TRAVEL & EXPLORATION Travellers and explorers have also played a considerable part in promoting contact and exchange between the different cultures of the Old World. It is difficult to categorically define the motivations that induce people to want to travel or explore, for the reasons are as varied as the individuals themselves. But there were some general motives common to many travellers and explorers. Some were searching for new trade routes or markets; some sought to spread religious ideas or convert other peoples; others set out to claim new lands for their nation; and there were those who were simply curious as to what lay over the horizon. The examples that follow illustrate some of these motives and also show how travel and exploration have made an impact on the course of history in the Old World. Alexander the Great wanted to expand the frontiers of his realm and the frontiers of knowledge in the Hellenistic world. When he set out to conquer Persia, he did not just take an army with him. He also employed land surveyors, miners, and scribes to record natural resources and the character and products of villages and towns. It was curiosity as well as desire for conquest that led Alexander to march with his forces beyond the defeated Persian Empire and explore the frontiers of India. This military venture became an exploratory expedition as well, and greatly enlarged the Hellenistic worldview. It also brought many different regions between the Greek mainland and the region of present-day Afghanistan into contact with each other. As Rome expanded, it established new frontiers in order to defend old ones. Exploration was undertaken mostly for the purposes of military reconnaissance. But as trade grew, Roman merchants and their agents searched for new opportunities. They became increasingly familiar with the coastal regions of Arabia and India, and they even made contact with the Chinese silk trade. In East Asia during the 2nd century BCE, the Chinese traveller Chang Ch’ien was sent by the Emperor Wu Ti of the Han dynasty to contact the Yuechi, a Chinese tribe which had been driven into Central Asia by the Huns. He completed his mission and returned to China, but only after enduring years of captivity with the Huns, who had captured him en route. His travels helped China to set up agencies in regions of Central and Western Asia that in turn did much to open up the silk routes. Chinese envoys even managed to reach Persia. With the advent of Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, numerous individuals undertook self-imposed or officially sanctioned missions of travel or exploration in order to spread their faith. This process worked in reverse as well, as many converts, in turn, often went on pilgrimages to the birthplace of their new faith. Christians travelled to sites in Europe and the Holy Land, and countless Muslims, in order to fulfil a requirement of their faith, undertook (and still undertake) the pilgrimage to Mecca – the birthplace of the prophet Mohammed. The existence of a branch of Christianity in Central Asia, known as Nestorianism, may have helped inspire European legends of a powerful Christian kingdom in Asia, ruled by a priest-king known as Prester John. Many medieval European explorers of Central Asia set out with the purpose of locating this ultimately mythical realm. The Search for the Imaginary Kingdom of Prester John Many of the greatest individual travellers of the Old World during the Middle Ages, such as the Moroccan Ibn Battuta and the Venetian Marco Polo, set out in order to satisfy their own curiosity about other parts of the world. Others, such as Franciscan friar John de Plano Carpini, undertook journeys that also served political purposes. For instance, in 1245 CE, Carpini was sent by the Pope as a personal representative to the Great Khan of the Mongols. His account of his travels, the Book of the Tartars, was one of the earliest European descriptions of Asia. The Travels of Ibn Battuta Marco Polo John de Plano Carpini Written accounts by such travellers as Carpini, Ibn Battuta, and Marco Polo brought knowledge of other lands and cultures to increasingly wider audiences. As the peoples of the Old World became more aware of each other through the medium of travel, cross-cultural exchange inevitably increased.

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Old World Contacts / The Applied History Research Group / The University of Calgary
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