Ancient Palestine - Major Trade Routes

http://www.bibarch.com/ArchaeologicalSites/TradeRoutes.htm


[...]
The coastal route along the eastern Mediterranean was known as the "Way of the Sea", or from the Latin, Via Maris from the Latin. The road was a main trade route connecting Egypt with Anatolia and Mesopotamia. There were two branches, one near the coast and one inland, in the area of the Philistine Plain. These came together at Aphek and only a single branch continued through the Sharon Plain, around the swamp area, through the Aruna Pass to Megiddo. This provides a clue as to why Megiddo was a significant fortification in Solomon’s day. It was an important route for travel and trade. The Via Maris cuts across the Jezreel Valley, through the hills of Lower Galilee, skirts the shore of the Sea of Galilee, heads northeast to Damascus from Hazor[...]

---

Please note that the above details were correct on the day this post was published. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

---

The Great Volga River Route: Historical Data

http://gvrr.unesco.ru/cat/index_eng.php?rubrika=115
[...] The 16th century witnessed a kind of the centralization of the Russian waterways around Moscow which became an important transit point. At that time the voyage from Moscow to the Sea of Azov took over a month.
The unification of the lands around Moscow brought forth the question of the Volga. The Kazan Khanate interfered with the free sailing along this river. It held prisoners 60,000 Russians in some way connected with the river. Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan and four years later added Astrakhan to his state without battle. The whole of the Volga became Russian. This opened up the ways to the Caspian and Central Asia. Large boats (strugs), carrying over 250 tons of cargo, began to sail along the Moskva, Oka and Volga rivers. Sometimes they moved in huge caravans of 500-600 vessels. [...]

... in the 18th century the navigation developed mostly on the Volga, the country's main waterway, which in the absence of roads connected all of it. Here the ship called "rasshiva", the most advanced for its time, appeared. It was ideal for sailing along the Volga with its numerous shoals and rapids. It combined lightness with high carrying capacity and the simplicity of construction with durability. It was capable of covering 80 kilometres a day down the river. It was dragged back by barge haulers [aka 'burlaki' (pl.), 'burlak' (s.)] of which there were over 600,000 in the Volga basin. On the Oka [river] ships were dragged with the help of horses. [...]

---

Please note that the above details were correct on the day this post was published. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

---

The Shennong River Trackers

http://www.goworldtravel.com/ex/aspx/articleGuid.4ad2adb9-536a-4c86-b8e0-1ab68b9e4701/xe/article.htm
The Shennong River Trackers
A Vanishing Way of Life
by James Michael Dorsey

The Shennong River is a green jewel that flows into China's Yangtze River. It is the ancestral home of a proud people whose way of life will soon vanish.

They call themselves 'River Trackers,' and they are the last generation of a profession that has helped keep China's commerce flowing for centuries.

The Shennong River joins the Yangtze east of the Chonquing (Southwest China) in the center of a natural wonder known as the Three Gorges. Giant granite walls rising straight out of the water for a thousand feet (about 300 m) form the theater through which these rivers flow. Only a few feet above the ancient waterline, a thin ledge runs for several miles, hardly visible from the river. Barely two feet wide (60 cm), it was cut by hand from solid rock over many generations.

Thousands died to cut this track, for it required balancing on the side of a sheer cliff where one misstep committed the hapless victim to a 12-knot current racing below. When the water level fell or a particularly large boat was unable to traverse and got stuck in the Gorges, local 'Trackers' went into action.

Stripped to a loincloth or sometimes naked, they formed a human chain on both sides of the river. Shouldering heavy ropes, they would drag the ship along by brute force until it was able to float freely [....]

---

Please note that the above details were correct on the day this post was published. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

---

Xuanzang on the Silk Road

http://www.mongolianculture.com/indomongolian.htm
Xuanzang on the Silk Road
by Sally Hovey Wriggins

Xuanzang, a seventh century Buddhist pilgrim, made a historic pilgrimage to India along the Silk Road, one of the longest and oldest trade routes known to mankind. Along with silk and less glamorous articles of trade, the great trans-Asian roads carried ideas and religions which were to prove far more significant than silk. ...

A detailed article by the author of Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road, Boulder, Westview Press/Harper Collins 1996.

---

Please note that the above details were correct on the day this post was published. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

---

Research Center for Silk Roadology, Japan

http://www.pref.nara.jp/silk/english/reseach%20center/kenkyu.htm

Elements of Japanese culture, stemming from all parts of the Eurasian continent, were originally introduced to Japan via the Silk Roads. Nara, also known as the "birthplace of Japanese Culture," was the eastern terminus of the routes.

The Research Center for Silk Roadology was opened on the 1st of July 1993, based on the achievement of the Nara Silk Road Exposition in 1988, making Nara known as the eastern terminus of the routes as a center for research into the culture and the history of the Silk Roads.

The Research Center for Silk Roadology publishes regularly
* Silk Roadology [Issues 1 - 24]
* Proceedings of the The Silk Roads Nara International Symposia [1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003]

---

Please note that the above details were correct on the day this post was published. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

---

Stages & Distances of the Pilgrim Route Einsiedeln (CH) - Santiago de Compostela (ES)

http://www.ultreia.ch/distanzen.html

The 86 stages of the 2,161 km route:
Einsiedeln - Brunnen (Schiffstation) - Beckenried (Schiffstation) - Flüeli-Ranft - Brünig - Ringgenberg - Spiez - Wattenwil - St. Antoni - Ecuvillens - Lucens - Lausanne - Allaman - Coppet - Genève - Col du Mont-Sion - Frangy - Serrières - Yenne - St-Genix-sur-Guiers - Valencogne - La Frette - Revel-Tourdan - St-Alban-du-Rhône - Bourg-Argental - Coirolles - St-Jeures - Le Puy-en-Velay - Monistrol d'Allier - Domaine du Sauvage - Aumont-Aubrac - Aubrac - St-Côme d'Olt - Golinhac - Conques - Livinhac-le-Haut - Figeac - Cajarc - Varaire - Cahors - Montcuq - Durfort-Lacapelette - Moissac - Saint-Antoine - Lectoure - Condom - Eauze - Nogaro - Aire-sur-l'Adour - Arzacq-Arraziguet - Arthez-de-Bearn - Navarrenx - Aroue - St-Palais Ostabat - Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port - Roncesvalles - Larrasoaña - Pamplona (Cizur) - Puente la Reina - Estella - Los Arcos - Viana - Navarrete - Nájera - Sto.Domingo de la C. - Belorado - San Juan de Ortega - Burgos - Castrojeriz - Frómista - Carrión - Sahagún - El Burgo Raneros - Mansilla de las Mulas - León - Villadangos - Astorga - Rabanal - Ponferrada - Villafranca - El Cebreiro - Sarria - Portomarín - Palas de Rei - Arzúa - Santiago de Compostella

See also a table of walking speeds as the function of the days spent walking

---

Please note that the above details were correct on the day this post was published. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

---

Mundicamino - Guía completa del Camino de Santiago

http://www.mundicamino.com/


[A map of Spanish pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela.
An excellent and superbly detailed site in several languages. - tmciolek]

---

Please note that the above details were correct on the day this post was published. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

---

The Historical Topography of Khiva

http://www.advantour.com/uzbekistan/khiva/history/014.htm

History of Khiva
Khiva and ancient Khorezmian civilization
Zoroastrianism in Khorezm
Irrigation developments
The Khorezm art of ornamental painting
Kushan period
Khivan culture
The basic periods of historical development
The craft industry in Khiva
Trade in Khiva
Russian invasion (the end of 19 century)
The dramatic end
The first Khorezm Kurultay
Djunaid Khan's revolt
The historical topography of Khiva
Khiva reconstruction
Architecture
Sculpture and Painting
Applied Arts
The jeweler’s art

---

Please note that the above details were correct on the day this post was published. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

---