ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTIQUITIES In eastern Iran, i.e., Sogdiana, Bactria (including Gandhara, or the north-west corner of the Punjab), in Chorasmia, Mery and Seistan, lie the keys to the problems of early Iranian culture and its influence on the culture of India and China. Again, southern Siberia contains antiquities, which will, undoubtedly, reveal some day the still obscure relations between its nomad "Scythian" inhabitants, the Pontus and China.
Excepting the work done in Gandhara, the only scientific ex cavations on a larger scale have been made in eastern or Chinese Turkistan, a bowl-shaped depression hemmed in on all sides ex cept the east by enormous mountain-chains with difficult passes, and in the east approached through the Gobi desert. The only safe trade routes between China and the Hellenistic Orient passed through the rich oases along the northern and the southern margin of the bowl. By them the silks of China reached the West and the products of the Hellenistic Orient, of Iran, of India, and the Buddhist religion, the most powerful propagator of Indian religious thought and of modified Hellenistic art, reached China and the Far East.
These routes were of the highest importance to China, and whenever a vigorous dynasty ruled that country, they were regu larly protected by military garrisons.
There had been in the Neolithic age a movement of peoples, which can be studied in the pottery they left behind them. The Swedish geologist, Prof. Gunnar Andersson, discovered in Kansu, Honan and S. Manchuria specimens of a rather advanced cerami cal art, showing peculiar ornaments in red and white, or in black and white of a type unknown in China but similar to articles found in Moldavia, Scythia in Europe, as well as in Transcaspia, Baby lonia and Susa in Persia. These finds show, that before the 3rd century B.C. a stream of higher culture elements reached China from the north-west, along this great culture corridor. (See CHINA, Archaeology, and EUROPE, Archaeology, Eastern Europe.) Along the northern declivity of the Tien Shan mountains, where even to-day the presence of grass and water permits the nomad Kirghiz and Kalmuks to rear their flocks, are found burial mounds or kurghans, capped, in many instances, with rude stone sculptures of men holding a drinking vessel in their hands. These sculptures resemble similar statues from the Crimea, from the districts now comprised under the name of southern Russia. The German expeditions saw many of them on their way to eastern Turkistan through southern Siberia, but could not acquire any, the Kirghiz and Kalmuk considering them as objects of venera tion. It was not possible to observe whether they wore the curi ous strings attaching their boots of soft leather to the belt, an ar rangement occurring in several such sculptures from Scythia in Europe in the Berlin museum, and again in the wall-paintings from Turfan, mainly where red-haired, blue-eyed men of European aspect are depicted. They are not worn by the Persians there depicted, and this trifling ethnographical indicium supports the belief that at one time the ruling class, the Tokharians, in the eastern oasis of eastern Turkistan, were a Scythian race.
These races were probably, in the main, of Iranian stock, but may have included other tribes of the Indo-European family, following their mode of life and imbued with their culture, such as the Tokharians, whose language was found in Central Asia. We need not suppose any Turkish tribes were among the ancient Scythians of Europe before the arrival of the Huns, who, having absorbed, probably, many of the Siberian Scyths on their road through Central Asia to Europe, had accepted, to a certain de gree, many of the arts and the cultures of these conquered tribes; the old Iranian allies of the Huns, the Alans, may have been a people of Sassanian culture. These conjectures deserve mention. The misleading name of "Southern Russia" should be abandoned in favour of "Scythia in Europe," the "Pontine country," or some such term. It is to be regretted that this term is constantly em ployed, because it tends to create an impression that the Russians had something to do with the culture there developed by the Scythian races.
These burial mounds, which can be followed far into Mongolia, mark the route followed by migrating Scythian tribes through Central Asia. That this movement came from the West, is made apparent by the presence of the Indo-European language, Tokha rian, and its cognate dialect, both in books, which might have been brought from elsewhere, and in beautifully-executed temple inscriptions' in Central Asiatic Brahmi characters, deriving from India, and in numerous sgraffitti in a cursive variant of this.
If they had come from the East, they would probably have used the Chinese language; both the language itself and the char acters in which it is written point to the West.
Besides, the Chinese annals inform us of the invasion of China by a race of mounted archers, the Yue-chi, who were driven back by the Hiung-nu (the ancestors of the Huns and of the Turks) after a great battle (c. A.D. They returned to the West, dis lodging the Iranian Sacae from their seats in the Ili valley, and using, in all likelihood, the road by which they had reached China. The Sacae destroyed the kingdom of the Greeks in Bactria and there founded the empire of the Indo-Scythians, in which, later on, they were succeeded by the Kushan, who are identified with the Yue-chi. Some of the latter people appear to have made them selves masters of the eastern oases of Chinese Turkistan, or, per haps better, Serindia, for at that date that country was peopled by Iranians and Indians, and not by Turks.
But, long before these events took place and were recorded in the Chinese annals and in the works of Western historians, this route along the northern declivities of the Tien Shan evidently served as a line of communication between the Greek cities on the Pontus, the northern provinces of the Achaemenian empire and China, on the art of which latter country the peculiar style of representing animals had made a fecund and lasting impression.
No scientific excavations have been made in these Kurghans by trained archaeologists, but the objects found there by casual ex plorers show irrefutably, that the bronze, iron and other objects contained in them are in direct relation to similar finds in Scythia in Europe, which often show the traces of classical art. Thus quite recently, the Russian explorer, Kozlov, found im portant Scythian antiquities near Urga in Mongolia, amongst other things the remains of a carpet, showing plainly Greek influ ence. So, we may safely assume, that Greek motives were carried along this route in early times.
It appears, however, that this corridor between China and the West was only open to intertribal intercourse, ordinary traders hardly trusting themselves amongst these (probably turbulent) nomads. This, probably, is the reason why the silk-route trade roads, the via regia through Serindia, came to be frequented, in spite of the difficulty of the mountain passes intersecting them.
In later times, again, in the time of the Sassanian kings, and stimulated by the Buddhist religious propaganda evidently fos tered by Iranian rulers of Bactria belonging to that faith, but imbued with Sassanian culture, a new wave of Hellenistic art ele ments, modified by Indian and Iranian influences, started from the vicinity of Kabul, Bamiyan being evidently an important centre, towards Serindia and China, following the routes of the silk trade and leaving manifest traces in the cave-temples of Serindia. This was first pointed out by the French explorers, MM. Foucher, Hackin and Godard, and Mme. Godard.
While the Eastern Iranian sites contain relics possibly dating back to early Iranian history, the ruined cities and monasteries of Serindia (and of Gandhara, which is culturally indissolubly connected with Serindia) offer only remains of the period between the last century before Christ, in the West, and the loth to i i th centuries of our era.
However, the archaeological work done in these comparatively late sites, by Russian, English, German, French and Japanese ex plorers, has proved that the ultimate basis of Buddhist art in China, as in all other eastern Buddhist lands, is the Hellenistic antique as developed in Gandhara.
The Tokharians.—Until the Uighur Turks began their con quest, from the north-east, in the 8th century, the many oasis States were occupied by Iranians (Sacae and Sogdians) in the west, south-west and north, and by Indians in the south-west and south. From the oasis of Kucha in the north, to that of Turfan in the north-east, the ruling race appears to have been a tribe speak ing a language of the European (centum) group. They are called Tokharians in the Middle Turkish texts dug out from temple ruins near Turfan, and the energetic heads, on the mural paint ings from these temples, of blue-eyed, red-haired men with Euro pean features, differing entirely in everything but dress from pic tures of Iranian or eastern Asiatic donors, may well be portraits of men of this remarkable race.
Mss. Discoveries.—The numerous mss. finds are written on wood, leather, palm-leaf, birch-bark and paper, in Tokharian (till then unknown), in the lost languages of the Sacae and Sogdians, in Sanskrit, Pehlevi and at least two Iranian dialects, Middle Turkish in two dialects, Tangutan, Tibetan, Syriac, a few lines of Greek, in Chinese and Mongol, with yet undeciphered mss. fragments of the lost language of the Ephthalites (q.v.), or White Huns, and small fragments in two other unknown alphabets. All this literature is strictly religious, excepting fragments of a Mid dle Turkish translation of the fables of Aesopus and remains of two mss. of the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, also in Turkish, found in the Turfan oasis, close to the borders of China proper.
The religions represented are Buddhism, Christianity, Zoro astrianism (one fragmentary leaf) and Manichaeism, which, in troduced by way of China and accepted by the Uighur kings in the 8th century, is represented by many mss., sometimes beauti fully illuminated, in the Sogdian, Middle Persian and Middle Turkish languages. These remains are written in no fewer than 24 scripts. Islam is not associated with this culture. When this religion began to encroach upon it in the loth century, the de cline of the mainly Buddhist States of East Turkistan had begun.
The commonest type of cave temple is of Indian origin. It consists of a square, vaulted anteroom, opening on a cella of the same description. The back-wall of the cella has a recess, in which the cult-statue was placed. To the right and left of the statue, two short, low, vaulted corridors were cut into the rock opening into a third corridor, at right angles to them, and parallel to the back-wall of the cella.
The square or rectangular block of stone thus resulting often contained, in a hidden receptacle, relics, manuscripts, coins and other valuables. These receptacles had always been opened and despoiled. This block stands for the stupa. The corridors were used for processional circumambulation. On the walls of the cella were painted the effigies of the donors, the life story of the Buddha in a number of pictures separated by decorative borders, or rows of paintings representing certain Buddhist legends.
The vaulted roof is decorated with tiers of conventionalized representations of mountain landscapes, each containing some birth story (jataka) . The middle line between the two topmost tiers contained representations of flights of ducks, constellations, the sun and the moon, wind goddesses and the effigies of the sun- and moon-gods in their chariots, most of these representa tions following Hellenistic prototypes. In later temples (after A.D. 70o) the mountains are replaced by rows of Buddhas.
The walls were found in all stages of preparation. Some were simply roughened, awaiting the application of a layer of smoothed, stamped clay, in others this finish had been applied, after which the smooth surface was covered with a very thin layer of stucco. On this smoothened surface the painters drew a "net" of rec tangles, one within the other, into which the patterns for the pictures were fitted.
Chinese elements are wanting absolutely in the older, western oases. But China accepted the syncretistic arts of painting and sculpture produced in these regions, and, misunderstanding and modifying the forms received from the West in a Chinese sense, created the splendid art of Thang times on the basis of modified Hellenistic Buddhist art.
After Buddhism declined in India, China became the leading Buddhist power, and this new syncretistic Chinese art gained influence only in the eastern settlements (Turfan), and, as far as we can tell, not farther west than the oasis of Kutcha.
The perseverance, in sculpture, of Hellenistic forms is simply explained by the fact that, Turkistan being a loess country, with out stone fit for the sculptor, the art-craftsmen were forced to use stucco moulds, of which quantities were found, mostly for the production of half-relievo figures. The larger kinds were moulded in pieces and afterwards put together, often very roughly, with straw ropes, twigs, coarse pegs, etc. The statue was prepared in the rough, its surface was remodelled, finished off with a fine layer of stucco and richly painted and gilded.
In the older western oases the material for the statues was often stucco; in the later (eastern) settlements the common clay of the country, mixed with chopped straw, vegetable fibres and animal hair. In spite of the crudeness of this material, the effect resulting is frequently imposing.
The moulds were probably imported from Gandhara and re placed, when broken, by exact duplicates, produced mechanically from their own former products. Thus antique forms persisted long after paintings had begun to undergo Eastern Asiatic modifi cations. When the Sassanians cut the road to the West, no new Western influences could penetrate, while communications with China continued to be easy and frequent.
Thus the evolution of a late antique head can be followed, through many stages, until a typically Chinese head results. BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Sir A. Stein, Sand-buried Ruins of Khotan (1903) A. Griinwedel, Bericht fiber archaeolog. Arbeiten in Idiqutschari . . . (Munich, 1906) ; Sir A. Stein, Ancient Khotan, vol. I.—II. (Oxford, 1907) ; A. Grunwedel, Altbuddhistische Kultstatten in Chinesisch Turkistan (1912) • Sir A. Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, vol. i.—ii. (1912) ; A. von Le Coq, Chotscho, Kgl. Preuss. Turfan Expedition (1913) ; S. von Oldenburg, Russkaya Turkestanskaya Ekspediciya (1914) ; P. Pelliot, Les Grottes de Touen-Houang, vol. i. (1914) ; A. Foucher, The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays (1918) ; A. Grunwedel, Alt-Kutscha (192o) (text to be used with much caution) ; Sir A. Stein, Serindia, vol. i.—v. (Oxford, 1921), Ancient Buddhist Paintings from the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas (1921) ; A. von Le Coq, Die buddhistische Spaetantike in Mittel-Asien, vol. i.—vi. (1922-28) ; Sir T. Arnold, Survivals of Sassanian and Manichaean Art in Persian Painting (Oxford, 1924) ; A. von Le Coq, Bilderatlas zur Kunst and Kulturgeschichte Mittel-Asiens (1925) ; see also P. Pelliot, "Une bibliotheque medievale retrouvee au Kan sou," Bull. eco+le franc. d'Extreme Orient, vol. viii. (1908) ; "Rapport sur sa Mission au Turkestan chinois 1906—o9," Comptes-rendus Acad. des Inscr. et Belles Lettres (191o) ; "Trois ans en Asie centrale," Bull. Comite de l'Asie francaise (Jan. 191o) ; R. A. Smith, "The Stone Age in Chinese Turkestan," Man, No. 52 191I) . (A. v. L. C.) No great river, no large arm of the sea leads to Asia's vast interior. This region remained, as desert conditions spread, un known to all save a few individuals at different times in the great civilizations that have flourished around its "golden fringe." The movements of early traders, the records of travellers and the labours of military surveyors, from all the surrounding lands, have built up the now detailed topographical knowledge of the continent and so prepared for modern geographical study of the earth as the scene of man's activities. The expeditions of R. Pumpelly, Sir M. A. Stein, Sven Hedin and de Filippi have helped to elucidate the early climates of the interior and the consequent location, distribution and movements of early men.
In 1886 Capt. (afterwards Sir Francis) Younghusband com pleted a journey across the heart of the continent by crossing the Murtagh between China and Kashmir, and in 1904 conducted a mission to Lhasa and extended the survey by triangulation to that city. Sven Hedin explored in Persia and Mesopotamia in 1885-86 and in 1890 he travelled through Khurasan and Turkistan, reach ing Kashgar in 1891. During 1893-97 he traversed Asia leaving Orenburg near the Urals and moving over the Pamir and the plateau of Tibet to Peking. During two expeditions 1899-1902, 1906-08 he explored the sources of the Sutlej and the Brahma putra. In 1896 he found not far from Khotan objects of terra cotta, bronze images of the Buddha, coins, etc. He excavated, in Takla-Makan, ancient cities overwhelmed by sand, where he found among other things mural paintings illustrating lake scenery, pottery, etc. He also discovered (19o1) the ancient city of Lou Lan in the heart of the Lop desert. He was followed in this work by Sir Aurel Stein who had made important journeys to central Asia and west China. Stein journeyed to Endeir, Kara, Rawak and other sites where he recorded finds of pottery, images, fres coes, etc.
Besides the works of Stein and Sven Hedin mention must be made of A. D. Carruther's books on Mongolia and Dzungaria, Baddeley's work on Russia, Mongolia and China, Dr. Legendre's work on the Upper Yalung in West China, Kingdon Ward's From China to Hkamti Long and the reports (Geog. Jour., 1926) of this worker's investigations of the Himalayan gorges of the Brahmaputra, J. W. Gregory and Teichman on Eastern Tibet. Pioneer work on China and the Chinese interior was done by von Richthofen who, during the latter half of the 19th century, made seven remarkable journeys covering almost the whole of the Chinese empire. He studied the geology, geography and economic resources of these regions and his great works published between 1877 and 1912 opened up in a scientific manner many problems in Far Eastern Asia. His labours have been continued by the Japanese Geological Survey, whose geological map of China is an acquisition to our knowledge of these regions. This field of exploration has recently been advanced by the American Museum of Natural History under the direction of Roy Chapman Andrews. The reports of their work east and south of Chinese Turkistan in 19 2 2-2 5 abound in interest. Andersson and Arne, Teilhara, Weidenreich, Li, Wa, Pei, Criel and others have exposed ancient sites and greatly added to our knowledge both of Palaeolithic China and of the dawn of civilization. As early as 1864 Prince Kropotkin journeyed in north Manchuria from Transbaikalia to the Amur, and later he investigated the Sungari river and moved into the heart of Manchuria. Baron Toll investigated the Lena basin in 1892, and much work has been done in Northern Siberia in the 2oth century. The opening of the century brought the re sults of D. W. Freshfield's explorations in the Caucasus, and the present century may truly be held remarkable for revelations by the spade of the glories of the ancient civilizations of the Near East. Stein and Sven Hedin have worked in Central Asia, and the former notably in Iran. Woolley and others have carried out large excavations in Mesopotamia : and Prof. Dorothy Garrod and others have investigated early Palestine. Huzayyin and, later, Miss Caton-Thompson have begun the archaeological examination of S. Arabia. Bertram Thomas and H. St. J. Philby have crossed the Rub' al-Khali in S. Arabia, and the latter has contributed greatly to our knowledge (especially as regards the oasis fortress towns) of interior Arabia, which, with the rise of the Saudi king dom, has acquired added importance.
Generally speaking, primary exploration has given place to more specialized study attacking specific problems, but Russian geog raphers have done much primary work, notably on the north coast (see ARCTIC REGIONS), in the north-east, and in the Pamirs and Tien-Shan.
The outstanding features in India have been the extension of trigonometrical survey under the military authorities; the at tempts, made year after year, to climb Mt. Everest (q.v.) and to explore its higher slopes ; the publication of important studies of various peoples especially of north-east India ; and the exploration of the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro in the Indus basin under the direction of Sir John Marshall. English, Dutch, Swiss and German works have contributed much to study of the island groups off the south-east of Asia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-A. Musil, I. The Northern He dz; 2. Arabia Deserta; Bibliography.-A. Musil, I. The Northern He dz; 2. Arabia Deserta; 3. The Middle Euphrates; 4. Palmyrena; 5. Northern Negd; 6. Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins; a series of vo!umes published 1926-28 by the American Geographical Society, New York.
It is conceded that by far the best general account of the geology of Asia is still to be found in Suess's Das Antlitz der Erde (English edition, The Face of the Earth) . The French edition. La Face de la Terre, is especially useful on account of the addition of numerous later references by E. de Margerie. Argand's "La tectonique de l'Asie" (Comptes rendus, Cong. Geol. Intern., xiii. Session, Belgique, 1922, pp. is of later date but a great part of it is occupied by theoretical discussions of a general nature. See also F. von Richthofen, China, 5 vols. (1877-1912) ; C. M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888) ; Viscount Curzon, Persia and the Persian Ques tion, 2 vols. (1892) ; D. W. Freshfield, Exploration of the Caucasus, 2 nd ed. (1902) ; Prince Kropotkin, Desiccation of Asia (1904) and The Orography of Asia 0904) ; W. W. Skeat and C. D. Blagden, Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula, 2 vols. (1906) ; E. Huntington, The Pulse of Asia (1907) ; R. Pumpelly, Explorations in Turkestan (1904, Pub. 1908) ; C. Hose and W. Macdougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo, 2 vols. (1912) ; A. D. M. Carruthers, Unknown Mongolia, A Record of Travel and Exploration in Mongolia and Dzungaria, 2 vols. (1913) ; Sven Hedin, Southern Tibet, io vols. of text, 3 vols. of maps (1917-1922) ; J. F. Baddeley, Russia, Mongolia and China (1919) ; Sir M. A. Stein, Serindia (192I) ; A. R. Brown, The Andaman Islanders (1922) ; H. St. J. B. Philby, The Heart of Arabia, 2 vols. (1922) ; Ed. G. Dainelli, Spedizione Italiana de Filippi, ser. 2 Geol. and Geog. (1922, etc.) ; E. Teichman, Travels in Eastern Tibet (1922) ; J. W. Gregory, The Alps of Chinese Tibet (1923) ; Sir M. A. Stein, Memoir on Maps of Chinese Turkestan (1923) ; F. K. Ward, From China to Hkamti Long (1924) ; R. A. S. Macalister, A Century of Excavation in Palestine (1925) ; Charles Hose, Natural Man (1927) ; Amer. Museum of Natural History, Preliminary Reports of Central Asiatic Explorations; Tokio, Geog. Socy. N.D., Geological Map of China. (X.) Asia, in a narrow sense, the name of the first Roman prov ince east of the Aegean, formed (133 B.c.) out of the kingdom left to the Romans by the will of Attalus III. Philometor (q.v.), king of Pergamum. It included Mysia, Lydia, Caria and Phrygia, and therefore Aeolis, Ionia and the Troad. In 84 B.c., on the close of the Mithridatic War, Sulla reorganized the province. From 8o to 5o B.C. the upper Maeander valley and all Phrygia, except the extreme north, were detached and added to Cilicia. In 27 B.C. Asia was made a senatorial province under a pro-consul. As the wealthiest of Roman provinces it had most to gain by the pax Romana, and therefore welcomed the empire, and established and maintained the most devout cult of Augustus. In this cult the emperor came to be associated with the common worship of the Ephesian Artemis. By the reorganization of Diocletian, A.D. 297, Asia was broken up into several small provinces, and one of these, of which the capital was Ephesus, retained the name of the original province (see AsIA MINOR).
The words Asiatic and Oriental are often used as if they de noted a definite and homogeneous type, but Turks, Indians, Chi nese, etc., differ in so many important points that the common substratum is small. Asiatics stand on a higher level than the natives of Africa and America but do not possess, although they are acquiring, the special material civilization of Western Europe. They have not shown the same sentiment of independence and freedom. Individuals are thought of as members of a family or state rather than as entities with rights of their own. Hence Asiatic history has large, simple outlines. Though longer than the annals of Europe, it is less eventful and offers fewer personalities of interest. But the same conditions which render individual eminence difficult procure for it, when once attained, more ready recognition. Jenghiz and Timur covered more ground than Na poleon and no one European has had such an effect on the world as Mohammed.
The north of Asia is less important than the corresponding region of Europe, few tribes or places of note being found north of lat. 50°. In many parts of the south are semi-barbarous races representing early peoples, such as the Veddahs of Ceylon and various tribes in China and the Malay archipelago. In north ern Asia are other aborigines such as the Ainus and Chukchis, but no materials are forthcoming for their history. We have some record of invasions by later races. The Chinese came from the west, though from how far west is unknown ; the Hindus and Per sians from the north-west ; the Burmese and Siamese from the north.
The antiquity of Asiatic history is often exaggerated. With the exception of Babylonia and the West, we can hardly conjecture the condition of the continent before 1500 B.C. At that period the Chinese were advancing along the Hwang-ho and the Aryans were entering India. Babylonian influence was probably wide spread. All Indian alphabets seem traceable to a Semitic original and connection between China and Babylon is suspected, though not proved.
China has moulded the civilization of the eastern mainland and Japan. In the sphere of direct influence fall Korea, Japan and Annam ; in the outer sphere are Mongolia, Tibet, Siam, Cambodia and Burma, where Indian and Chinese influence are combined, the Indian being often the stronger. Wherever Chinese influence had full play, it introduced Confucianism, a special style of art and the Chinese script.
Indian influence may be defined as Buddhism, if it is under stood that Buddhism was not always clearly distinguishable from Hinduism. Its sphere includes Indo-China, much of the Malay archipelago, Tibet and Mongolia. China and Japan themselves may be said to fall within this sphere, so far as they are Buddhist. It is noticeable that the influence was not reciprocal, and that Indian culture was not affected by Chinese art, literature or ethics. Buddhist influence is not merely religious for it is always accompanied by Indian art and literature and often by an Indian alphabet, as in Tibet, Java and Cambodia.
Mohammedanism or Islamism is perhaps the greatest trans forming force which the world has seen. It has profoundly affected and to a large extent subjugated western Asia, eastern and northern Africa, as well as eastern Europe and Spain. Until recently it implied the fusion of secular and religious power, so that the Muslim Church was a Muslim state characterized by slavery, polygamy and, subject to he autocracy of the ruler, the theoretical equality of Muslims who in political status were superior to non-Muslims. Islam is still the principal religion of western Asia : in India it is strong in the north and centre but only one-fifth of the whole population is Muslim. Beyond India it has spread to the Malay peninsula and archipelago, where it over whelmed an earlier Hindu civilization. But it made no progress in Indo-China or Japan, and though Mohammedans are numerous in some parts of China, it is there merely one of many religions and has never aspired to identify itself with the state.
Even more than Buddhism, Islam has carried with it a special style of art and civilization. It is usually accompanied by the use of the Arabic alphabet, and in the languages of Muslim nations a large proportion of the vocabulary is Arabic.
These tribes have a genius for war rather than for government, and with few exceptions (e.g., the Moguls in India) have proved poor administrators. But their movements helped to keep up communications in Central Asia and to transport religions and civilizations from one region to another. Thus they are mainly responsible for the introduction of Islam into India and Europe and in earlier times they facilitated the infiltration of Graeco Bactrian civilization into India.
Recent excavations in Central Asia have made surprising dis coveries. In the Tarim basin there flourished in the early cen turies of our era small states, such as Khotan and Kucha, which possessed a singularly mixed civilization comprising Chinese, Indian, Iranian and even Greek elements. Buddhist, Christian and Manichaean edifices have been unearthed, as well as libraries in many languages, two of which were previously unknown.
In the early history of both Europe and Asia small feudal or aristocratic states tended to grow into monarchies, but whereas in Europe from ancient Rome onwards royalty has often been replaced temporarily or permanently by more popular forms of government, until recently this change did not occur in Asia, where democracy was represented chiefly by remote tribes which had not developed into states. But within the last 15 years China and Turkey have abolished the imperial power and several territories in Central Asia have become republics, affiliated to the Soviet Government of Russia.
Though the government of China has hitherto been mon archical, there have been many intervals of chaos like the present period and the divine right to rule has never been re garded as inherent in one family, for there have been 20 dynasties since the Christian era. But until the advent of Europeans the Chinese were always in contact with inferior races. Whether they incorporated weaker neighbours or were conquered by more robust invaders, Chinese civilization prevailed and assimilated alike the conquerors and the conquered. The present situation differs from anything in the past because China is now assimilat ing European and American ideas, with the result that dislike of foreigners and desire to imitate them are both strong motives.
The most conspicuous figure in the literature and, indeed, the history of China, is Confucius (551-475 B.c.) . Though he claimed no originality and merely sought to systematize the traditions of antiquity, his influence in the Far East has been extraordinary, and he must be pronounced one of the most pow erful advocates of peace and humanity that have ever existed.
Tibet was an important power in Central Asia in the 8th century, but later became a vassal of China, though practically independent and possessing a culture of its own, which is chiefly derived from India. Its most striking feature is the religion, a form of late Indian Buddhism called Lamaism, which attained temporal power and developed into an ecclesiastical state curi ously like the papacy.
The Mongols, who were once a terror to Europe and who conquered China, ceased to be a political power after the 14th century. They live on nominally Chinese territory or in Russia, and such culture as they possess is a mixture of Indian (through Tibet) and Chinese. Their alphabet is a curious instance of transplantation, being derived from the Syriac script introduced by early Nestorian missionaries.
This sudden development of the Japanese is of singular im portance, since it marks the rise of an Asiatic power capable of competing with Europe. Their history is so different from that of other Asiatic states that it is not surprising if the result is different. The nation hardly came into existence until India and China had passed their prime and was free from the continual struggle against barbarian invaders which drained the energies of its neighbours. It was left untouched by Mohammedanism, and for a long period kept Europeans at bay without wasting its strength in hostilities. The military spirit was evolved, not in raids and massacres of the usual Asiatic type, but in feudal struggles which restrained ferocity and tended to create a temper like European chivalry.
Korea is peculiar in race and language but derived its civiliza tion from China to which it was nominally tributary at most periods, though practically independent. In the i6th century the Japanese occupied it for a short period and in 1894 they went to war with China to contest her suzerainty. As a result, Korea was declared independent, but after the Russo-Japanese War Japan's "paramount interests" in the country were recognized and she annexed it in 1910.
In 1924 excavations in the Punjab and Sindh discovered at two sites brick structures as well as pottery, coins and seals bearing figures and inscriptions in unknown characters. No authorita tive statement has yet been made as to the probable date and origin of these objects, but they are said to be unlike anything known in Indian art and to suggest affinities with Susa or Sumerian civilization. All that is clear is that further investigation may re veal a new and hitherto unsuspected phase of early Indian history.
In 326 Alexander invaded the Punjab. The immediate result was small, but the rise of Hellenistic kingdoms in Central Asia had a powerful effect on art and culture and may also have familiarized the Hindus with the idea of an empire, which ap peared among them later than elsewhere. The first empire called Maurya reached its zenith under Asoka (c. 274-236), who ruled from Afghanistan to Madras. He was a zealous Buddhist, and by his exertions the faith was spread all over India and Ceylon. No Hindu empire has lasted long and the Maurya dominions broke up soon after his death.
In the next period (c. B.C. 150—A.D. 300) India was invaded by tribes partly of Parthian and partly of Turki origin. The most im portant were the Kushans whose king, Kanishka, founded a state which comprised northern India and Kashmir. The date of Ka nishka's accession is still disputed and variously given as 78 and 125 A.D. Another native empire known as Gupta arose on the ruins of the Kushan kingdom and embraced nearly the whole peninsula, but it broke up in the 5th century under the attacks of new in vaders, the Huns. From 6o6 to 646 Harsha established a brief but brilliant empire in the north, but after his death Hindu history is lost in a maze of small and transitory states, incapable of resist ing the ever advancing Mohammedan peril. As early as 712 the Arabs conquered Sind and by 1200 most of northern India was in Muslim hands. Two periods may be distinguished, the Turki ( oo0-1526) and the Mogul empire. The former comprised sev eral dynasties of mixed race, but was wanting in coherency. In the neighbourhood of the Muslim capitals Islam spread rapidly, but in such districts as Rajputana, Orissa and Vijayanagar, Hindu civilization and religion maintained themselves.
In 1526 the Moguls descended from Transoxiana and seized Delhi. They never subjugated the south, but the Empire which they founded in the north was for about two centuries under such rulers as Akbar and Shah Jehan one of the most brilliant which Asia has seen. After 1707 it began to decline; the governors be came independent, a powerful Maratha confederacy arose, Per sians and Afghans made repeated invasions and the power of Eng land and France increased (see EUROPEAN INFLUENCE). Amidst such confusion the authority of the Mogul empire rapidly dis appeared but it lasted as a name till the Mutiny.
Neither the Hindu nor the Muslim rulers of northern India suc ceeded in completely subjugating the Dravidian kingdoms of the south nor did these ever combine into one state. Though far from unimportant for the history of literature and culture, their history presents few salient events. This indeed is true of Hindu history generally. Until Mohammedan times it is marked by the unusual prominence of religion and is a record of intellectual rather than political changes. Even the great Hindu dynasties have left few traces, and it is with difficulty that the historian disinters the minor kingdoms from obscurity. But Hindu religion, literature and art have influenced all Asia from Persia to Japan, and there were once Indian states in such remote regions as Khotan and Cambodia.
Ceylon was, according to tradition, invaded by Aryans from north-western India in the 6th century B.C. It received Buddhism in the time of Asoka and as a religious centre has influenced Burma and Siam. Its mediaeval history is a record of struggles with Tamil invaders. A powerful native dynasty ruled in the 12th century but subsequently the island was partially subjugated, first by the Portuguese and then by the Dutch. In 1796 the Dutch were expelled by the British.
Persia.—The Persians, with whom are often coupled the Medes, appear to be Aryans in origin, and the earliest form of their lan guage and religion offers remarkable analogies to the Vedas. Their ancestors and those of the Hindus formed a single tribe some where in central Asia. The religion was remodelled by Zoroaster probably once. There is no agreement as to his date, but many authorities place him in the 7th century B.C. About that time they shook off the domination of Assyria. From the 6th century on wards their empire, then known as Median, began to expand at the expense of the surrounding states. They destroyed Nineveh in alliance with the Babylonians, and half a century later Cyrus took Babylon and founded the great dynasty of the Achaemenidae. The substitution of the Persian for the Median power, which took place with the advent of Cyrus, seems to indicate the pre-emi nence of a particular tribe rather than a foreign invasion. The power of the Achaemenidae, when at its maximum, extended from the Oxus and Indus in the east to Thrace in the west and Egypt in the south, but fell before Greece, after lasting for rather more than zoo years. Darius and Xerxes were repulsed in their efforts to subjugate the Greek peninsula, and Alexander the Great con quered their successor Darius III. in 329. But the greater part of the empire continued to exist under new masters, the Seleucids, as a Hellenistic power which was of great importance for the dis semination of Greek culture in the East. About the same period (250 B.C.—A.D. 2 2 7) the Parthian empire arose under the Arsacids in Khorasan and the adjacent districts. The Parthians were prob ably a Turanian tribe who had adopted Persian customs. They successfully withstood the Romans, and at one time their power extended from India to Syria. They succumbed to the Persian dynasty of the Sassanids, who ruled for about four centuries, es tablished the Zoroastrian faith as their state religion, and main tained a creditable conflict with the East Roman empire. But in the 7th century they were defeated by Heraclius, and shortly aft erwards were annihilated before the first impetus of the Moham medan conquest, which established Islam in Persia and the neigh bouring lands, sweeping away old civilizations and boundaries. During the greater part of the Mohammedan period Persia has been ruled by troubled and short-lived dynasties. It attained a certain dignity and unity under Abbas Shah (1585-1628), but in later times was distracted and disorganized by Afghan invasions. The Anglo-Russian convention of 1907, which demarcated spheres of influence, guaranteed Persian independence.
Afghanistan, which is now recognized as an independent state, first became a kingdom under Ahmad Shah c. A.D. 1738.
The Turks.—The Turks are first heard of on the frontiers of China in A.D. 545. A Turkish state had relations with Byzan tium. Inscriptions in ancient Turkish on the Orkhon river are dated A.D. 733. Among the branches of this formidable conquer ing race may be mentioned (1) the Uighurs, whose kingdom com prised Kashgar and Khotan in the 1 1 th century ; the Sel j uks, who conquered large parts of Persia, Syria and Asia Minor be tween the 11th and 13th centuries; (3) the Osmanlis, first heard of in 1237, who took Constantinople in 1453 and founded the Ot toman empire. It is also clear from linguistic evidence that the Mongol and Mogul armies which invaded Russia and India were largely composed of Turks. By an amazing change the Ottoman empire became the republic of Turkey in 1922. The Government moved to Angora and Constantinople, so long considered the capi tal of the Levant, was abandoned. Turkey thus seemed to become an Asiatic power, but the sultanate and caliphate were abolished and European customs imitated wholesale.
With the rise of Islam came a sudden effervescence of the Arabs who during some centuries threatened to impose not only their political authority but their new religion on the whole known world. They invaded India, Persia and Central Asia in the east, Spain and Morocco in the west. The caliphate under the Omay yads of Damascus and then the Abbasids of Baghdad became the principal power in the Near East. It had not, however, a suffi ciently coherent organization for permanence ; parts of it became independent, others were annexed by the Turks. Arab rule in Spain, which once threatened to overwhelm Europe, lingered on till the 15th century. The collapse of the political power of Arabia was singularly complete. It is still one of the least known parts of the globe and has few links with the outside, for the Arabs of northern Africa form separate states. Nevertheless, Arabic reli gion and literature are a great power in western Asia, and northern Africa and were so until quite recently in eastern Europe.
Since the World War the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has become the dominant state in Arabia and Turkish suzerainty has ceased.
In historic times Asia has attempted to assert her influence over Europe by a series of invasions, most of which were repulsed. Such were the Persian wars of Greece and perhaps one may add Hannibal's invasion of Italy, if the Carthaginians were Phoeni cians transplanted to Africa. The Roman empire kept back the Persians and Parthians but could not prevent the incursions of the Avars, Huns, Bulgarians and later of the Mongols and Turks. The earlier Asiatic invasions had little result, for the invaders retired after a time (like Alexander from India) or more rarely (e.g., Huns and Bulgarians) settled down without maintaining any con nection with Asia. The Turks, and to some extent the Arabs, were more permanent, because they began by occupying the adja cent parts of Asia and Africa, so that the final invaders were in touch with Asiatic settlements. But though the Turks have affect ed all eastern Europe, the result of their conquests was not so much to plant Asiatic culture there as to arrest development.
The influence of Asia on Africa has been considerable and until the middle of the 19th century greater than that of Europe. Some authorities hold that Egyptian civilization came from Babylonia and that the so-called Hamitic languages are older and less spe cialized members of the Semitic group. The connection between Carthage and Phoenicia is more certain, and the ancient Abyssin ian kingdom was founded by Semites from southern Arabia. The traditions of the Somalis represent them as coming from the same region, and there was a continuous stream of Arab migration to East Africa which founded a series of cities on the coast, including Zanzibar. There was also a fairly ancient connection between this region and India. The whole of northern Africa has become Mo hammedan as far south as Timbuktu and Wadai.
The relation of the pre-European civilizations of America to Asia is a much debated question, and some facts support the theory that they were due to Asiatic immigrants.
In the i6th century a new era began with the discovery of the route round the Cape, and the naval powers of Europe started on careers of oriental conquest. The movement was maritime and European (excluding Russian) power in Asia is based almost en tirely on improved navigation. There was no attempt to over whelm by land invasions, but commerce was combined with terri torial acquisition and a continuity of European interest secured by the presence of merchants and settlers. The course of annexa tion followed the events of European politics and European pos sessions in the east often changed hands according to the fortunes of their masters at home. Portugal was first on the scene and in the i6th century established a considerable empire on the coasts of East Africa, India and China, fragments of which still remain such as Goa and Macao. Before the century was out the Dutch appeared as the successful rivals of the Portuguese and in 1565 the Spaniards acquired the Philippines, which they held till when they ceded them to the United States. But the severest struggle for supremacy took place between France and England about 1740-83. Both entered India as commercial companies, but the disorganized condition of the Mogul empire necessitated the use of military force to protect their interests and allured them to conquests. The companies gradually undertook the financial con trol of the districts where they traded and were recognized by the natives as political rulers. At the end of the Napoleonic wars, Holland had Java, Sumatra and other islands, France some odds and ends in Cochin China and India, while Great Britain emerged with the Straits Settlements, Ceylon and a free hand in India. The East India Company assumed more and more definitely the functions of government, and when, after the mutiny of 18S7, it became desirable to define British authority, there seemed nothing unnatural in transferring the entire administration from the com pany to the Crown.
Other European possessions were acquired towards the end of the 19th century, such as Indo-China (France), Burma (Britain), and Tsing-tao (Germany). Whereas the earlier conquests were mostly the results of large half-conscious movements, these later ones were annexations deliberately planned by European cab inets. It seemed to be assumed that Asia was to be divided among the Powers and each was anxious to get as much as was con veniently possible.
The advance of Russia was different from that of the other powers, since it took place by land and not by sea. Though the extent of Russian territory in Asia is enormous, she has always moved along the line of least resistance. She was a moderately strong empire lying to the north of the great Muslim states and having for neighbours weak principalities and semi-civilized tribes. The conquest of Siberia and Central Asia presented no real difficulties. Persia and Constantinople were left on one side, and Russia was defeated as soon as she was opposed by a vigor ous adversary in the Far East. (C. EL.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-It is impossible to refer to all that has been written Bibliography.-It is impossible to refer to all that has been written in the survey reports and gazetteers of the Government of India, or in the records of the Royal Asiatic Society, its branches in Bengal, Korea, Malaya and elsewhere. Among the more important popular works are the following:—Richthofen, "China, Japan, and Korea," vol. iv. Jour. R.G.S., China (Berlin, 1877) ; Regel, "Upper Oxus," vol. i. Proc. R.G.S., 1879 ; Henry Lansdell, Through Central Asia (1887) ; Russia and the Anglo-Russian Question (1889) ; Max Muller, The Sacred Books of the East (189o-94) ; Lord Dunmore, The Pamirs (1892) ; Lord Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question (1892) ; Prob lems of the Far East (1894) ; Szechenyi, Die wissenschaftlichen Ergeb nisse der Reise des Gra f en Bela Szechenyi in Ostasien (1893) ; Baron Toll, "Siberia," vol. iii. Jour. R.G.S., 1894; Warrington Smyth, "Siam," vol. xi. Jour. R.G.S., 1895 ; "Siamese East Coast," vol. xi., Jour., 1898 ; Prince Kropotkin, "Siberian Railway," vol. v. R.G.S. Jour., 1895 ; Prince H. d'Orleans, "Yunan to India," vol. vii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; "Tonkin to Talifu," vol. viii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896 ; Sir T. Holdich, "Ancient and Mediaeval Makrh.n," vol. vii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; Journal of the Royal Geogl. Society, vols. xv. to xxv. (190o 1905) ; Captain Rawling, The Great Plateau (London, 19o5) ; A. M. Bozer and others, Kharoshtri Inscriptions: discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in Chinese Turkestan 1906–o7; Paul Collard, Cambodge et Cam bodgiens (1925) ; Steiger, Beyer and Benitez, a History of the Orient (1926) ; A. A. Maedonnell, India's Past (1927) ; J. W. McCrindle, Ancient India as described by Ptolemy (reprint, 1927) ; R. P. Huc, Souvenirs d'un voyage dans la Tartarie, le Thibet et la Chine (reprint, 1927); M. P. Verneuil, Les Temples de la Periode Classique Indo Javanaise (1927) ; and the Journals c: the various branches of the Royal Asiatic Society, where abundant bibliographies will be found. See also C. Eliot's Hinduism and Buddhism (1921) .