Along The Silk Road: Marco Polo and Sir Aurel Stein - Essay Example

Student’s Name] [Instructor’s Name] [Class] Along the Silk Road Introduction The Silk Road was more than a passageway through desserts and treacherous mountains as a means for commerce between the East and the West. It was a channel through which ideas could be shared and the exchange of ideas between civilizations led to some developments and changes on both sides1. However, it might be difficult to say that the travels done by Marco Polo and Sir Aurel Stein had a decisive cultural impact since the cultures they were coming from had very strong foundations to begin with. Nevertheless, the ideas brought back with them certainly impacted their home countries and to better understand this impact it is important to examine them in detail. Marco Polo Perhaps the most famous of all Silk Road travelers was the Venetian trader named Marco Polo who gained fame within his lifetime for the wonders that he saw and brought back with him after his worldwide travels2. Through trade and avoiding wars, he with his father and his uncle travelled across the known world to meet Kublai Khan who was the grandson of Genghis Khan. The purpose of his journey had many aspects but the primary one had always been trade since his family had made their riches based on trade3. While it was the second time his father and uncle were meeting Kublai Khan, Marco met him for the first time when he was 17 and the Khan was quite taken by the young man. Although they had not brought Christian missionaries with them, they did bring gifts for Kublai Khan. However, Kublai seems to be most interested in Marco Polo and was quite reluctant to send them back from his court. The Polos were more or less forced to spend 17 years in China as Kublai Khan sent the Polos on several diplomatic engagements throughout his empire. These were carried out by Marco Polo and his family and thus it improved the level of interaction which Marco had with different people in China4. Cultural Interaction Throughout their stay, the Polos wanted to return to Europe several times but Kublai Khan kept refusing to give them permission to go. This permission was given only in 1291 and the Polos took the journey back to Europe over sea and land visiting places such as Sri Lanka and India. When he eventually got back to Europe, the tales of his travels were met with disbelief and China remained a wonderland to the Europeans who had never seen or heard such tales before5. His travelogue actually became a successful book long before the printing press was to be invented. Marco Polo was certainly not the first European to reach or trade with China but the amount of time he spent in China along with the details he recorded about China certainly made him without equal. His travels took him over and above what other Europeans such as Friar Julian and William of Rubruck had accomplished6. These travels were later recounted by him in the book called The Travels of Marco Polo which contained wondrous accounts of the court and his travels at large. Before books could be in widespread publication through a printing press, this manuscript had become a popular and famous title in the 13th century. As then, some scholars today take the book with a grain of salt and some even consider it to be a work of fiction since there are individuals who believe that Marco Polo never actually went to the court of Kublai Khan. It is entirely possible that the accounts given by Marco Polo were mere recollection of stories which he had heard from other travelers and the book itself was not written by Marco’s hand since Rustichello da Pisa wrote it down from accounts which he had heard Marco Polo give to him7. Therefore, when it comes to his impact on the cultural development of his home country as well as the rest of Europe, it was his tale of adventure and untold riches which prompted other explorers and travelers to seek out new worlds. Christopher Columbus and other explorers were indeed impressed by Marco Polo’s accounts which caused them to find out different trade routes and look for other places in the world where glory could be found8. The age of exploration and the age of discovery thus owe a lot to Marco Polo and his family. Inspirational Influence However, Marco Polo did not change the culture of his home country or even influence the culture of Europe to a great extent. He did not bring great changes to the music, drama, literature or even the scientific development of Europe since the advances which the Chinese had made were not really developed or further expanded upon by the people who heard and read about his travel. His influence was perhaps more inspirational rather than revolutionary. In fact, his overall role toward cultural change in Europe can be seen of that as a catalyst since he influenced other explorers and caused some changes to the rate of exploration as sea routes and land routes became more open for traders and explorers as well as Christian missionaries. To say that this was a decisive impact on the culture of Europe or even Venice itself would perhaps be considered an exaggeration. Sir Aurel Stein Less famous than Marco Polo but perhaps the greatest European explorer of the 20th century, Sir Marc Aurel Stein was a British national who travelled across the Silk Road on three expeditions following the footsteps of other travelers such as Marco Polo and Xuanzang9. He conducted his travels on foot and over land when trade was mostly conducted via the sea and undertook his first expedition at the age of forty. In the expedition he uncovered tablets and archeological artifacts which helped bring about a greater understanding of the development and history of the region10. These discoveries certainly influenced the British government in India and a renewed interest in the region was created by Sir Aurel. The government funded his next trip to the region and other global powers of the time also realized that a great number of treasures could be found along the Silk Road11. This was a time when an international race started to get to the treasures of lost civilizations between French, German, Spanish and Portuguese explorers. Even Japanese explorers came to China to look for lost treasures and mark their archaeological finds across the Silk Road12. More Robber Less Baron What Stein is most famous or infamous for is his second expedition which took him to Dunhuang where he managed to smuggle away thousands of ancient documents written in Chinese, Sanskrit, Tibetan and Runic Turkish. He also found ancient Buddhist paintings and the oldest printed document in the world. This confirmed his reputation as a treasure hunter and his third expedition became even more dangerous as the Chinese government wanted to stop his unchecked plundering of ancient artifacts13. Throughout his journeys, Stein continued to send massive quantities of written material as well as other finds from the region back to the British National Museum which became a treasure trove of ancient Buddhist and Chinese cultures. In essence, his influence upon the Chinese culture was little more than a baron robber while his influence on the British culture made the West out to be looters and plunderers of national treasures14. However, he did force a change upon the very nature of the Silk Road itself. From being a pathway to trade and cultural exchange, the Silk Road became a pathway to history as historians became more interested in what happened to the Silk Road and how it changed during different periods of time. The Chinese government also noted the interest which Europeans had suddenly developed in the history of China and forbade further explorations of their lands while Britain and the British Raj in India continued to support their explorers15. Influence Today Marcus reports that, “Sir Aurel Stein sent home more than 40,000 relics from his explorations round Asia, most of which are still in the UK”16. However, this situation can also be viewed from the Chinese side of things which makes him “Either one of history's heroes, or one of its greatest plunderers17”. In fact, it raises the question if the treasures gathered by explorers from around the world should be sent back to their originating countries or not. The relevance of this question is perhaps the lasting legacy and influence of Sir Aurel since he is the man primarily responsible for bringing the cultural treasures of China to the vaults of the Museums in Britain18. While his work may be celebrated and appreciated in the western world, he is often remembered in a very negative light by the nations who lost their heritage due to his action. In fact, his acts are likened to the taking away of the Elgin Marbles which were taken by European explorers from the temple of the Parthenon in the 19th century19. As other artifacts from various nations remain in the British Museum, so does the loot gathered by Sir Aurel. The western world may have claimed that they are the guardians of the world’s civilization as they have the expertise in handling and caring for ancient artifacts but today that expertise is more or less universal. UNESCO has encouraged and asked nations to return the artifacts they have to the country of origin but that encouragement has certainly not had the desired effect as of yet20. The British Museum maintains that Sir Aurel wanted these treasures to be examined by experts in the field so that they could be preserved for future generations. Undoubtedly, entire volumes have been created on Chinese history solely due to the discoveries which he had made about Chinese History and this is certainly a credit to him. However, the delicacy of the objects he gathered is such that many of them remain hidden only for experts to view in the vaults of the museum. It is often questioned if having those objects today in terms of physical possession is even important since the age of digitization allows us to preserve perfect digital copies of the same objects21. Perhaps it is time we recognize Sir Aurel influence on the western culture as he created a culture of historic discovery and the use of original historical documents to produce the story of civilization. He found ancient tombs, rediscovered lost languages, helped to preserve delicate artifacts which might have been otherwise lost and gave a tremendous amount of information about ancient civilizations to the modern world22. However, it is also time to understand that the materials taken by Sir Aurel or other explorers of his age need to be returned to their original owners or kept by giving reciprocal artifacts so that the world at large can share our collective heritage. As of yet, the Chinese authorities have not asked for these artifacts to be returned but undoubtedly, there will be a time when they do23. Much as India or Pakistan ask for their historical relics which rightfully belong to them. Perhaps then the full realization of Sir Aurel’s impact on our culture will become clear as a culture which seeks to create and preserve knowledge rather than a culture which seeks to plunder whatever it can and has no sympathy for the world. Conclusion When it comes to Marco Polo, it seems that his influence on culture was mostly ethereal and inspirational since he pushed Europe into the age of exploration which led to quite a few cultural and social developments in later ages. However, the influence of Sir Aurel is yet to manifest itself fully and perhaps it will become very clear to us once decisions have been made regarding the return of the cultural artifacts back to their rightful owners. Works Cited Hart, H. 1967, Marco Polo, Venetian Adventurer, University of Oklahoma Press. Larner, J. 1999, Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World, Yale University Press. Marcus, G. 2003, ‘The original Chinese takeaway’, [Online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3190360.stm Whitfield, S. 2004, Aurel Stein On The Silk Road, Serindia. Read More