440 exploration: Asia and the Pacific and find new trading opportunities, the Arabs, as well as the Egyptians, were the people they chose for their crews ASIA AND THE PACIFIC BY MICHAEL ALLEN HOLMES Much of the exploration that took place in Asia and the Pacific in ancient times was motivated by desires for military conquest, enhanced trade, and religious enlightenment On the Indian Subcontinent the early influx of Aryans, who arrived in waves from the north sometime between 1500 and 1300 b.c.e (in what historians alternately describe as “invasions” and “migrations”), accounted for the importation of much of the foundations of future Indian culture, such as the language of Sanskrit The Aryans themselves in time fully integrated with the darker resident populations of the valleys of the Indus and Ganges rivers Much later, Buddhist missionaries proved responsible for much of the Indian peoples’ exploration of outlying lands Siddhārtha Gautama (563–483 b.c.e.), the Buddha himself, essentially wandered throughout, rather than explored, portions of the Indian Subcontinent, especially into the northeastern region now known as Bihar That region was named after the forest in which the Buddha reached enlightenment, as its hillsides grew dotted with the ascetic stone dwellings of the many monks who were inspired by and followed the Buddha’s teachings Later, in 250 b.c.e., the Mauryan emperor Asoka, who made sweeping efforts to spread the Buddhist affection for love and peace throughout India, held the Third Great Council of Buddhism in Pataliputra (now known as Patna), in the northeast Afterward devout Buddhists began traveling well beyond the Indian Subcontinent, first to what are now Myanmar and Sri Lanka and later throughout Southeast Asia By the first century c.e Buddhism had spread along the central Asian silk trade route into China; similarly, Buddhist notions, if not the nominal faith and philosophy themselves, traveled northwest through Gandhara toward the Middle East, possibly inspiring the mythology surrounding the life of Jesus Christ Overall, Indian rulers’ and peoples’ relative disinterest in exploration can largely be explained by the widely established ideal of a life of simplicity In China among the first frontiers breached in the name of exploratory interests were those in the north and northwest In 139 b.c.e the Han emperor Wu Ti (r 141–87 b.c.e.) appointed a courtier named Chang Ch’ien both to subdue the nomadic peoples to the north and to secure the trade route into central Asia In particular, Chang Ch’ien sought to ally the northwestern Yueh-chih tribe with the Han Empire against the feared Hsiung-nu of the north However, in traversing the northwestern deserts and grasslands in attempting to make contact with the Yueh-chih, Chang Ch’ien was captured by the Hsiung-nu Adapting to the circumstances, he lived with the Hsiung-nu for 10 years, marrying and even raising a family, before finally escaping and resuming his mission Stucco head of a monk, said to be from Hadda, Gandhara, fourth to fifth centuries c.e.; Buddhist missionaries were responsible for much of the exploration of outlying lands performed by Indian peoples in ancient times (© The Trustees of the British Museum) Chang Ch’ien thence traveled farther than any Chinese emissary had before, reaching Fergana, then Bactria, located in modern Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, where he discovered the Yueh-chih living peacefully After finally traveling as far as Sogdiana, also in modern Uzbekistan, Chang Ch’ien returned home to report on what he had seen, bringing back various theretofore unknown seeds and plants The Han then essentially took control of the trade routes and extended their empire as far as Chang Ch’ien had traveled, securing a means of exporting their widely coveted silk, among other goods Chang Ch’ien is as renowned in Eastern history as are such explorers as Marco Polo and Ferdinand Magellan in Western history Much of ancient Chinese exploration was, in fact, carried out during the reign of the Han Dynasty, from 202 b.c.e to 220 c.e., when territorial expansion was a priority To the northeast, military colonies, termed t’un-t’ien, were set up in Manchuria and Korea Often, where Han exploration led to encounters with hostile peoples, the dynasty at once made peace and increased commerce by presenting gifts; silk, in particular, proved an invaluable commodity Mongoloid peoples first crossed the Korea Strait to the islands of Japan in the second and first centuries b.c.e., when they found such tribal peoples as the Ainu, who may have been primitive