Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

4 .6
The biggest seaport on the southeast coast of China was Guanzhou, where a large
Perso-Arab colony already existed in the 7th–8th centuries AD and engaged in trade
by sea. It is possible that people from Central Asia, often referred to as Persians, were
among its population.
There are echoes of the ancient traditions of Sogdian traders travelling by sea
in the accounts of the Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi (10th century), according to
whom merchants from Samarkand first came to Iraq and then went on to India and
China by sea.
The famous Kitab Aja’ib al-Hind (Wonders of India), created in the second half of
the 10th century, written by Buzurg ibn Shahriyar, is based on stories from sailors
and merchants on their way to India, China, Indonesia and Africa. It includes an
entertaining tale about the capture of a whale off the coast of the Arabian Sea in 300
AH (AD 912–913).
‘Captain Ismailawayh told me that these species of fish are often found in the sea
of Zanj and in the ocean of Samarkand.’ The sea of Zanj is part of the Indian Ocean
off the east coast of Africa, and the name Zanj was used by the Arabs to refer to native
East Africans.
As for the ocean of Samarkand, scholars have different opinions as to its location. It
is clear, however, that this is the name given to the rest of the Indian Ocean, apparently
from the Persian Gulf to India. This name did not appear by accident; it comes from
the ancient traditions of Sogdian navigators. Apparently, by this time, the natives of
Samarkand were so active in maritime trade and appeared so frequently on the sea
routes that the eastern half of the Indian Ocean began to bear the name of this city.
In another part of his book, Buzurg ibn Shahriyar writes: ‘A captain told me that
it is said that the great Sea of Samarkand adjoins the Herkend, and that they say it is
called the Sea of Samarkand because the river Samarkand flows into it, and that he
saw many fals [whales] in the sea.’ The Samarkand river, according to some scholars,
is the Indus, which has its source in the Himalayas, directly abutting the Pamirs. It
appears that in ancient and medieval times this river was used by merchants coming
from Central Asia to ship their goods, and therefore for some time it was called the
Samarkand river. Many Greek authors wrote about the existence of a river route from
India to Central Asia, and still further to Transcaucasia and the Black Sea.
This route ran along the Indus, the Kunduz Darya or the Balkhab river, and then
along the Amu Darya and the Uzboi before reaching the Caspian Sea.
The earliest image of a ship in Central Asia can be seen on the petroglyphs of Beshtobe,
20 km from Nukus. Here, carved into the surface of the rock, is an image of a flatbottomed
vessel with a single mast, quadrangular sail, high, rounded prow and a relatively
lower stern. On either side of the sail are two stylised human figures holding onto the sail.
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