produce their best work.
China has become Buddhist and Taoist confusionist, the rule extends to
Quin-Yang and this pacified and unified after four centuries of problems. But
suddenly one ambitious Sogdian provoke a confrontation with the Chinese,
centuries of cohabitation happy now questioned. Your name An Lushan this man
drives a plot against the old Chinese emperor's civil war is so bloody that is
still present in the collective memory and even Chinese opera was dedicated. An
Lushan was a military man who reached the highest level of the Chinese army of
Great General of Cavalry, had amassed a considerable fortune by trading on the
Silk Road, this wealth allowed him to buy arms, build a fortified city and an
army recruit. To convey his orders, use the communications network Sogdian. He
earned the favor of Princess Yang Kwei Fei, concubine of Emperor Xuanzong first
who overthrew and replaced to take his place are in 756 AD sacked the palace
and seized the imperial treasury, overwhelming the people with taxes and ends
up being killed by his own son, against the backdrop of famine and floods,
civil war settles for eight years and his term is restored Tang dynasty. The reprisals
whose victims were primarily Sogdian be bloody.. (Lewis, 2009)
 |
| Emperor Xuanzong |
 |
| Princess Yang Kwei Fei |
In the year 674 the Sogdian city states were conquered by the Arabs
arrived from the Middle East, the vanquished retain their language, Farsi, but
must convert to Islam, its culture will not disappear however, is so rich that
the invaders will eventually adopt and appropriate knowledge. Until early S. XX
many of his descendants occupied important positions in the different powers
that ruled the region. The successors of the Sogdians separated by modern
borders of Central Asian States, they living today in several countries of the
former Soviet Union. As much as we go back in history we find few towns that no
empire or military powers that have contributed as much as these guides caravan
encounter between Eastern and Western cultures.
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