Place
Oasis and jade-trading centre used here to represent the reconstructed southern route around the Taklamakan Desert.
1271–1295
Marco Polo travelled with his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo from Venice through the eastern Mediterranean, Iran, Central Asia, and the Mongol-ruled Silk Road networks to Kublai Khan’s court. Years later, the Polos accompanied Kököchin’s maritime escort from China toward Persia and continued home to Venice.
399–412
The Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian travelled overland through Central Asia into northern India in search of authoritative monastic texts, studied at major Buddhist centres, and returned to China by merchant ships through Sri Lanka and Java.
629–645
The monk and scholar Xuanzang left Tang China for Central and South Asia, crossed the Tian Shan and Hindu Kush, studied for years at Nalanda and other Buddhist centres, and returned with manuscripts that transformed Buddhist scholarship in East Asia.