This interview supposedly took place in 643 CE. It is recorded in the History of al-Tabari (c. 839-923 . Fleeing from Arab armies, the last Sasanian emperor sends a messenger to the emperor of China. That emperor was the second ruler of the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE), Taizong (r. 627-649 CE), considered one of the greatest monarchs in Chinese history.

A messenger from the last Sasanian emperor went to China and sought help from the emperor. The Chinese emperor spoke to the messenger as follows:

“I know that in truth rulers must give aid to other rulers against those who overthrow them. So describe these people who drove you out of your land. I notice that you mention that they are few and you are many. Such a small number shouldn’t affect you in this way, with your great numbers. They can do this only if they are good and you are evil.”

The Iranian messenger suggests the emperor ask him any question he wishes to ask.

Emperor: “Do [the Arabs] keep their agreements?”

Messenger: “They do.”

Emperor: “What do they say before they make war on you?”

Messenger: “They call upon us to choose one of three things: To accept their religion—if we do, we will be treated as equals; to pay tribute to them, and make the Arabs our protectors. If we don’t choose these two, then the third thing is to be prepared for combat.”

Emperor: “What do they order people to do and not to do?”

The messenger tells him.

Emperor: “Do they themselves do the things they order others not to do?”

Messenger: “No, they do not.”

The messenger then tells the emperor about the clothing, camels, and horses of the Arabs.

Emperor: “If these people you describe to me were to try, they could destroy mountains. If nothing were to stand in their way, they would wipe me out! Make your peace with them and try to get along."

“Among the important sources of revenue of the king [of China] is…. an herb which they mix in hot water and then drink. It is sold in every town at a very high price. It is called al-sakh. It is more leafy than the green trefoil and slightly more perfumed, and has a sour taste. They boil water and then sprinkle the leaves over it. It is a cure for them of everything.”

Canfu (likely referring to either the city of Quanzhou or Guangzhou/Canton in China) is the Port for all the Ships and Goods of the Arabs who trade in China...Many declare that the Navigation is performed in the following order: Most of the Chinese ships take in their cargo at Siraf (on the Persian Gulf)...from thence [they] make sail for Oman, where they are supplied with Cattle... the ships take their departure for India, and first touch at Kaucammali, which is a month's sail from Mascat [Oman]...The Chinese ships pay here a thousand drams [a currency] for duties [taxes]...From thence they begin to enter the sea of Herkend [Bay of Bengal]... They then steer through the sea of Sanji, and so to the gates of China...When a ship has got through the before-mentioned gates, she goes with the flood tide into a fresh water gulf, and drops anchor in the chief port of China, which is called Canfu...The city is adorned with large squares, and is supplied with every thing necessary for defence against an enemy, and in most of the other provinces of the empire there are cities of strength similarly fortified.

In China they use a great quantity of copper money...the only current coin. Yet their emperor has treasures like other kings, containing abundance of gold and silver, with jewels, pearls, silk, and vast quantities of rich stuffs of all kinds, which are only considered as moveables or merchandize [trade items]; and from foreign commerce they derive ivory, frankincense, copper in bars, tortoise shell, and unicorns horns, with which they adorn their girdles. Of animals they have abundance, particularly of beasts of burden; such as oxen, horses, asses, and camels; but they have no Arabian horses. They have an excellent kind of earth, of which they make a species of ware equal in fineness to glass [porcelain]...When merchants arrive at Canfu, the Chinese seize their cargoes...they then detain thirty per cent as duty [tax], and return the rest to the merchants.

The Chinese are dressed in Silk both Winter and Summer; and this kind of dress is common to the Prince, Soldier, and to every other person [regardless of class]...they are not very nice in [terms] of cleanliness, and wash not with Water when they ease Nature [use the restroom], but only wipe themselves with paper [this practice would appear strange to Arabs, who used bidets, hand held water nozzles, to clean after using the restroom]...

There are no taxes imposed upon the lands, but all the men of the country are subject to a poll-tax in proportion to their substance [they pay according to their ability]. When any failure of crops makes necessaries dear, the king opens his store-houses to the people, and sells all sorts of necessities at much cheaper rates; by which means famine is prevented...If any person inclines to travel from one part of the country to another, he must have two passes along with him, one from the governor, and the other from the lieutenant. The governor's pass permits him to set out on his journey, and specifies the name of the traveller, and of all that are in his company, with their names and ages; for every person in China, whether native, Arab, or other foreigner, is obliged to make a full declaration of every thing he knows about himself...By this means they prevent any one from carrying off the money or effects of others, or the loss of their own goods in case of accident; so that if any thing has been taken away unjustly, or if the traveller should die on the road, it may be immediately known where the things are to be found, that they may be restored to the claimants, or to the heirs of the deceased.

Trade and the rise of new industries like iron smelting, along with agricultural improvements and the expansion of the Grand Canal, helped China's cities grow. Artisans and merchants formed guilds to oversee their trades, and government run paper and shipbuilding factories expanded. The Qingming Scroll, pictured here, was painted during the height of the Song Dynasty and shows daily life in Song China.

Sea trade during the Tang and Song Dynasties

Historian Fred Donner describes early Islamic conquests, which altered the trajectory of the Silk Roads. Many trade routes came under the control of the caliphates, which encouraged trade and respected merchants. By the time of the Abbasid Caliphate, the Islamic world extended from Spain to the outskirts of India.

During the conquest period the granting of gifts, which had been practiced by Muhammad, became more regularized. There was a system of direct salary payments ('ata-') to warriors serving in the Islamic armies. . . .Tribesmen in the Islamic armies who rebelled against the regime now did so at the cost of losing the stipends that the regime provided. Similarly, stipends were granted to some Persian nobles (dihqans) who cooperated with the Muslims in Iraq. In most cases, it appears that these individuals were required to embrace Islam in order to receive their stipend.

Many Arab tribesmen had fought as mercenaries during the early conquests; great wealth had been flowing into Arabia for decades, benefitting the Arabians, and the Arabs were already veteran soldiers. They had learned both Roman and Persian tactics and strategy and they were highly skilled...The Arabs were able to field armies of about 20,000 – 30,000 men, with a total force of closer to 200,000 by about 700 CE. They were Arabs from Arabia, Arabs who had settled in Syria and Palestine and were then recruited, and non-Arabs who converted and joined the armies.

The Khazars were a Turkic people who established an empire across present day southeastern Russia, Ukraine, Crimea and Kazakhstan. This empire extended across a major Silk Road artery connecting east and west, and it became one of the most important trade empires of the Middle Ages from 650 to 969 CE. In the 8th or 9th century, the Khazar rulers (called khagans) converted to Judaism. Jewish merchants had been drawn to the empire as it became a major trade center, and they were adept long distance traders and linguists, speaking the many languages of the Silk Roads. They used the many routes that crossed through Khazaria, likely introducing the Khazars to Judaism. Judaism was likely a political choice, as the rise of Islam butted heads with Christianity in the Byzantine Empire. The Khazars served as a sort of buffer state between the two and even held off the Muslim expanse into eastern Europe. But the trade riches of the Islamic world and the Silk Roads also attracted Vikings, known as Rus (for their red hair) into the regions around the Baltic and Caspian Seas, and their iconic longships allowed them to sail down the Volga and Dnieper Rivers, soon establishing a state, Kievan Rus. They were the fathers of Russia, and Rus would cause the downfall of Khazaria in 969 CE.

The following letter correspondence predates that fall by just a few years, and it gives insight into the Khazar state and its history, including conversion to Judaism. The correspondence is between Hasdai ibn Shaprut, sent by the Umayyad Caliphate in Spain, and King Joseph of Khazaria.

Hasdai's letter to King Joseph

I, Hasdai...belonging to the exiled Jews of Jerusalem in Sepharad [Spain], a servant of my lord the King, bow to the earth before him and prostrate myself towards the abode of your Majesty from a distant land. I rejoice in your tranquility and magnificence and stretch forth my hands to God in heaven that He may prolong your reign....

Praise be to the beneficent God for His mercy towards me! Kings of the earth, to whom his [ Abd-ar-Rahman's, the Umayyad caliph] magnificence and power are known, bring gifts to him, conciliating his favor by costly presents, such as the King of the Franks, the King of the Gebalim, who are Germans, the King of Constantinople, and others. All their gifts pass through my hands, and I am charged with making gifts in return. [Ibn Shaprut, who knew several languages, received embassies from European kings to the Umayyad caliph. They often brought gifts].

I always ask the ambassadors of these monarchs who bring gifts about our brethren the Israelites, the remnant of the captivity, whether they have heard anything concerning the deliverance of those who have languished in bondage and have found no rest. [He was anxious to know if the "Ten Lost Tribes" of Israel existed as an independent Hebrew state anywhere.]

At length mercantile emissaries of Khorasan [a land southeast of the Caspian Sea in modern north Iran] told me that there is a kingdom of Judah which is called al-Khazar. But I did not believe these words for I thought that they told me such things to procure my goodwill and favor. I was therefore wondering, till the ambassadors of Constantinople came [between 944 and 949] with presents and a letter from their king to our king, and I interrogated them concerning this matter,

They answered me: "It is quite true, and the name of that kingdom is al-Khazar. It is a fifteen days' journey by sea from Constantinople, but by land many nations intervene between us; the name of the king now reigning is Joseph; ships sometimes come from their country to ours bringing fish, skins, and wares of every kind [The Khazars, great traders, got many goods from the Rus to the north.] The men are our confederates and are honored by us; there is communication between us by embassies and mutual gifts; they are very powerful; they maintain numerous armies with which they occasionally engage in expeditions." When I heard this report I was encouraged, my hands were strengthened, and my hope was confirmed. Thereupon I bowed down and adored the God of heaven. [Hasdai was happy: Christians could no longer say the Jews were without a country as a punishment for their rejection of Jesus.]....

I pray for the health of my lord the King, of his family, and of his house, and that his throne may be established for ever. Let his days and his sons' days be prolonged in the midst of Israel!

Map of the Abbasid Caliphate

Da Huan represents a unique Silk Road story. He was captured at the Battle of Talas (751 CE)—a battle that featured a face off between two Silk Road powers: the Abbasid Caliphate and the Tang Dynasty. He journeyed through the Abbasid Caliphate before returning to China in 762 CE. Consider here the stereotypes or biases in parts of his writing.

"Everything produced from the earth is there in Baghdad]. Carts carry countless goods to markets, where everything is available and cheap: brocade [a rich fabric woven with a raised pattern], embroidered silks, pearls and other gems are displayed all over markets and along street shops.

...We also went to Molin [East or North Africa], southwest of Jerusalem. One could reach this country after having crossed the great desert of Sinai and having travelled 2,000 li (approx. 1000 km). The people there are black, and their customs are bold. There is little rice and cereals, with no grass and trees on this land. The horses are fed with dried fish, and the people eat Gumang. Gumang is a Persian date. Subtropical diseases [Malaria] are widespread. After crossing into the inland countries there is a mountainous country, which gathered a lot of confessions here. They have three confessions, the Arab (Islam), Byzantine (Christianity) and Zimzim (Judaism). The Zimzim practise incest, and in this respect are worst of all the barbarians. The followers under the confession of Arab have a means to denote in law, while not entangling the defendant's families or kins. They don't eat the meat of pigs, dogs, donkeys and horses; they don't respect either the king of the country, nor their parents; they don't believe in supernatural powers, perform only sacrifice to heaven (Allah) and to no one else. According to their customs, every seventh day is a holiday (Jumu'ah), on which no trade and no currency transactions are done, whereas when they drink alcohol, and behave in a ridiculous and undisciplined way during the whole day. Within the confession of the Byzantines, there are beneficent medical doctors who know diarrhea; they could either recognize the disease before its outbreak, or could remove the worms by opening the brain.

A description of Damascus, which had been the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate.

“There are three kinds of merchants: he who travels, he who stocks, he who exports. Their trade is carried out in three ways: cash sale with a time limit for delivery, purchase on credit with payments by installment, and muqaradah (in Islamic law a contract in which one individual entrusts capital to a merchant for investment in trade in order to receive a share of the profits). The investor bears all of the financial risks; the managing party risks his labor.”

This excerpt comes from Hayrettin Yücesoy's academic article "Translation as Self-Consciousness: Ancient Sciences, Antediluvian Wisdom, and the 'Abbāsid Translation Movement"

Merchants integrated Umayyad (661-750) and Abbãsid societies into the worldwide community in not only economic but also social, intellectual, and artistic life and fostered the growth of bustling urban centers. Circulation of caravans over land routes and merchant ships in the Indian Ocean expanded the trade network and contributed to dras-tic changes in human technology, habits, and diet across continents. With the wider production and distribution of an expanding range of products, the exploitation of new gold and silver resources, and the circulation of skills, scholars, artists, and artisans, commerce accelerated the change in material and intellectual life. Conversion, the expansion of urban life, social competition, and interaction in an empire whose Muslim part formed only a small percentage of a diverse population resulted in an immense social and communal diversification, material and cultural exchanges in many fields, as well as new arenas of com-petition for religious and cultural minorities to influence public life...Especially after the breakthrough in the local manufacture of paper, cross-cultural interaction manifested itself in the literary work that blossomed in the ninth century. Although political support by the caliphs and administrators since the late Umayyad times was crucial and essential, it could not have ignited what appears to be a conscious and sustained interest in ancient sciences had there not been a broader intellectual and ideological engagement in public life with translations.

Russia, which in the 9th century was Kievan Rus, is believed to have been settled by Varangians (also known as Vikings or Norsemen, from Scandinavia) who then assimilated to Slavic culture. According to the Primary Chronicle, the territories of the East Slavs in the 9th century were divided between the Varangians and the Khazars (a nomadic Turkic group), both of whom had migrated into the region. The chronicle states that Slavic and Finnic tribes drove them out of Novgorod (Russia), but they tribes had no laws and found themselves at war constantly.

"They said to themselves, "Let us seek a prince who may rule over us, and judge us according to the Law." They accordingly went overseas to the Varangian Rus'. … The Chuds, the Slavs, the Krivichs and the Ves then said to the Rus', "Our land is great and rich, but there is no order in it. Come to rule and reign over us". They thus selected three brothers with their kinfolk, who took with them all the Rus' and migrated.

— The Primary Chronicle

According to the chronicle, this story is the foundation of Rus. Varangians, or Vikings, were notorious traders, with their iconic Viking ships that traversed rivers like the Volga and Dnieper, which both fed into Silk Road regions. According to Persian traveler Ibn Rustah, who visited Kievan Rus, the Rus exploited the Slavs:

"As for the Rus, they live on an island ... that takes three days to walk round and is covered with thick undergrowth and forests; it is most unhealthy. ... They harry the Slavs, using ships to reach them; they carry them off as slaves and…sell them. They have no fields but simply live on what they get from the Slav's lands. ... When a son is born, the father will go up to the newborn baby, sword in hand; throwing it down, he says, "I shall not leave you with any property: You have only what you can provide with this weapon."

— Ibn Rustah

10th century Persian traveler Ibn Rustah visited Novgorod and described the enslavement of the Slavs by the Rus (the origins of the word slave comes from Slav). Slavic slaves were often sold to merchants in the Middle East and as far as Central Asia.

"As for the Rus, they live on an island ... that takes three days to walk round and is covered with thick undergrowth and forests; it is most unhealthy. ... They harry [attack] the Slavs, using ships to reach them; they carry them off as slaves and…sell them. They have no fields but simply live on what they get from the Slav's lands. ... When a son is born, the father will go up to the newborn baby, sword in hand; throwing it down, he says, "I shall not leave you with any property: You have only what you can provide with this weapon."

Sinbad the Sailor, a tale from One Thousand a One Night (also known as Arabian Nights), tells of an Abbasid era sailor from Baghdad named Sinbad who journeys through the Indian Ocean, visiting India and Sri Lanka. It is a fictional tale but is based on the experiences of Abbasid era merchants and sailors, revealing much about trade during this period. This excerpt comes from his first journey, when he befriends the king (called a maharaja). He desires to return home and is able to sell the goods he acquired on his journey through India.

Being a merchant, I frequented men of my own profession, and particularly inquired for those who were strangers, that perchance I might hear news from Bagdad, or find an opportunity to return. For the maharaja's capital is situated on the seacoast, and has a fine harbor, where ships arrive daily from the different quarters of the world. I frequented also the society of the learned Indians, and took delight to hear them converse...I took out what was most valuable in my bales, and presented them to the maharaja, who, knowing my misfortune, asked me how I came by such rarities. I acquainted him with the circumstance of their recovery. He was pleased at my good luck, accepted my present, and in return gave me one much more considerable. Upon this I took leave of him, and went aboard the same ship after I had exchanged my goods for the commodities of that country. I carried with me wood of aloes, sandals, camphor, nutmegs, cloves, pepper, and ginger.

One of the astonishing things that is talked of is that though the fires of discord burn between the two parties, Muslim and Christian, two armies of them may meet and dispose themselves in battle array, and yet Muslim and Christian travellers will come and go between them without interference. When the Sultan laid siege to Jerusalem, long the siege lasted, but still the caravans passed successively from Egypt to Damascus, going through the lands of the Franks [Western Europeans] without impediment from them. In the same way the Muslims continuously journeyed from Damascus to Acre (through Frankish territory), and likewise not one of the Christian merchants was stopped or hindered (in Muslim territories). The Christians impose a tax on the Muslims in their land which gives them full security; and likewise the Christian merchants pay a tax upon their goods in Muslim lands. Agreement exists between them, and there is equal treatment in all cases. The soldiers engage themselves in their war, while the people are at peace and the world goes to him who conquers.

The following is a list of taxes of the kingdom of Jerusalem. The list of articles taxed forms an excellent index of the character of the commerce conducted by the Mediterranean powers of the time. Most of these goods originated outside of Jerusalem and were transited through Muslim controlled trade routes, especially through the port of Egypt.

1. The old duties command that one should take at the custom house for the sale of silk for every hundred Besants, 8 Besants and 19 Karoubles, [Henceforth the coins are indicated by B and k] as duty.

2. For the duties oil cotton the rule commands that one should take per hundred, 10 B. and 18 K. as duties.

3. For the duties of pepper the rule commands that one should take per hundred, 11 B. and 5 K. as duties.

4. For cinnamon the rule commands that one should take per hundred 10 B. and 18 K. as duties.

5. For wool the rule commands that one should take per hundred B., 11 B. and 10 K. as taxes.

6. For the duties of alum the rule commands that one should take per hundred, 11 B. and 5 K. as duties.

7. For the duty on varnish the rule commands that one should take per hundred, 10 B. and 18 K. as duty.

8. For the duties on nutmegs or on nutmeg leaves, the rule commands that one should take as duty per hundred B. 8 B. and 1/3 by law.

9. Of flax the rule commands that one should take per hundred, 8 B. and 8 K. as duty.

10. For the duties upon cloves and the leaves of cloves the rule commands that one should take per hundred, 9 B. and 1/3 by law.

11. For the duties on Indian hens one should take the tenth.

12. For the wares which are brought by sea from the coast of Syria and which cannot be sold the rule is that they can be withdrawn and taken out of the country, but if the merchandise which cannot be sold be taken out beyond the chain they must be paid per hundred for as much as may then be in the country 8.B., per hundred, and for that which may have been sold duty must be paid to the custom house according that which is established for each kind and which one would have to pay. And be it understood that these duties shall be paid by the Saracens [Muslims] and by all the Syrians who may come with wares into this kingdom.

King Richard I of England, also known as Richard the Lionheart, led the Third Crusade. Here he describes the goods taken from a Muslim trade caravan during the Crusade. It is indicative of the types of goods carried from Asia to Europe at this time. The Crusades helped expose Europeans to the lucrative items and innovations of Asia and the Near East.

By this defeat the pride of the Turks was entirely cast down, and their boldness effectually repressed; whilst the caravan, with all its riches, became the spoil of the victors. Its guards surrendered to our soldiers themselves, their beasts of burden, and sumpter horses; and stretching forth their hands in supplication, they implored [begged] for mercy, on condition only that their lives should be spared. They led the yoked horses and camels by the halter, and offered them to our men, and they brought mules loaded with spices of different kinds, and of great value; gold and silver; cloaks of silk; purple and scarlet robes, and variously-ornamented apparel, besides arms and weapons of divers forms; coats of mail, commonly called gasiganz [armor]; costly cushions, pavilions, tents, biscuit, bread. barley, grain, meal, and a large quantity of conserves and medicines; basins, bladders, chess-boards; silver dishes and candlesticks; pepper, cinnamon, sugar, and wax; and other valuables of choice and various kinds; an immense sum of money, and an incalculable quantity of goods, such as had never before (as we have said) been taken at one and the same time, in any former battle.

The author, a Southern Song official named Zhao Rukuo (or Zhao Rugua, 1170-1231), composed this text in 1224-1225 based on information gathered from earlier Chinese sources and from foreign merchants whom he had interviewed. He had never traveled out of south China, but was stationed in the major port city of Quanzhou as a supervisor of maritime trade.

The local ruler wraps himself in plain cloth and goes barefoot. The people cut their hair and also wrap themselves in plain cloth. The land produces ivory, rhinoceros horn, su and zhan agarwood, sheng agarwood, and camphor. Foreign merchants who come to this country can trade with rice wine, rice, silk resist-dyed in the lily pond pattern, and porcelain ware. They must first calculate the value of their product in gold and silver, and then engage in barter at fixed rates. For example, one deng of rice wine is worth a tael of silver and two gold coins; two deng of rice is worth a tael of silver, and ten deng is worth a tael of gold; and so on...This country presents tribute to Sanfoqi (the Kingdom of Srivijaya) yearly.

The country of Foluoan (West coast of Malaysia) can be reached by sea in four days from Lingyasijia (Langkasuka), but one can also go by land...It has two Buddha images that are claimed to have flown there; one has six arms and the other four. When enemy ships try to enter this country, they are always blown back by the wind, and the local people say this is due to the power of the Buddhas. The Buddhist temple is roofed with bronze tiles and decorated with gold. They celebrate the fifteenth day of the sixth month as the Buddha's birthday, holding large processions with music and cymbals. Foreign merchants participate in these processions too.

The land produces su and zhan agarwood, lakawood, sandalwood, and ivory. Foreign merchants who come to this country can trade with gold, silver, porcelain, iron, lacquer ware, rice wine, rice, sugar, and wheat. This country sends tribute to Sanfoqi (Srivijaya) once a year.

In Sunda the people also engage in agriculture. They build all their houses using wooden piles and make the roofs with palm tree bark. The flooring is made with wooden boards, and the partitions are made of woven rattan. Both the men and women go naked except for a cotton garment wrapped around the waist, and cut their hair short to a length of half an inch.

The mountains in this country produce black pepper. The peppercorns are small but heavy and are superior to those in Daban ( Tuban ). The land produces wax gourds , sugar cane, calabash , and eggplants...The country of Jianbi (Kampar, Malaysia) is at an intersection of trade routes, so many merchant ships anchor there. It can be reached by sail from Sanfoqi (Srivijaya) within half a month. It used to belong to Sanfoqi, but later because of war, it installed its own king. The land produces tin, ivory, and pearls.

[Malacca] This country has two temples, one called "Holy Buddha" and one called "Self-sacrifice." When the king leaves his palace, he rides an elephant or a litter, attended by five to seven hundred armed warriors. The people of this country sit down when they see the king and stand up only after he has passed...There are officials...They manage state affairs together like chief ministers in the Central Lands [Song China]...Below them are three hundred or more scribes to whom are delegated the administration of the cities, state treasury, granaries, and army...The army has 30,000 troops who are also paid varying amounts of gold each year.

They do not set penalties for most crimes. The guilty party simply redeems himself by paying a fine in gold, the amount of which depends on the seriousness of the crime. Only robbery is punished with death...Their houses are grand and decorated with gold and jade. Visiting merchants are housed in guesthouses. Their diet is rich and attentive to cleanliness. When ill, they do not take medicine but only pray to gods and Buddhas. They have a long running feud with Srivijaya...This land pays tribute to the Central Lands [China]...This country's land is flat and well-suited for agriculture. It produces rice, hemp, millet, and beans but no wheat. They use water buffaloes for ploughing. The people pay a tenth of their produce as tax. They make salt by boiling sea water. The land abounds in fish, soft-shelled turtles, chickens, ducks, and goats.

Foreign merchants who come here trade with a mixture of gold and silver, as well as gold and silver vessels, five-colored resist-dyed silk, black damask, chuanxiong , angelica , cinnabar, melanterite , alum , borax , arsenic frost , lacquer ware, iron tripods, and blue and white porcelain ware. This foreign country exports large amounts of black pepper. Chinese maritime merchants, drawn by the prospect of big profits, often violate our government's law against the export of copper cash and smuggle it out for trading purposes.

Note: In Tang and Song times, the Chinese referred to the Arab Muslim caliphate and its various sultanates and emirates as Dashi, derived from the Middle Persian word for "Arab."

This country is militarily strong and its territory is large. The people are the most extravagant among all foreign countries. They prize felt [oriental] rugs . The capital city is called Mixuli (referring to Cairo, Egypt). It occupies a strategic position among foreign countries. Among the officials of this country there are chancellors who wear gold armor and helmets, carry jeweled swords, and stand on the king's left and right to protect him. The other officials are called grand marshals ( taiwei ). Each commands more than 20,000 troops. Their horses are seven feet tall and have iron shoes. The soldiers are valorous and their martial prowess is unmatched.

The city's streets are more than fifty feet wide. In the middle of each street is a roadway twenty feet wide and four feet deep that is used for camels, horses, and oxen carrying goods. On either side are sidewalks paved with bluish-black stone slabs of exquisite quality; these are for the convenience of pedestrians. The people's homes are like those of the Central Lands, except for their roofs, which are made of thin stone slabs rather than tiles. The people's staple food is rice and other grains, but they are fond of mutton steamed with thin strips of dough. The poor eat fish, vegetables, and fruits; their fruits are all sweet, not sour. They use grape juice to make wine. They also make sisu wine, which is grape wine heated with sugar and spices , and a very warming wine called meisidahua that is made with honey and spices . The richest families use measuring cups, not scales, when buying things with gold and silver. The marketplaces are noisy and crowded, filled with gold, silver, damask, brocade, and the like. Their artisans are all extremely skilled in their respective arts.

The king, his ministers, and the common people all worship Heaven, as well as a Buddha called Maxiawu. Every seven days, they cut their hair and fingernails. They fast and recite scriptures for a month at the beginning of the year, and worship Heaven five times a day. [Again, he is confusing religions here, this time describing Islam as a form of Buddhism. It was common in Song times for Chinese writers to assume all religions were some form of Buddhism.]

The peasants in this country can plant crops without any fear of floods or droughts. There is a river running down from the mountains whose water suffices for irrigation. The products of this land include pearls, ivory, rhinoceros horn, frankincense, ambergris , costus , cloves, nutmeg, benzoin, aloe, myrrh, dragon's blood , asafetida, civet oil, borax, opaque glass, transparent glass, giant clams, coral trees (i.e., red coral), cat's eye gems, champak flowers, rosewater, oak nut galls , beeswax, soft brocade with gold weave, camel-hair cloth, Tūla cotton, and exotic satin. The foreign merchants who trade in them export them...

The country of Cengba (Zanzibar)...its people are all clans of the Dashi (Arab) people and follow the Dashi religion (Islam). They wrap themselves in blue cotton cloth and wear red leather shoes. Their daily diet consists of rice, flour dumplings, baked flatbread, and mutton. Their villages are nestled deep in hills and forests. The weather is warm, with no cold season.

The land produces ivory, gold ore, ambergris, and yellow sandalwood. Every year, the coastal regions of Huchala (Gujarat) and Dashi (the Arab world) send ships to trade with this country, using white cotton cloth, porcelain ware, red copper (gold-copper alloy), and red kapok.

The country of Bipaluo (Somalia) is made up of villages ruled by local strongmen...They worship Heaven and do not worship the Buddha (they are Muslims). This land has many camels and sheep. They produce ambergris, the tusks of large elephants, and the horns of large rhinoceroses. Some of the elephant tusks weigh more than a hundred catties (about 140 lbs) and the rhinoceros horns weigh more than ten catties (about 14 lbs). Merchants from every country go there to trade for tortoiseshell. In Dashi (the Arab world), only this country produces frankincense (used for incense).

Italian city-states benefited greatly from the Crusades, in part because they became the bankers and financiers of the popes and kings involved in the Crusades. They also benefited from the increased trade in the Mediterranean and Black seas. Genoa and Venice were able to acquire colonies in the Holy Land. Colonies of Genoa and Venice in Palestine took on agricultural ventures in their concessions, especially sugar for export to Europe. Sugar manufacturing began in Tyre [Lebanon]. Sugar cane had been introduced in Palestine by the Arabs, and William of Tyre stated sugar was "very necessary for the use and health of mankind." Italian colonists utilized slaves or serfs of Arab or Syrian origin, or local serfs, to work the sugar fields. This sugar exploitation system could be considered a precursor to the sugar plantations in the Atlantic and later in the Americas.

Silk continued to be one of the most valued commodities on the Silk Road. Even though Nestorian Christian monks had smuggled silk making secrets into the Byzantine Empire around 550 CE, Chinese silk was still the superior, and preferred, silk. This silk textile from the 8th or 9th century shows the famous horses of Central Asia.

The colossal Buddha, located in present day Afghanistan, played an important role in the diffusion of the Buddha image throughout East Asia. Built in the 6th century, its huge size (175 ft.) impressed travelers like Xuanzang. Some probably took home small “souvenir” replicas of the statue. Because of this, its appearance and style influenced Buddhist sculpture in China and Japan. Unfortunately it was destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

The Tang emperors expanded China's influence over several tribute states, including Kashmir, Nepal, Khotan, Kucha, Kashgar, Japan, Korea, and Champa (present day Vietnam). As the Silk Roads continued to thrive, kingdoms sent envoys to China to pay tribute.

A map of the Church of the East (Nestorian Church) in the Middle Ages.

Archaeologists have found an abundance of silk in Viking graves, indicating their participation in long distance trade. Silk has been found at Viking sites in Scandinavian countries as well as in Russia, which was settled by Vikings in the 9th and 10th centuries. Studies indicate that much of the silk was bought directly from Persia, but the Byzantine Empire could have also been a source of some of the silk.

One of the first references to the Sogdians dates to the fifth century BCE. They were known for their importance on the trade routes that crisscrossed Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Japan. The Sogdian homeland, in present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, was famous for its bountiful oases that served as crucial stopovers between expansive deserts and rugged mountains.

The Sogdians traded silk from China, horses from Uzbekistan, gemstones from India, musk from Tibet, and furs from the northern steppes. Skilled artisans, they made and sold luxurious objects, particularly metalwork and textiles, across the Asian steppe and into China. They also exported fashions, dances, and music traditions. In addition to serving as diplomats and translators, the Sogdians were instrumental in spreading Buddhism, Christianity, and Manichaeism, a dualistic Iranian religion founded in the third century CE. The Sogdians largely disappeared by the eighth century, and their language, architecture, and history were lost to time.

Paper, which is a mat of cellulose fibers that have been beaten in water and collected on a screen and dried, was invented in China before the 1st century BCE. Buddhist monks and missionaries, who started using paper for copying sutras and other Buddhist writings, carried paper and papermaking from China to Korea, Japan and Central Asia on their way to India. Paper was unknown in the Near East and Mediterranean until the coming of Islam. Muslim merchants and trade links helped bring paper to the West, especially since it could be used to make copies of the Quran. Papermaking first appeared in Baghdad in the 8th century. From Iraq, papermaking was carried to Syria, then Egypt, across North Africa to Morocco and eventually to Spain, where its use there is first recorded by a tenth-century traveler. The first sheets of “Arab” paper appear in Spanish Christian manuscripts of the late tenth century. Paper facilitated the spread of knowledge, coinciding with Islam's [and China's] golden age of science, literature and innovation.

The Arab physician al-Zahrawi is known as "the father of surgery." He described the first mastectomy to treat breast cancer and performed the first thyroidectomy. He also compiled a medical texts of almost 300 medical instruments and their uses. Scholar Ibn Sina published The Canon of Medicine, which details hundreds of diseases and treatments. It was used by medical students in Europe for hundreds of years. Arabic translations of ancient Greek medical texts, especially those of Galen and Hippocrates, helped Europe "rediscover" Hellenic medicine.

Al-Jahiz wrote numerous books on animals and even wrote what some scholars consider to be an early account of evolution and natural selection. His Book of the Animals is a seven volume encyclopedia of descriptions and proverbs describing over 350 species of animals. His passage describing struggle for existence among animals is considered by some to be an early description of natural selection:

"The rat goes out for its food, and is clever in getting it, for it eats all animals inferior to it in strength", and in turn, it "has to avoid snakes and birds and serpents of prey, who look for it in order to devour it" and are stronger than the rat. Mosquitos "know instinctively that blood is the thing which makes them live" and when they see an animal, "they know that the skin has been fashioned to serve them as food". In turn, flies hunt the mosquito "which is the food that they like best", and predators eat the flies. "All animals, in short, can not exist without food, neither can the hunting animal escape being hunted in his turn. Every weak animal devours those weaker than itself. Strong animals cannot escape being devoured by other animals stronger than they. And in this respect, men do not differ from animals, some with respect to others, although they do not arrive at the same extremes. In short, God has disposed some human beings as a cause of life for others, and likewise, he has disposed the latter as a cause of the death of the former."

To avoid having to carry thousands of strings of coins long distances, merchants in late Tang times (c. 900 CE) started trading receipts from deposit shops where they had left money or goods. In the 1120s, the Song Dynasty government took over the system, producing the world’s first government-issued paper money. Paper money would later catch on in the west.

We call nice dinnerware “china” for a reason. Song kilns produced many kinds of cups, bowls, and plates, as well as boxes, ink slabs, and pillows (headrests). Some kilns could produce as many as 20,000 objects a day for sale at home and abroad. Porcelain, along with silk, was in high demand all over the world.

Pi Sheng of the Song Dynasty invented movable type printing long before Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press first appeared in Europe in the 1400s. Sheng's printing methods improved on earlier printing from the Tang Dynasty. Movable type printing allowed large numbers of texts to be published, contributing to a growing literacy rate. Large numbers of Confucian texts were printed, along with poems, literary works, and guides for things like agriculture and medicine.

Spillings Hoard is the largest Viking treasure found, consisting of 14,295 coins in Gotland, a island off the coast of Sweden. Of the 14,295 coins found, 14,200 were Islamic dirhams, four were Nordic, one was Byzantine and 23 were from Persia. The earliest, a Persian coin, dates from 539 and the latest from 870. Most were hidden under the floorboards of a Viking house sometime during the 9th century.

The Tea Horse Road was a network of caravan trade routes that were part of the Silk Roads. They linked China and South Asia and were instrumental in the spread of Buddhism. Its name comes from the fact that the Chinese would often trade tea for ponies in Tibet. Horses were instrumental in fighting nomads who often threatened China's borders.

Geometric patterns inside St. Barabara Church

The Cathedral of Ani