Authors: Christopher I. Beckwith
Tags: #History, #General, #Asia, #Europe, #Eastern, #Central Asia
Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia From the Bronze Age to the Present (5 page)
The nomads also were not poor. To be precise, some nomads were rich, some were poor, and most were somewhere in between, just as in any other culture zone, but the rank-and-file nomads were much better off in every way than their counterparts in the peripheral agricultural regions, who were slaves or treated little better than slaves. The nomads did want very much to trade with their neighbors, whoever they were, and generally reacted violently when they were met with violence or contempt, as one might expect most people anywhere to do. The biggest myth of all—that Central Eurasians were an unusually serious military threat to the peripheral states—is pure fiction. In short, neither Central Eurasia nor Central Eurasian history has anything to do with the fantasy of the
barbarian
or the modern covert version of it discussed at length in the epilogue.
Central Eurasian history concerns many different peoples who practiced several different ways of life. Each Central Eurasian culture consisted of countless individuals, each of whom had a distinct personality, just as in the rest of the world. Central Eurasians were strong and weak, enlightened and depraved, and everything in between, exactly like people of any other area or culture. Practically everything one can say about Central Eurasians, as people, can be said about every other people in Eurasia. It is necessary to at least
attempt
to be neutral in writing history.
But what about the
barbarians?
If the historical record actually tells us Central Eurasians were not
barbarians,
what were they? They were dynamic, creative people. Central Eurasia was the home of the Indo-Europeans, who expanded across Eurasia from sea to sea and established the foundations of what has become world civilization. Central Asia in the Middle Ages was the economic, cultural, and intellectual center of the world, and Central Asians are responsible for essential elements of modern science, technology, and the arts. The historical record unambiguously shows that Central Eurasians were people who fought against overwhelming—indeed, hopeless—odds, defending their homelands, their families, and their way of life from relentless encroachment and ruthless invasion by the peripheral peoples of Eurasia. The Central Eurasians lost almost everything, eventually, but they fought the good fight. This book is thus ultimately about the continent-wide struggle between the Central Eurasians and the peripheral peoples,
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leading to the victory of the latter, the destruction of the Central Eurasian states, and the reduction of Central Eurasian peoples to extreme poverty and near extinction before their miraculous rebirth, in the nick of time, at the end of the twentieth century.
One may still wish to ask, was not the history of Central Eurasia, dominated by states founded by nomadic or partly nomadic people, unique in its tendencies and outcomes? No. The struggle of the vastly outnumbered nations of Central Eurasia against the inexorable expansion of their peripheral neighbors was paralleled by that of the American Indian nations against the Europeans and their ex-colonial clients, the European-American states, who pursued a policy of overt or covert genocide in most countries of the Americas. In North America, the Indians fought to save their lands, their nations, and their families, but they lost. Their fields of corn were burned, their families were massacred, and the few survivors were transported by force to desert lands where they were left to die. Up until a few decades ago, the Indians were condemned by the unjust, genocidal victors as “savages.” Finally, when they had almost disappeared, some among the victor peoples had a twinge of conscience and realized that the historical treatment of the Indians was exactly the reverse of the truth. Recognition of the struggles of the Central Eurasian peoples against the more than two-millennia-long mistreatment by their peripheral neighbors is long overdue. The warriors of Central Eurasia were not
barbarians.
They were heroes, and the epics of their peoples sing their undying fame.
1
On other terms for Central Eurasia, and the usage and meaning of ‘Central Asia’ today, see endnote
3
.
2
Southeast Asia, which is not much discussed in this book, is usually treated as an extension of South Asia or East Asia, but in truth it is a subregion of its own, much as the Arabian Peninsula is. Like Western Europe and Northeast Asia (consisting of Japan and Korea in the usual usage, plus southern Manchuria in premodern times), Southeast Asia is geographically broken up by mountains, rivers, and the sea. While I do not by any means embrace geographical determinism without reserve, it is difficult not to see a great deal else in common in the historical development of these areas.
3
See Rolle (1989: 16–17).
4
This area should properly be called Northern Eurasia, but this term has unfortunately been used by some as a near-synonym for Central Eurasia.
5
It is also necessary to abandon the idea that the urban Sogdians were “natural merchants,” despite the sources’ fondness for saying so. Recent scholarship (Grenet 2005; cf. Moribe 2005 and de la Vaissière 2005a) reveals that the Sogdians were as much warriors as anyone else in Central Eurasia.
6
Aspects of all of these points have been criticized astutely by one or another contemporary scholar, but the ideas persist and most of them call for a great deal more criticism.
7
The dichotomy was not by any means always in operation everywhere. Some important exceptions are discussed by Di Cosmo (2002a) and others. The point is that, over the long duration of Eurasian history, the inexorable trend was the reduction of Central Eurasian territory and the Central Eurasian peoples’ loss of power, wealth, and, in countless cases, life.
EMPIRES OF THE SILK ROAD
PROLOGUE
The Hero and His Friends
Born in a bygone age long ago,
Descendant of the wild horse, Zûla Khan,
Bûmba’s grandson, the gentle khan,
Son of Üzeng, the famous khan:
Janghar the matchless he was.
When he reached the tender age of two
A cruel dragon invaded his homeland
And he was left an orphan.
Attaining the age of three, up onto
Auburn—his charger in his third year—he
Scrambled and mounted,
Smashed the gates of three great fortresses, and
Subdued the great dragon, the ruthless one.
—From
Janghar
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The First Story
The Lord of Heaven above impregnated the daughter of the Lord of the Waters below, and a son was miraculously born.
But an evil king killed the prince’s father and enslaved the prince’s mother, and the orphaned prince was cast into the wilderness at birth.
There, instead of harming him, the wild beasts took care of him. He survived and became wily and powerful.
The marvelous child was brought to the royal court, where he was raised by the king almost like one of his sons.
He grew up strong, skilled with horses, and an expert with the bow.
Despite his talents, he was sent to work in the stables. When an enemy attacked the kingdom, the stableboy defeated them with his powerful bow. His heroic reputation spread far and wide.
The king and his sons were afraid of the hero, and the sons convinced the king to employ a stratagem to have him murdered. But the prince was warned in time and miraculously escaped.
He acquired a following of courageous young warrior friends. They attacked and killed the evil king, freed their women, and established a righteous and prosperous kingdom.
Bards sang the story of the prince and his companions to the heroes themselves and at the courts of other princes and heroes, in their time and long afterward. They had achieved undying fame.
Central Eurasian National Origin Myths
In myth and legend, if not in fact, the Central Eurasian founders of many great realms followed this heroic model from protohistorical and early historical times on, including the Bronze Age Hittites
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and Chou Chinese; the Classical period Scythians, Romans, Wu-sun, and Koguryo; the medieval Turks and Mongols; and the Junghars and Manchus
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of the late Renaissance and Enlightenment.
During the Shang Dynasty
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Lady Yüan of the Chiang
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clan offered sacrifice so that she would no longer be childless. Afterward she stepped in the footprint of the King of Heaven and became pregnant. She gave birth to Hou Chi ‘Lord Millet’.
The baby was left in a narrow lane, but the sheep and cattle lovingly protected him. He was left in a wide forest, but woodcutters saved him. He was placed on the freezing ice, but birds protected him with their wings. When the birds left, Hou Chi began to cry. His mother then knew he was a supernatural being, and she took him back and raised him.
When he grew up, he served Emperor Yao, who appointed him Master of Horses. He also planted beans, grain, and gourds, and all grew abundantly.
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He founded the Chou Dynasty, which overthrew the evil last ruler of Shang.
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