Eurasia: The Conquest of the East

Alexander was been the king of a tiny realm. He was only twenty when he embarked on one of history’s most cherished dream : to unite the East and the West. He proved to be a political and military genius and he succeeded in conquering the greatest empire of his time, an empire that reached to the borders of India. In only thirteen years, he imposed a new vision onto the world.

Is it myth or reality ? It has always been said that Alexander left a string of some seventy cities in the wake of his conquests – all named Alexandria in his honour. However, none of these legendary cities was ever found, except for Alexandria in Egypt and, naturally, generations of archaeologists have been searching for them…

In India in the 6th century BC, Sakyamuni, "a wise man of the Sakya tribe", had been meditating under a tree when, suddenly, he was struck with the comprehension of all things. He became Buddha, meaning the « Illuminated ». His message, based on a pragmatic philosophy, taught how to free oneself from all needs in order to achieve illumination. After the death of the Enlightened One, his disciples – a few monks – began to spread his teachings all over India, from Ceylon to the Himalayan.

Ancient Chinese documents dating back 1600 years have revealed the presence of Romans at the very heart of China as far back as the year 166 AD. According to these chronicles, they had been emissaries sent by the powers in Rome in order to establish relations with the Han Empire. Were they ambassadors or just ordinary merchants ? Maybe they were both… At the times of Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, the empire had been enjoying two prosperous centuries. It was the era of the Pax Romana and Rome’s power was to expand rapidly due to contacts and trade. Endless caravans supplied a steady stream of goods from the Orient to the ports of the Mediterranean. Each trip represented a perilous voyage of 11 000 km with dangers lurking along the trade routes, not least of them being the Huns who turned travelling into a dangerous and uncertain enterprise.

Chinese Empire. After a perilous trek of some 11 000 kilometres across steppes, mountains and deserts, the caravans entered China through the Jade Gate. For seven hundred years, one particular tribe of caravaneers, the Sogdians, held the monopoly of crossing these hostile regions and became masters in the art of organising and leading caravans between East and West. They were among the best merchants the Silk Road had ever known.

Today, Baghdad is a battered city. But we need to remember that before the ruins, from the 8th to the 13th century, Baghdad had been the capital of a refined civilisation ! Over thousand years ago, Baghdad had been named Madinat al Salam, « the City of Peace » with the ruling Abbassids - named after Caliph "Abu al-Abbas" - who had founded the dynasty. In 749, the Abbassid Caliphat further spread its sphere of influence, reaching from Spain to the borders of China. As protector of ancient knowledge, Baghdad had translated Aristotle, Plato, Euclid. The head of its medical school, Ali Abu Ibn-Sina or Avicenna, a Persian from Bukhara, was also a commentator on Aristotle’s writings.

Jerusalem, Holy City three times over. For fifteen centuries, the possession of the city had been incessantly fought over and caused bloody battles. It is hard to believe then, that in the thirteenth century History had been afforded a breathing space through the unlikely friendship between two visionary sovereigns – a sultan and a Christian emperor – who brought a miraculous period of grace to Jerusalem.

Protected by its great wall and by three thousand years of history, the Middle Kingdom felt forever safe from invaders. That was counting without the hordes of nomadic horsemen who came from the Mongolian steppes, commanded by Kublai. The great Kublai Khan, grandson of Gengis Khan, was born in 1214. He was the very incarnation of twelve centuries of invasions of sedentary civilisations by nomadic people.