Travelers Timeline
Project
use of data
data analysis
historical inference
research skills

The history of the Silk Road is a history of travelers. Most traveled only short stretch of the overall route. But much of what we know of the Silk Road comes from the accounts left by explorers, soldiers, merchants and pilgrims who traveled the entire route.

Often the accounts of the Silk Road’s long-distance travelers are used to closely examine the period in which each traveler crossed the route. In this activity we will instead examine the origins, destinations and dates of all of the major long-distance travelers to see if there is any pattern in the who, what, when and where of their journeys. These patterns may tell us something important about the how and why of their trips.

A. Read the description of each traveler on the Silk Road Foundation’s “Travelers of the Silk Road” page by Prof. Daniel Waugh • http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml

• Using one or more pieces of graph paper plot the origins and destinations of each Silk Road traveler. Imagine the Silk Road as a straight line across the bottom of the graph paper. Plot the major geographic points of the Silk Road with China at one end, England at the other end, and Dunhuang, India, Persia, Egypt, Italy and any others you deem important placed in between. Use a historical atlas (most libraries should have one) and a modern atlas to locate some of the places mentioned in the travelers’ biographies.

Along the vertical axis of your graph paper plot time from 200 BCE to 2000 CE. I recommend leaving 5 spaces in between each century. This means you graph may require more than one sheet of graph paper.

Then read through each traveler's brief description. Identify the date at which he traveled. Identify his starting point and his ending point. At the appropriate date, draw a horizontal bar connecting the starting and ending points of the traveler’s journey.

B. Examine the pattern of travel on the chart you have created.
1. Divide the chart into 3-5 major periods. In each period generalize the pattern of long-distance Silk Road travel, by creating 3-5 statements about each. Consider patterns in the location of where travelers started and where they ended. Were their many travelers or only a few? What the occupation of the traveler?

2. Examine the Chronology of Major Events of Dunhuang History, the Chronology of the Silk Road and other sources. Identify 3 historical events in each period that might have affected travel.

3. Create a list of 3 groups that are missing from this list of long-distance travelers.

4. Read the Silk Road Foundation’s “Buddhism and its spread along the Silk Road”. See this page’s “Chronology of Buddhist Activities along the Silk Road” and “Central Asian Translators Working in China”. Use this data to add Buddhist missionaries to your chart of long-distance travelers.

5. Develop a paragraph length hypothesis that answers the question, “What were the conditions for a period in which many people traveled long-distances on the Silk Road?” Consider economic, political, military, religious, social and intellectual conditions. Include at least 3 conditions in your paragraph.

C. View Aurel Stein’s page at Monkeytree's “Journey of 1000 Li” •

1. The late 1800’s and early 1900’s saw many long-distance travelers of the Silk Road. Most were European scholar-explorer-adventurers like Aurel Stein. Research the period from 1850 to 1930, noting long-distance travelers. Plot at least 3 of them on your chart.

2. Pick one 19th or 20th century traveler of interest. Using the Aurel Stein page as a model, create a presentation of the history of one of these late Silk Road travelers. The presentation can take the form of a paper with illustrations, a Powerpoint, a poster or a web page. Successful webpages can be submitted to MonkeyTree for possible addition to the Journey of 1000 Li site.

Evaluation: (150 points total, 10 points per evaluation item (•))
A.

  • completeness and accuracy
  • neatness of construction
  • inclusion of historical place names

B.1:

  • 3-5 periods demarcated
  • periods chosen appropriately
  • 3-5 generalized statements about each period provided
  • generalizations reasonable and accurate

B.2:

  • • 3-5 historical events chosen for each period.
  • • evidence of use of more than one source

B.3:

  • 3-5 missing groups identified
  • accuracy of the identified groups

B.4:

  • completeness and accuracy

B.5:

  • completion of paragraph length hypothesis
  • paragraph free of gramamtical and spelling errors
  • hypothesis reasonably addresses the question
  • 3 conditions for long-distance travel suggested

C.1:

  • completion and accuracy

C.2:

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