Medieval European travelers. Five ancient travelers who changed the world

Ibn Haukal: Merchant or Scout?

Abul-Qasim Muhammad ibn Haukal ai-Nasibi was probably born in the city of Nasibin in Upper Mesopotamia. He spent almost his entire life traveling, having traveled and walked the entire Muslim world of that time: Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, North Africa from Egypt to Morocco, Arab possessions in Europe - Sicily, South Italy and Spain, as well as Iran, India, Sahara and sub-Saharan Africa: Lower Nubia, the Nubian Desert and part of Northern Ethiopia.

He began his journey in May 943, departing from Baghdad to the west. In the same year he visited Egypt, Nubia and the Beja country. During his travels, he apparently traded: with great knowledge of the matter, ibn Haukal narrates in his notes about the conditions of trade in different countries, about local goods, the demand for foreign goods, and trade operations. Ibn Haukal met the man who infected him with a passion for describing the countries he saw in 952. He was the Arab geographer al-Istakhri, the author of the Book of Ways and Kingdoms. Ibn Haukal rewrote al-Istakhri's work, but the more he traveled, the more critically he treated it. At first, he made some corrections and additions to the guide, but there was so much new material that ibn Haukal decided to write his own book.

He could see and remember. In Nubia, in the oases of Sijilmasa and Audagost, in the residences of local rulers, Ibn Haukal collected the most valuable and diverse information about the countries located further to the south. Was trade the sole purpose of ibn Haukal? Many European researchers today doubt this. They point out that the main travel routes of this "explorer" suspiciously coincide with the directions of the future conquests of the Arab rulers from the Fatimid dynasty. It may very well be that ibn Haukal carried out reconnaissance missions along with trading affairs (or under cover of them) ...

Al-Uswani beyond the rapids of the Nile

Abdallah ibn-Ahmed ibn-Suleim al-Uswani, an educated Arab from Aswan, held the post of qadi in his homeland. In 969, he, as an ambassador of Jawhar, the ruler of Egypt, traveled to Nubia (Sudan), where at that time the majority of the population were Christians. Al-Uswani's mission was primarily diplomatic in nature: he was supposed to deliver a letter from Javkhar addressed to King George II of Nubia to Dongola. In this letter, Javhar offered this representative of an ancient dynasty, a powerful and legitimate ruler of an independent country, to accept Islam, leaving the religion of his fathers. I must say that George II appreciated the neighbor's message and in a response letter invited him to be baptized.

Departing from the borders of Egypt to the south, after 6 days the traveler reached the region of the Second Threshold, the severity of which struck even the Aswan, who was well acquainted with the course of the Nile. “These are continuous rapids and the worst of the areas I have seen,” writes al-Uswani, “the rapids and mountains impede the flow, so that the Nile falls from the reefs and is constrained in its channel until its width between the banks becomes 50 cubits, and the coastal strip it is so narrow, the mountains so high and the roads so difficult that a rider cannot climb them, and a weak walker cannot follow them. The sands stretch to the west and to the east ... "

Above the Second Threshold, the Nile valley reminded al-Uswani of his native places. There are groves of date palms, olives, crops of cereals and cotton. The entire area between the Second and the Third rapids lying further south was divided into many fiefs. Spiritual authority was exercised by the local bishop. The inhabitants of this region spoke dialects of the medieval Nubian language, with which al-Uswani was somewhat familiar.

Nubian boats

And finally the traveler reached the Third Threshold. “This threshold is the most difficult (for the passage of ships,” he notes, “because it is a mountain that crosses the Nile from east to west. Water falls through three passages, and at a low level of the Nile - only through two passages. Loud noise, amazing view! The current of the water is strongest, and the Nile south of the rapids is strewn with stones ... "

Moving further south along the right bank of the Nile, al-Uswani entered the densely populated region of Safad-Bakl: “Here, in two day's march, about thirty villages are found, with good buildings, churches and monasteries and numerous date palms, vineyards, vegetable gardens, crops and meadows . There are large camels in this region…” Al-Uswani is interested in everything: the Nubian farming methods, the cultivated plants they cultivate, the rules of land inheritance. His attention was attracted by the fortresses, cities, ruins of ancient buildings encountered along the way.

Having crossed to the left bank of the Nile, al-Uswani arrived in Old Dongola, The largest city medieval Nubia, surrounded by several rings of fortifications. The traveler was amazed that the houses of the inhabitants of Dongola were built using valuable tropical trees: acacia and teak; in his homeland it was considered an unprecedented luxury.

From Dongola, the Arab traveler traveled further south to the kingdom of Alva. The bends of the middle Nile struck al-Usvani with their great length, harsh nature, and sharp turns. Here al-Uswani saw hippos for the first time in his life; in Egypt and Lower Nubia, these animals were by the 10th century. have long been exterminated.

Finally, the traveler arrived at the village of al-Abwab, located on the border between two Nubian kingdoms: Mukurra and Alva, in the region of the Fifth Threshold. For the first time, al-Uswani came to a country where tropical rains fall, and tributaries flowing from the mountains flow into the Nile. From the books, the Arab traveler knew that the number of these tributaries was seven, including the main channel of the Nile. One of them he considered the river Gash. The second of these seven rivers was the Atbara, the third was the Blue Nile, and the fourth was the White Nile. Al-Usvani did not see the other three rivers, but he asked the inhabitants of Alva about them (it turned out that there are much more tributaries of both the White and Blue Nile!).

Old map of the Nile with its source

The city of Soba, the capital of Alva, located a few kilometers south of the confluence of the White and Blue Nile, was the final destination of al-Uswani's journey. The traveler eagerly peered into the vast expanses lying in the south and southeast: somewhere there are the sources of the Nile ...

Al-Uswani did not dare to go on an expedition to the origins great river, terrified by the stories of the Nubians about constant war the tribes that lived there with each other. In addition, he had to return to Egypt with letters of reply from the Nubian kings. Before the discovery of the sources of the Nile, there were still almost 1000 years ...

At the gates of Tropical Africa

A native of Khorasan (northeast of Persia), Nasir-i Khusrau became famous not only as a poet, but also as a famous traveler. He spent most of his life in Merv (Turkmenistan), and at the age of 40 years he went on a trip, during which he visited Iran, Arab countries, Egypt and even reached the countries of Tropical Africa.

Nasir-i Khusrau arrived in Egypt in 1046. Here he lived for almost five years. From Egypt, the traveler made four pilgrimages to Mecca: three times through the Egyptian port of Kulzum on the Red Sea, and the last time through Aswan and the eastern desert. During this journey, he met the dark-skinned Beja nomads.

The last years of his life, Nasir-i Khusrau lived in the Pamir mountains, engaged in literary activities. His travel book Safarnameh, written in Persian, contains an unparalleled description of Egypt and other countries in its vividness and depth. It contains interesting information about trade in the region of Aswan and Aizab, about the movement of camel caravans, about the inhabitants of various African countries.

"Elephant Doctor" explores the world

Tahir al-Marvazi, a native of Merv, spent most of his long life (and he lived for about 100 years) in his hometown. He was a doctor and zoologist, treated people and animals, and served for a long time at the court of the Seljuk Sultan in Merv. In 1085, he even cured the beloved Sultan's elephant, which earned him the special favor of the ruler.

Despite this attachment to his native city, al-Marwazi traveled a lot, wanting to expand his knowledge. This observant natural scientist is sometimes referred to as "Humboldt's forerunner". Al-Marvazi devoted his main and only work that has come down to us - "The Nature of Animals" to zoology.

Al-Marvazi visited Iran, the countries of the Arab East, North Africa. Referring to eyewitness accounts, he writes in his notes that in the country of Kanem (Northern Nigeria and Chad) such huge trees supposedly grow that each of them can cover 10,000 riders in its shade. At the top of one of these giant trees, the dwelling of the local king is arranged, “and a thousand steps lead to his dwelling from the surface of the earth. Wooden dwellings were made on both trees, and the servants of the king, his wives, approximated in the amount of 10 thousand people live in them ... ". However, along with fantastic stories about African countries in the book of Tahir al-Marvazi there are many useful information, for example, about the inhabitants of Somalia. Al-Marvazi observed with interest the anthropological differences of different peoples. Like modern anthropologists, he considered Negroids and Mongoloids to be the most divergent races; in his opinion, the Turks and black Africans are completely opposite to each other, and other peoples and races constitute transitional links between the one and the other: “The Ethiopians are a race of people, which includes such species as the Nubians, Zinji, and others ... Since their the lands are removed from temperate regions, their appearance has changed: due to excessive heat, black skin color began to prevail in them ... ”These conclusions of the Central Asian scientist were in many respects ahead of their time.

Africans near the hut

Arab sailors in the Atlantic Ocean

In the Middle Ages, the Arabs were known as passionate seafarers. Arab captains have traversed the entire Indian Ocean, reaching the remote shores of South Africa, Indonesia, and even China. They also knew the Mediterranean well. However, they categorically avoided going out into the Atlantic Ocean, experiencing some truly superstitious fear of it. The ominous names "Sea of ​​Darkness", "Ocean of Darkness" were fixed behind this ocean in the Arab world. Only one single case is known when a group of Arab sailors, overcoming fear, went to the Atlantic and, having experienced many adventures, returned safely to their native shores.

There were only eight of them. Leaving Lisbon (until 1147 this city belonged to the Arabs), the sailors bravely moved west, straight into the open ocean. After 11 days of sailing, they came across a huge accumulation of Sargasso seaweed, among which numerous, hard to distinguish reefs were hidden. The sailors were forced to turn south. Following this course for 12 days, they came across an island where herds of wild goats roamed. Their meat, however, was inedible. The sailors again went to sea and after 12 days, going the same course, they saw another island. It was inhabited by long-haired and almost beardless red-skinned people. There was also a man who spoke Arabic, with the help of which the sailors managed to communicate with the king of the island. As a result, the king released the Arabs, and three days later, following the west, they landed on the coast of Morocco, where they met people from some Berber tribe. Thus ended the only recorded attempt by the Arabs to cross the Atlantic...

This is what the Guanches looked like - the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands. Painting from the Guimar Museum, Fr. Tenerife, Spain

Much later, some researchers claimed that in their voyage, eight brave men still managed to reach America. The “frozen sea” he encountered, filled with fetid algae, was interpreted as Sargasso, and the distant countries reached by sailors were interpreted as Central America or the West Indies. However, if the sailors said that they saw "red-skinned people", then this does not mean at all that they met with the American Indians. Most likely, they managed to reach only the Canary Islands, where fair-skinned Guanches lived in those days. Characteristically, in the most remote of the countries they saw, the sailors found an interpreter who spoke Arabic, and then three days later, on one of the shores, they stumbled upon Berbers who knew how long the voyage to Portugal took. As for the island inhabited by wild goats (in another version of the translation - sheep), then we can talk about the island of Fuerteventura (which in ancient times was called Capraria - "Goat Island") from the Canary Islands group. These islands are primarily indicated by the direction followed by the Arab sailors. As for the accumulation of algae, they are already found close to the Strait of Gibraltar, and for this there is no need to swim all the way to the Sargasso Sea. Be that as it may, despite the modest results, the attempt of eight Arab sailors to make a reconnaissance voyage in the Atlantic nevertheless became a milestone on the long road to the discovery of America.

Ibn Battuta: according to the precepts of the Koran and the call of the heart

“In the name of Allah, the merciful, the merciful…” – the dead silence of the Sahara is pierced by the melodious voice of the muezzin. Along the line drawn in the sand, men and young men stand in an uneven formation, facing towards Mecca. “Guide us along the right path, which are those blessed by you ... and do not let us go astray,” the muezzin ends the prayer with words from the Koran. People kneel, bow, pressing their foreheads into the sand. In the morning chill, the caravan is pulled into a chain. Camels tied in a line are waiting for a signal to move. Here the leader pulls the halter of the main camel, and the half-mile-long caravan, swaying, as if reluctantly, sets out on its way ...

Special feelings cover today's man, walking with a caravan of camels to the desert horizon, connecting the sands and the sky. Here everything remains the same as during the wanderings of the great traveler Ibn Battuta. For 29 years of his wanderings, Battuta - a pilgrim, a diplomat, a courtier, a lawyer - crossed two continents, walked 75 thousand miles (three times more than Marco Polo!) Through the territory of 44 modern countries. His diaries, imbued with the spirit of his time, tell about the difficulties of the way, the customs of distant lands and dangerous adventures. And it all started back in Morocco, when he was only 21 years old ...

His father, a well-known man in Tangier, a sheikh and a judge, gave his son an excellent education. Ibn Battuta knew the Koran by heart, mastered the art of calligraphy to perfection, spent years of study in a madrasah, where grammar, rhetoric, versification, logic and law were taught, took part in theological disputes, sat at night over the manuscripts of the wisest men. His father saw him already dressed in the black dress of a kadi - a judge. But fate decreed otherwise.

In his notes, Ibn Battuta admits that some kind of supernatural feeling called him on the road. His studies were coming to an end when he decided to set out on the 3,000-mile journey to Mecca through North Africa. Having traveled with caravans in ten months Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, he reached Alexandria. The path from Alexandria to Cairo seemed to Ibn Battuta an endless market - people lived close and crowded along the irrigation canals. Cairo was fabulously wealthy. “He who has not seen Cairo has not seen the world,” they said in those days. Ibn Battuta writes about crowds of people “moving through the narrow streets of Cairo like waves of the sea”, about “12 thousand water carriers”, “30 thousand loaders”, “36 thousand boats plowing the waters of the Nile”.

On the same felucca that now carries clay pots and limestone along the banks of the Nile under triangular sails, Ibn Battuta went to Upper Egypt, crossed the desert and went to the Red Sea. But they failed to cross it and get to Mecca: an uprising began. I had to join the caravan of pilgrims going to Damascus. Battuta crossed the Sinai and entered Palestine, into Gaza lying by the sea.

Further, his route ran through Acre and Tire. From Tripoli, Battuta turned east and went to Hama, one of the most beautiful cities in Syria, "surrounded by orchards and orchards, which were irrigated by water wheels." These ancient water-lifting devices are still working, creakingly raising water 25 meters from the Orontes River ... From here, Battuta proceeded through Latakia and the Lebanese mountains to join the caravan going to Mecca in Damascus.

For 55 days, the caravan passed the Arabian desert, stopping only for a few days to rest at the dilapidated castle of the crusaders Al-Karak ("Crow's Castle"). Thirst and gangs of robbers were the main dangers along the way. Due to the lack of water, the pilgrims could not be accompanied by armed riders, who usually guarded the caravans.

The desert of Nefud, through which Ibn Battuta passed, is called by the Arabs "Bahr bila ma", "waterless sea". The sand radiates with heat, it is difficult to breathe from the viscous air, the nose, throat, and mouth dry up. In such places, as Ibn-Battuta wrote, “the guide loses his way and the comrade forgets about the comrade.” One salvation is water. Until now, the remains of caravanserais and dry water tanks remind of that exhausting and difficult route of pilgrims. One can only imagine the joy of the caravaners when they were met on the way by water carriers that came out from the nearest oasis...

Finally, Ibn Battuta reached the holy Mecca. Here he met people from all over the world and was fascinated by their stories about strange countries. Remembering the old Arabic proverb “Whoever goes on a journey for the sake of knowledge, God will make it easier for him to go to paradise,” he suddenly heard the powerful call of the road. The pilgrimage is over. The journey began...

Ibn Battuta

“By the grace of Allah, I have fulfilled my goal in life, and this goal is traveling on earth, and in this I have achieved what no one but me could achieve,” wrote Ibn Battuta in his declining years. In these words - the whole meaning of his life. Before him, only merchants and missionaries went on journeys. Battuta set himself the task of knowing the world.

He traveled to Asia Minor and Constantinople. Further, Ibn-Battuta followed to the Crimea, then to Astrakhan and along the ice of the Volga - to the Mongol residence Saray, sailed up the Volga to the Bulgars. His plan to penetrate from there to the fur-rich region of Pechora in the Far North, which was already visited by Arab merchants, he did not realize. Through the lower Volga, he headed along the northern coast of the Caspian Sea to Khiva, Fergana and Bukhara, then to Afghanistan and India, which was then under Muslim rule. He spent several years in Delhi as a kadi - a judge, then was sent by the Sultan as an ambassador to China. Having survived the shipwreck, after long wanderings, Ibn Battuta stayed in the Maldives for a year and a half.

While in Ceylon, Ibn Battuta, by climbing Adam's Peak, crowned the list of Muslim shrines to which he made pilgrimages during his wanderings. Then there were Sumatra and Java. He arrived in the Chinese city of Quanzhou in 1346. “China is one of the safest countries for travelers,” he wrote. But here, as nowhere else, the traveler felt how far he was from home. For three years he traveled to his homeland, in Morocco.

Ibn Battuta did not stay long in his native places. His nature longed for new experiences - and now he is already in the south of Spain, with a detachment of Moroccan volunteers defending Gibraltar from the crusaders; then there were Malaga and Granada. And three years later - a grueling camel journey across the Sahara. 1500 miles across the sands, into the "land of the Negroes", into the West African empire of Mali. Finally, he settled in Fes for two years, working on a book about his travels. Ibn Battuta died at the age of 64. The location of his grave is unknown: “When we are dead, look for our graves not on earth, but in the hearts of people…”

Travelers of the Middle Ages

Far Away with Veniamin Tudelsky

Benjamin (Ben-Jonah) Tudelsky, a native of the city of Tudela, in the Kingdom of Navarre, went down in history as one of the greatest travelers of the Middle Ages. For 13 years (1160-1173) he traveled almost the entire then known world and described his journey.

In 1160, Benjamin of Tudelsky sailed from Barcelona to Marseille, then went to Genoa, visited Rome, visited Naples and other southern cities. From Italy, the traveler crossed over to Greece, and from there to Constantinople. At that time, the emperor of Byzantium was Manuel Komnenos, who lived in a luxurious palace on the seashore. “There towered,” writes Benjamin, “columns of pure gold and silver ... a golden throne studded with precious stones, above which a golden crown hanging on golden chains turned out to be just on the head of the emperor when he sat on the throne.” Among the monuments of Constantinople, Benjamin mentions the church of Hagia Sophia, and in addition, he gives a description of the hippodrome, in which, for the amusement of the people, they show the struggle of “lions, bears, tigers, and also wild geese and many other birds.

From Constantinople, Benjamin of Tudelsky crossed to Asia Minor, where he visited the cities of Tripoli, Beirut, Tire, Sidon, Akka. From here, his path lay through Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron to Damascus, which at that time was the capital of the "Turkish kingdom." Damascus made a strong impression on the traveler with its luxury and amenities.

Leaving Damascus, Benjamin Tudelsky visited Baalbek-Nebek - the Heliopolis of the Greeks and Romans, built by Solomon; then he came to Palmyra, then to Gaza, which was badly damaged by the earthquake. After that, the traveler went to Mesopotamia, visited Mosul on the Tigris, Nineveh and Baghdad - the capital and residence of the Arab caliphs, which struck him with its beauty. He also made a trip to the ruins of Babylon, visiting the place where, according to legend, once stood the Tower of Babel, "built by the peoples before the flood." Having visited many other cities, the traveler ended up in the city of Basra, which lies at the tip of the Persian Gulf. From there he went to Persia and traveled almost the entire country, including Isfahan, the capital of the country.

Further, the story of Benjamin loses its certainty: we see him either in Shiraz, or in Samarkand, or at the foot of Tibet. It is known that after a long journey, Benjamin returned to Khuzestan on the banks of the Tigris, and then, after a two-day voyage, he reached El Katif, an Arab city near the Persian Gulf, where pearls are mined. Then, crossing the sea, Benjamin arrived at Khulan (Quilon) on the Malabar coast of Hindustan, about which he reports that "pepper, cinnamon, ginger and other spices grow well in this country." After visiting the island of Ceylon, whose inhabitants "fanatically worship fire," the traveler crossed the Red Sea and arrived in Abyssinia. Going down the Nile, he reaches the town of Holvan, and from there, through the Sahara desert, he arrives in Cairo.

Veniamin Tudelsky in the Sahara Desert

From Egypt, Benjamin went to Italy, and from there, through Germany, to Paris. With a description of Paris, he ends the story of his travels. Despite some inconsistency of presentation, his work is an important monument of geographical knowledge of the middle of the XII century. Veniamin Tudelsky is considered the first European traveler who visited the countries of the East.

Arab travelers of the Middle Ages (Ibn Faddan, Al-Massudi, Idrisi, Biruni, Ibn Batuta)

The merchant Ibn Batuta is considered an outstanding traveler of the 14th century. Ibn Battuta (Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Lawati at-Tanji ) (circa 1304–1377) - Arab geographer and traveler. He began his wanderings in 1325 from Tangier, visited Egypt, Western Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Iran, then reached Mozambique by sea, and visited the Bahrain Islands on the way back. In his further travels, Ibn Battuta visited the Crimea, was in the lower reaches of the Volga and in its middle reaches, crossed the Caspian lowland and the Ustyurt plateau and proceeded to Central Asia. From there, through the Hindu Kush, he went to the Indus Valley and lived for several years in Delhi. In 1342 he passed through Hindustan to the south, visited the Maldives, Sri Lanka and arrived in China by sea. Ibn Battuta returned to Tangier in 1349, again visiting Sri Lanka, Syria and Egypt. In 1352–1353 his last journey took place, during which he crossed the Western and Central Sahara.

In just 25 years of his wanderings, he traveled by land and by sea about 130 thousand km. This book, later translated into a number of European languages, is saturated with vast geographical, historical and ethnographic material, which is of great interest in our time for the study of medieval history and the geography of the countries he visited. He compiled 69 maps, although very imperfect, but of great importance for the development of geographical representations of that time.

Main work: A gift to those contemplating the curiosities of cities and the wonders of travel.

He managed to visit Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Western Arabia, China, Spain, India, visit the border regions of Asia Minor, and Ceylon. The book Ibn Batuta's travels written by him was translated into various European languages ​​and was very popular.

Ibn Battuta for 25 years of his travels covered about 130 thousand km by land and sea. He visited all Muslim possessions in Europe, Asia and Byzantium, North and East Africa, Western and Central Asia, India, Ceylon and China, walked around the shores of the Indian Ocean. He crossed the Black Sea and traveled from the southern coast of Crimea to the lower reaches of the Volga and the mouth of the Kama. Biruni made geographical measurements. He determined the angle of inclination of the ecliptic to the equator and established its secular changes. For 1020, his measurements gave a value of 23 ° 34 "0". Modern calculations give a value of 23°34"45" for 1020. During a trip to India, Biruni developed a method for determining the radius of the Earth. According to his measurements, the radius of the Earth turned out to be 1081.66 farsakhs, i.e., about 6490 km. Al-Khorezmi participated in the measurements. Under Al-Mamun, an attempt was made to measure the circumference of the Earth. To this end, scientists measured a degree of latitude near the Red Sea, which is 56 Arabian miles, or 113.0 km, hence the circumference of the Earth was 40,680 km.

Travelers who went to Asian lands could count on accommodation, food, translators and guides there. Road networks were built in China and India to provide lodging and food. Oral or written recommendations were used as documents from people who had previously been to these places or from those who visited the traveler's homeland.

Al-Masudi Abul-Hasan Ali ibn Hussein (896–956) - Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He was the first Arab historian to combine historical and geographical observations into a large-scale general work. Al-Masudi during his travels visited various provinces of the Persian Empire, the Caucasus, the regions adjacent to the Caspian Sea, Syria, Arabia and Egypt. Al-Masudi also mentions Kievan Rus and Khazaria in his works. He also traveled to the south of present-day Mozambique and made an apt description of the monsoons. Al Masudi describes the process of evaporation of moisture from the water surface and its condensation in the form of clouds.

Main works: Washing of gold and placers of precious stones ”(“ Murudj azzahab wa ma’adin al-javahir ”),“ Book of warning and revision ”(“ Kitab at-tanbih wa-l-ishraf ”).

Reconstruction of the world map by Al-Masudi

Al-Idrisi Idrisi (Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Idris ash-Sherif al-Idrisi al-Hammudi al-Qurtubi al-Sakali) (1100–1161 or 1165) - Arab geographer, cartographer and traveler. Traveled in Portugal, France, England, Asia Minor, North Africa. Around 1138 he moved to Palermo, where he lived at the court of the Sicilian king Roger II (reigned 1130-1154). On his behalf, he created a map of the part of the world known at that time (in the form of a silver flat sphere and on paper). Scandinavia, the Baltic Sea, Onega and Ladoga lakes, the Dvina and Dnieper rivers were found on the map. The Volga bifurcates and flows simultaneously into the Black and Caspian Seas. Showing the rivers Yenisei, Amur, lake. Baikal, Altai Mountains, Tibet, as well as China and India. At the same time, he denied the isolation of the Indian Ocean. Idrisi divides the earth into 7 climates (10 parts in each climate). Idrisi's books, including descriptions of all climates and maps for them, are a valuable source on the history and historical geography of Europe and Africa; contains interesting materials on the history of the Eastern Slavs, Turkmens and some other peoples. Sources for Idrisi were personal observations, as well as information he gleaned from the stories of travelers, merchants, sailors, pilgrims, as well as the works of ibn Khordadbeh, Yakubi, ibn Haukal, Masudi and other Arab geographers and travelers.

Main work:"Entertainment of the yearning for wandering around the regions" ("An entertaining and useful guide for those who wish to travel around the world") ("Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi-khtirak al-afak").

Reconstruction of an inverted map of Al-Idrisi

Ibn Fadlan (Ahmed ibn al-Abbas ibn Rashid ibn Hammad ) (about 870– about 925) Arab traveler and writer Ibn Fadlan in 921–922 as part of the embassy of Caliph Mukhtadir, he made a long journey through Central Asia, the Ustyurt plateau, the Caspian lowland, along the Volga he climbed to the city of Bulgar (the environs of modern Kazan). He met with tall, golden-haired Russians, described some of their customs, including the funeral ceremony. He was the first traveler who gave clear, accurate reports about the northern Caspian regions and the Trans-Volga region and correctly listed the rivers crossing the Caspian lowland. For all these rivers, ibn Fadlan gives names that coincide or are similar to modern ones.

Main work:"Risale" ("Note").

Campaigns and travels of the Middle Ages

The beginning of the Middle Ages was marked by the "great migration of peoples." The northern European peoples also began to move in extraordinary proportions. The Roman Empire tried to regulate this process. Treaties were concluded with some peoples, allowing them to settle on the territory of the empire, where state-owned or lands torn away from large estates were allocated for them. They were the Burgundians, the Visigoths. More and more the Roman Empire learns about the barbarians living near its borders. In the works of Theophanes "Chronography", Mauritius "Strategikon", Jordan "On the origin and deeds of the Getae", descriptions of the life of the Slavic peoples appear.

In the early Middle Ages, regular road communication existed thanks to Roman roads. From the 4th century they begin to be restored, and they acquire a "second life". In Central Europe, the first national road was built between Mainz and Koblenz. All Central Europe crossed a dirt road - "Vindobona Arrow" - from the Baltic States to Vindobona (Vienna). Amber was delivered along it. The best roads in the Byzantine Empire were in the Balkans. Pilgrimage became widespread in the Middle Ages. The patrons of pilgrims in the Middle Ages are the Magi: Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar, who made a journey to worship the Infant Jesus. They began to be revered by Christians from the II century.

The wanderings of the pilgrims to Palestine began already in the III - IV centuries. Under Emperor Constantine, temples were built in Jerusalem, in particular the Church of the "Holy Sepulcher". Constantine's mother, Queen Helena, undertook a journey to Jerusalem, where she contributed to the discovery of the "Tree of the Cross of the Lord" in one of the caves, not far from Golgotha. By this time, the names of such famous pilgrims as St. Porfiry, who later became Bishop of Gaza; Eusebius of Cremona; St. Jerome, who studied the Holy Scriptures of the Apostle Paul in Bethlehem; daughter of Jerome - Eustache from the famous family of Gracchi, who is buried near the birthplace of Jesus Christ. As Christianity spread, more and more people appeared in Europe who wanted to visit Palestine. In the IV century. The pilgrimage to the Holy Land has become such a mass phenomenon that among the pilgrims themselves it has often come to be perceived simply as "foreign tourism." Already in the 5th century for the pilgrims coming from Gaul, a route, or road book, was compiled, which served them as a guide from the banks of the Rhone and Dordona to the Jordan River. In the VI century. from Piacenza traveled to the Holy Land of St. Antonin with a large number of his admirers. After this journey, another road builder would have been compiled - “Pyachensky Road Worker”, the Holy Land was described in detail.

But in the seventh century Under Caliph Omar, an event occurred that for Christians is considered the greatest disaster since the birth of Christ. The holy city of Jerusalem was captured by the Muslims. Until now, passions have not subsided in this long-suffering land.

However, even under these conditions, the pilgrimage to the holy places continued. The most favorable conditions for pilgrimage developed during the reign of the caliph from the Abassid dynasty - Harun al-Rashid (786 - 809). Between him and the emperor Charlemagne (768 - 814) relations full of mutual respect were established. He sent Charlemagne the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. At that time, a special hospice for pilgrims was built in Jerusalem by decree of Charlemagne. Beginning in the 9th century, the pilgrimage began to be imposed in the form of a public punishment and a means of expiation. And in the XI century. The Catholic Church replaced church repentance with pilgrimage. Thus, pilgrimage is one of the sides of the internal motivation of tourism and is close to the most natural feelings of a person, multiplied by a religious impulse. In great honor among the pilgrims were St. Hilarius in Poitiers, St. Martial in Limoges, St. Cernin in Toulouse, St. Denis in Paris, St. Remy in Reims, St. Martin in Type, who went to worship for 200 km or more. Over time, the tombs of bishops become objects of worship for pilgrims. The pilgrimage of the founder of the Frankish state Clovis to the monastery of Saint-Martin in Type in 498 is known.

The “local” pilgrimage centers include Gargano, famous for the miracles of St. Michael, or Cassino, the illustrious St. Benedict. There were also shrines on the Iberian Peninsula, occupied by the Moors, where pilgrims from Europe also went. The French King Robert traveled to Rome to venerate the relics of St. Peter and Paul. One of the Christian shrines located in Galicia was the tomb of St. James. Pilgrimage gave rise to another type of travel - travel with missionary purposes. One of the first missionaries who spread Christianity as early as the 4th century. in European countries, was Martin of Tours. Having begun preaching in the regions of northwestern Gaul, he then went to Britain. There his activities were so successful that many Britons, having become Christians, in turn took up missionary work. They spread Christianity in Ireland and further, all the way to Iceland.

In the IV - VIII centuries. The Irish church in terms of culture occupied a leading position in Europe. Many of the Irish monks became the main preachers of Christianity. The most famous of them is St. Columban, who lived at the turn of the VI - VII centuries. He knew the works of Virgil and Horace, read Seneca and Juvenal, but his main desire was to "wander for Christ." Like Christ, he set off on his journey with twelve fellow monks. The first monastery was created by him in 575 in the deserted Vosges. As a missionary he traveled through Gaul, Alemannia and Langobardia, founding monasteries. The most famous and major cultural center is the monastery near Genoa - Bobbio.

Another example of missionary activity is the wanderings of St. Amand, a contemporary of Columban. Merchants followed the monks into the Middle East. The most famous of them was the Alexandrian merchant Cosmas. In the VI century. he traveled to Ethiopia, India and Western Asia, for which he received the nickname Indokoplov, i.e. "Sailor to India" After his return, he wrote the essay "The Christian Topography of the Universe". In the first place Cosmas put the authority of the Bible, trying to harmonize the data of physical geography with the content of Holy Scripture.

Along with missionaries and merchants, pilgrims (wandering monks) traveled from one monastery to another. They were accepted everywhere and instead of paying for accommodation, they were asked to pray for their hosts. Pilgrims also went to Egypt, where they wandered through the deserts near ancient Memphis, "joining" the life of the famous hermits - Paul and Anthony. But, of course, the most intimate desire was to visit Jerusalem. There were so many pilgrims that in the second half of the 8th century. guidebooks (itineraria) were created especially for them. The earliest of them is “The Tale of Epiphanius Hagiopolitus about Syria and the Holy City”. In the XII century. The Byzantine pilgrim John Phocas compiled another itinerary called “A Brief History of Cities and Countries from Antioch to Jerusalem, as well as Syria, Phenicia and the Holy Places of Palestine.” It describes Beirut, Silon, Tire and Nazareth, describes Christian shrines in the Jordan Valley and near Dead Sea. John Foka also visited Bethlehem, Caesarea of ​​Palestine, and from there sailed to his place of residence - the island of Crete.

But, despite the developed system of pilgrimage and missionary work in Europe, the dominant position in the field of travel and discovery of the Middle Ages belongs to Arab travelers. In the 7th century AD The Arabs, who lived on the Arabian Peninsula, conquered a huge territory. In the east - the Iranian Highlands and Turkestan, north of Arabia - Mesopotamia, the Armenian Highlands and part of the Caucasus, in the northwest - Syria and Palestine, in the west - all of North Africa. In 711, the Arabs crossed Gibraltar and conquered almost the entire Iberian Peninsula.

Thus, by the eighth century. the Arabs owned the western, eastern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, the entire coast of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, as well as the northern coast Arabian Sea. They also owned the most important land roads connecting Europe with Asia and China.

Suleiman, a merchant from Basra, was one of the first Arab travelers. In 851 he traveled from the Persian Gulf across the Indian Ocean to China. Along the way, he visited Ceylon, Sumatra, the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. During the trip, Suleiman kept notes. Subsequently, these records were supplemented by the Arab geographer Abu-Zeid-Ghassan and have survived to this day in that form.

At the beginning of the X century. Persian writer Ibn-Dast traveled through Western Asia and Eastern Europe. He outlined the results of his wanderings in the historical and geographical encyclopedia "The Book of Precious Treasures". In it, he mentions the Slavs, describes their way of life, customs, customs. Ahmed-Ibn-Fodlan wrote about the Slavs and ancient Russians in his book "Journey to the Volga". He, as part of the embassy of the Baghdad caliph Muktadir, went to the Volga Bulgars in order to strengthen them in the Islamic faith. The embassy passed through the Iranian highlands and Bukhara to Khorezm, crossed the Ustyug plateau, the Caspian lowland and reached the middle Volga near the mouth of the Kama. Ibn Fodlan testifies that he saw many Russian merchants there. This suggests that by that time the trade routes of Russian merchants ran far to the east.

Of the travelers of the first half of the X century. we can note the Baghdad historian and geographer Massudi. Two of his books have come down to us: Golden Meadows and Diamond Placers and Messages and Observations. He visited all the countries of the Near and Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, and in the south - East Africa to Madagascar. In the middle of the X century. the Arab writer Istakhri traveled around the countries of the Middle East, Central Asia and India, who, on the basis of personal observations and literary materials, wrote the "Book of Climates". Having visited all Muslim countries, another Arab traveler Ibn-Khaukal supplemented the work of Istakhri by writing the book "Ways and Kingdoms". A follower of Istakhri was also the Palestinian Arab Muqaddasi (in another version, Mandisi), who traveled for 20 years in Western Asia and North Africa.

Famous traveler in the X century. was a Khorezm scientist-encyclopedist and poet Abu-Reihan Biruni (973 - 1048). During his forced wanderings, he studied the Iranian plateau and part of Central Asia. Against his will, he had to accompany the conqueror of Khorezm, the Afghan Sultan Mahmud Ghaznevi, during a campaign against the Punjab. Biruni collected materials on Indian culture and used them as the basis of his great work on India, which he called "The Canon of Massula". Biruni also wrote books: "History of India", "Mineralogy", "Monuments of Past Generations". In his book The Key to Astronomy, Biruni criticized the idea of ​​the immobility of the Earth and suggested a heliocentric structure of the world. He pointed to the gradual emergence of various layers of the earth's surface.

An outstanding Arab scholar was Idrisi (1100 - 1166). He visited Asia Minor, England, France, Spain, and received his education in Cordoba. Idrisi was invited by the Sicilian king Roger II to Palermo to draw up geographical maps. For 15 years, Idrisi was engaged in processing the information delivered to him. The result of the work were two large essays. The first - "The entertainment of the weary in wandering through the regions", better known as the "Book of Roger", is equipped with 70 cards. The second - "The garden of affection and entertainment of the soul" - was equipped with 73 cards. Under the leadership of Idrisi, a model of the firmament was built in Palermo, as well as an earthly disk with images of the seven climates of the Earth applied to it. But all this was destroyed in 1160 during the riots.

In the XIII century. the maps compiled by Idrisi were corrected and supplemented by the Arab traveler Ibn al Vardi, who wrote the book The Pearl of Miracles. In the XIII century. all the geographical knowledge of Arab travelers was summarized in a multi-volume " Geographic dictionary”, created by the Byzantine Greek, a Muslim by religion Yakut. He used not only materials from Arab authors, but also from Byzantine Christian writers. For many years he lived in Old Merv and worked in the libraries of this medieval cultural and scientific center.

The most prominent Arab traveler of the XIV century. was a traveling merchant Ibn Battuta (1304 - 1377). In 1325 he left his native city of Tangier for Alexandria. Then he climbed up the Nile to the first threshold, visited Syria, Palestine, Western Arabia and Iraq. Then he visited Mecca and went along the coast to the south of Yemen, and from there by sea to the Mozambique irrigation. On his way back, Ibn Battuta reached Hormuz by sea through Zanzibar, visited the Bahrain Islands and southern Iran, and then returned to Egypt. From Egypt, through Syria and Asia Minor, he went to the city of Sinop on the Black Sea, swam to the southern coast of Crimea, and from there went to the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai-Berke, located in the lower reaches of the Volga, on the upper Akhtuba. Then the traveler went north to the city of Bolgar. Returning to Saray-Berke, Ibn-Battuta accompanied the Tatar embassy to Constantinople. From Constantinople, Ibn Battuta through the Caspian lowland and the desert plateau Ustyug reached the city of Urgench, and from there to Bukhara. He visited Samarkand, then turned south, crossed the Amu Darya, overcame the Hindu Kush and entered the valley of the middle Indus. There he reached Delhi through the Punjab. Ibn Battuta lived in India for several years as an official of the Sultan of Delhi. In 1342 he was sent by the Sultan to China, but on his way to (South India) he was robbed. Left without a livelihood, he was forced to enter the service of the Muslim ruler of the Maldives. Having obtained funds, Ibn Battuta arrived in Ceylon, from there he went by sea to China, and visited Beijing. Then he again sailed to Ceylon, from there through Malabar, Arabia, Syria and Egypt in 1349 he returned to Tangier.

Having finished his wanderings, Ibn Battuta dictated descriptions of his travels. For 25 years of travel, he traveled by land and by sea about 120 thousand km. The book "The Travels of Ibn Battuta" has been translated into many European languages. It contains a large historical, geographical and ethnographic material. Thus, the Arab scientists-travelers of the 9th-14th centuries. made a great contribution to the history of the development and discovery of new lands, significantly expanded the ideas of ancient authors about the world around them, introducing Western Europe to the Asian continent, which contributed to the convergence of Asian and European civilizations.

But the Arab conquests also had a negative connotation for Europe. With the advent Arab Caliphate for Europeans, the paths to the markets of eastern and European countries were closed, land communication with India was completely excluded. This led to the fact that in the ninth century. there was a shift of trade routes to the north of Europe. The most courageous sailors among Europeans during this period were the Normans. The Norman seafarers were known by various names: the Frisians, who lived on the territory of modern Belgium and Holland; Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Franks, who lived on the territory of modern Ireland, England and France; Vikings, Scandinavians, Ostmans, Nordleids, who lived on the territory of modern Finland, Norway and Sweden; Danes, Aksamats, Geids, Historlings, who lived on the territory of modern Denmark, in northern Germany, as well as on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Normans, i.e. northern people, was a common name for these peoples. In Byzantium they were called varangs, in Rus' - varangs, and the Arabs called them madhus, which means "pagan monsters"

The sub-civilization of the Normans existed from the middle of the VIII to early XII centuries The main occupations of the Normans were cattle breeding and fishing. The ships of the Normans were built of oak and spruce. Their ships were different from those that sailed the Mediterranean. They were with high sides and a pointed bottom. These were vessels of the "river - sea" type, no more than 30 meters long and 4.5 meters wide. On them, the Normans reached Constantinople. The sharp-bottomed (keel) ships of the Normans made a real revolution in shipbuilding. Subsequently, such vessels were introduced along the entire coast of Europe.

But the greatest achievement of the Norman navigators is that they were still in the 9th century. reached the shores of North America. The Normans did not know navigational instruments. In the open sea, they were guided by the stars and the sun. The depth and temperature of the water in the ocean also helped them determine their location. In addition, they were guided by the flight of birds. It is also known that when the Normans sailed to Greenland, they were guided along the way by the movement of shoals of fish - cod and herring.

In 985, one of the ships, led by Bjarni, sailing from Iceland to Greenland, was carried far to the west, but the sailors still managed to sail back to Greenland, where they told about a wonderful new land covered with dense forests. In 1000 Leif Eirikson discovered America. This time, the discovery of new lands was not accidental. Leif set out on just one ship with a crew of 35. They made stops on the Labrador Peninsula, which was given the name Markland - "Forestland", and in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bNewfoundland or New England, calling this land Vinland - "Land of Grapes". The Norwegians wintered in Vinland. After returning to Greenland, it was decided to colonize these lands. A group of settlers, led by Leif Eirikson's brother, arrived in Vinland and even settled in those houses that the Vikings built for themselves for the winter.

But the settlers did not develop friendly relations with the natives. This even follows from the fact that the Vikings called them "Skraelings" - scoundrels. The Vikings fled. And although five more expeditions to Vinland were undertaken, they also ended in failure due to clashes with the Indians. The memory of the great sea campaigns of the Normans was preserved in the "Saga of the Greenlanders", "The Saga of Erik the Red", "The Saga of Gisli", etc. Moving east, the Normans crossed the Baltic Sea, entered the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland, and along the rivers of Eastern Europe reached the Black Sea, and from there penetrated into Byzantium. In the northern direction, the Normans skirted the Scandinavian Peninsula and reached the White Sea. In a westerly direction, they were the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean and colonized Iceland.

According to legend, Iceland was discovered in 860 by the Norwegian Naddod, whose ship went off course and landed on unfamiliar shores. Soon settlers from Scandinavia appeared here, who considered that the climate of the southern regions of Iceland is very similar to the climate of their homeland, which allowed them to do well. famous species economic activity. The colonists did not lose contact with Scandinavia and also traded with other peoples of continental Europe and the population of the British Isles.

In 900, a storm caused the discovery of Greenland. The ship, led by Gunnbjorn and heading from Norway to Iceland, was driven back to unfamiliar shores. The navigator did not explore the unknown coast and returned to Norway. Later, Eric the Red found this country and explored its coasts for three years. In order to attract immigrants, he even named these not very friendly lands Greenland (Greenland). In 985, the first batch of settlers on 25 ships left Iceland for new lands. But only 14 ships managed to get to Greenland, the rest either sank during a storm or turned back to Iceland. The descendants of the Vikings were forced out of Greenland after almost 400 years by the indigenous inhabitants of this island - the Eskimos. The Normans fortified themselves on the northern and eastern coasts of Britain and in the east of Ireland. On the territory of present-day France, they fortified themselves in the lower reaches of the Seine. This area is still called Normandy to this day.

The Normans were attracted to the wealthy trading cities of Europe. At that time, the Europeans did not have regular armies, so they were practically powerless in the face of the devastating Viking raids. The Normans raided the Atlantic shores of the Iberian Peninsula, penetrated the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar, plundered Southern Europe and reached Sicily.

Despite the predatory nature of some of the Norman voyages, their discoveries and improvements in maritime affairs had positive influence for the preparation and conduct of voyages of subsequent sailors. In addition, they managed to bring European trade out of the impasse that was caused by the Arab conquests and the capture of the main intercontinental trade routes by the Arabs. In the IX-XI centuries. in Europe, pilgrimage tourism continued to develop, which was mostly carried out with the aim of atoning for sins. Starting from the IX century. the pilgrimage began to be imposed in the form of a public punishment and a means of expiation. In 868, the noble and wealthy Breton Frothmond, who killed his uncle and one of his brothers, was sentenced to a three-time "journey" to the Holy Land to receive a full atonement for his sins. The Roman prefect Cenzius, who insulted the pope himself in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, captivated him at the altar and put him in prison, was forced to beg for forgiveness at the foot of the Holy Sepulcher.

To the famous Western European pilgrims of the 11th century. they refer to Fulk of Anjou, accused of murdering his wife and other crimes, who visited the Holy Land three times; Robert of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror, at whose command his brother Richard was killed. After fasting with prayers, pilgrims dressed in a shroud visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This shroud was preserved by them for the rest of their lives, and, as a rule, they were buried in it. Many tried to visit Bethlehem and took a palm branch from there with them to their homeland. To receive pilgrims and other wanderers, hotels were arranged - hospitals (hospes). In the XI century. especially famous for its reception of pilgrims following from Burgundy to Italy, a monastery on Mount Tsenis. In the same century, in Spain, shelters were created for pilgrims - albergeria and hospitals, where one could not only relax, but also receive medical care and exchange money. Shelters on mountain roads obliged their caretakers during snowfall or fog to ring the bell and even act as a conductor.

A special service for the pilgrims was provided by the knightly Order of the Hospitallers (Johnites). It originates from a hospital located in Jerusalem at the monastery of the Virgin Mary, where, long before the Arab conquests, pilgrims who came to the Holy Land were received and treated. The task of the brotherhood was to help pilgrims and merchants, as well as their protection from the robbery of the infidels, which aroused the fighting spirit of the knights of this Order. The Hospitallers created a whole network of hotels throughout the Middle East.

But gradually, military goals began to come to the fore more and more, only individual knights of the Order provided assistance to the pilgrims. In 1259, the Pope even approved by a special decree three types of members of the Order: knights, priests and hospital brothers. Despite the developed system of shelters and hotels, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make a pilgrimage to holy places. Pilgrims entered Jerusalem through the Ephraim Gate, and they took taxes at the entrance. In front of the gates often accumulated crowds of thousands wanderers waiting for a wealthy pilgrim who could pay the toll for them. Exhausted by hunger and poverty, the wanderers were forced to wait in the wings for months. There were cases when people died at the gates of Jerusalem. But even those who paid the tax did not feel safe. An atmosphere of enmity and hostility towards Christians reigned in the city. Cases of attacks on pilgrims going to holy places have become more frequent.

Europe has sounded the alarm. With a mass gathering of people, letters from famous pilgrims about the situation of Christians and pilgrims from European countries in the Middle East were read. Hysteria erupted. In 1095, Pope Urban II delivered a sermon in front of a thousand-strong crowd of believers in the city of Clermont, calling for a holy war against the infidels. The exaltation of the feelings of the Pope during this speech, densely interspersed with the sayings of the prophets, was so great that it was accompanied by weeping and sobbing of the crowd. Thus began the era of the Crusades. The officially proclaimed goals of the crusades were the liberation of the Holy Land from the infidel Muslims - and the seizure of common Christian shrines, given to the "disgrace" of Islam. The term "crusades" itself was not used at that time. It originated in late XVII century, when the court historian of Louis XIV Louis Maembourt wrote treatise dedicated to this era. It was called History of the Crusades.

To everyone who wanted to go on the road and stand up for their brothers in faith, the priest gave out a canvas with the image of a cross, and the clothes were sprinkled with holy water. During the absence of the crusaders, their property and families were to be under the protection of the church. Crusaders for the duration of the campaigns were exempted from any debt obligations, as well as from taxes and taxes. Serfs who wished to take part in the campaign were freed from the power of their feudal lords. In addition, the church promised remission of sins to all who would accept the cross.

In the spring of 1096, the first campaign against Palestine began. This hike can be divided into two parts. First, peasants and urban outcasts with their families set off from Northern and Central France and Western Germany. There were about 30,000 of them. They were poorly or not armed at all. It was the so-called "poor people's campaign". It was led by Peter the Hermit and the beggar knight Walter Golyak. They moved along the path well known to pilgrims - along the Rhine and Danube. Only these "pilgrims" behaved like robbers. Mass looting, robberies turned the local population against them. In order to protect their citizens in some countries (Hungary, Byzantine Bulgaria), special corridors were created that did not allow the moving convoy to turn off the road.

The notoriety of such unfortunate pilgrims reached Asia Minor, where the Seljuk Turks dominated. The Turks gave the crusaders the opportunity to reach the city of Nicaea, and, not wanting to endanger their population, they killed almost everyone. Only a detachment of 3,000 people managed to return back. In the autumn of the same year, well-armed knightly detachments set off on a campaign. Their militia consisted of four parts. The Norman duke Robert was at the head of the knights of Northern France; Southern France - Count Raymond of Toulouse; Lorraine - Duke Gottfried of Bouillon and his brother Baldwin; Southern Italy - Bohemond Tarensky. Behind the knights were carts with peasants. In the spring of 1097, these detachments united in Constantinople. With the authorities and local residents, the crusaders behaved defiantly, committed robberies and riots. The Byzantine emperor Alexei II, on the one hand, not wanting to quarrel with the crusaders, and on the other hand, trying to protect his citizens, urgently organized the crossing of knightly detachments to the shores of Asia Minor.

Overcoming the resistance of the Turks, the crusaders invaded the Christian Armenian principality of Cilicia. It is a former Roman province with the capital city of Edessa. Despite protests from Byzantium, the crusaders captured this principality and created the County of Edessa on its territory, which was headed by Baldwin. In 1098, the crusaders captured the city of Antioch (now Antakia) and created the Principality of Antioch, headed by Bohemond of Taren. In the spring of 1099, the crusaders, consisting of 20 thousand knights, approached Jerusalem and, after a long siege, took it by storm.

Thus, by 1100, four crusader states were formed: the county of Edessa, the principality of Antioch, the county of Triapoli, inherited by Raymond of Toulouse, and the kingdom of Jerusalem, headed by Gottfried of Bouillon. The first three states were in vassal dependence on the latter. The local population, in fact, was turned into serfs. The church received huge lands and complete tax exemption. The volume of trade increased rapidly, in which the crusader states became centers of transit trade between eastern countries and Europe. Europe flourished. A stream of goods poured in from Egypt, Syria, Persia, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. But most importantly, an age-old dream came true: Jerusalem became Christian again. We can say that it was the "golden age" of medieval Europe and it seemed that no one could shake its power.

Second campaign (1147 - 1149) led by the French king Louis VIII and the German emperor Conrad III. The spiritual inspirer of this campaign was the theologian Bernard of Clairvaux. In Europe, a special tax was introduced on the equipment of the crusaders. Both knights and ordinary people went on a campaign. Many noble knights were accompanied by their wives and even servants. The knights themselves sailed to Constantinople on ships. Commoners were forced to travel to this city by land, and most of them died on the way. The feudal knights considered this campaign not so much as a military action, but as a pleasure trip. Arriving in Constantinople, they spent their time in idle feasts and entertainment and were unable to organize a serious attack on Damascus, which was originally the goal of this campaign.

At the same time, the Muslims created a united state. After the fall of the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt (1171), the commander Saladin became the sultan, who united Egypt, Syria and parts of Mesopotamia. Saladin declared a "holy war" (ghazavat) to the crusaders. His troops recaptured the cities of Sidon and Beirut from the crusaders and in 1187 captured Jerusalem. This was the impetus for the start of a new crusade.

Third campaign (1189 - 1192) led by the King of England Richard I the Lionheart, the French King Philip II and the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. The troops of Frederick I moved overland through Sofia and Adrianople. Then they crossed the Dardanelles to Asia Minor. There, while crossing one of the rivers, Frederick I drowned. Having reached the city of Konya (the central part of Turkey), the knights turned back. The troops under the leadership of Richard I set off by sea from London and Dartmouth, along the coasts of France, Spain and through the Strait of Gibraltar entered the Mediterranean Sea. In Marseille and Genoa they were joined by knights led by Philip II. Further from the Ligurian Sea through the Strait of Bonifacio, their ships entered the Tyrrhenian Sea and through the Strait of Messina into the Mediterranean Sea. The knights of Richard I, having captured the islands of Crete and Rhodes, joined with the knights of Philip II near the city of Acre, which they took by storm, and were ready to go to Jerusalem. But, having learned that the troops of Frederick I turned back, and the German emperor himself died, the crusaders postponed the assault on Jerusalem until the next crusade.

Fourth campaign (1202 - 1204). A decade after the third trip to political life Europe has undergone great changes. Large feudal lords demanded a redistribution of property, the struggle for power intensified, the faith of the masses in the saving nature of the campaigns against Jerusalem shook, and the campaigns themselves became aggressive, although they still took place under the banner of Christ.

An example of this was the fourth crusade. It was attended by French, Italian and German feudal lords. The organizer of this campaign, Pope Innocent III, took the initiative to conquer Egypt from the Arabs and divide these lands. The ships with the crusaders had to sail from Venice. But the Venetian merchants managed to change the intentions of the crusaders (by bribery, deceit, etc.). As a result, the Crusaders did not go to Egypt, but, rounding the Balkan Peninsula, sailing through the Aegean and Marmara Seas, treacherously attacked Byzantium. Byzantine Empire from the 11th century was weakened by the conquests of the Seljuk Turks, and therefore could not offer serious resistance to the crusaders. In 1204, the crusaders captured and destroyed Constantinople. On the site of the Byzantine Empire, the crusaders created the Latin Empire, the Thessaly and Achaean principalities, as well as the Athenian-Theban duchy.

Under such conditions, the campaign against Jerusalem became irrelevant. The attention of feudal Europe turned to the newly created states. But not everyone was satisfied with the results of the fourth campaign. The newly created Orders of Dominicans and Franciscans showed particular dissatisfaction. They believed that the feudal lords discredited the noble mission of the crusades and insisted on cleansing from sins. They believed that only the innocent souls of children could save the day. Thus was born one of the most grandiose and tragic adventures of the Middle Ages.

In 1212, the so-called "Children's Crusade" took place. It was led by a shepherd boy named Stefan, who was told that he was the messenger of God and was called to lead the righteous children in order to win the Holy Land from the Muslims. Around 50,000 children across Europe responded to the call. Their collection took place in Marseille. From there, they were to be sent on ships to Syria. But the children were deceived by the slave traders and instead of Syria they were taken to Egypt, where they were sold in the slave markets. From such insidiousness, Europe fell into despondency. The crusader movement began to decline. But agitation by the Greek Catholic Church still gave its results. A new crusade was organized.

Fifth campaign (1217 - 1212) led by the Hungarian king Andras. It was a weak hike. Western European feudal lords and rulers considered the Hungarian king an upstart and did not support him. The crusaders of Western Europe were preparing their campaign.

Sixth campaign (1228 - 1229) excommunicated German Emperor Frederick II. Upon learning of this, Pope Gregory IX tried to ban this campaign. But it was already impossible to stop the knights. Moreover, Frederick II tried to atone for his guilt for the children who fell into slavery. The trip was quite successful. The knights captured cities in Palestine and Egypt, returned some of the teenagers to their homeland. The crusaders even managed to take Jerusalem. But there was no particular enthusiasm in Europe for this. Fifteen years later, in 1244, the Muslims captured Jerusalem again. And, although after that the crusades were still carried out, they were already of a purely conquest character.

Seventh campaign (1228 -1254) led by the French king Louis IX. The knights set out to conquer the coast North Africa(the territory of modern Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria). The campaign ended in failure, and Louis IX himself was captured, from which he was subsequently ransomed for a lot of money. Moreover, the crusaders lost all their possessions. In 1261, under the onslaught of the troops of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, the Latin Empire of the Crusaders ceased to exist. The Byzantine Empire was restored, but only memories remained of its former greatness. In 1268 the crusaders lost Antioch. A series of defeats forced the crusaders to organize a new campaign.

The eighth campaign took place in 1270. The issue of recapturing the Holy Land from the infidels no longer figured among the main tasks of this campaign. He not only did not improve the situation, but brought new losses. In 1289, the crusaders surrendered the city of Tripoli, and in 1291. left their last stronghold in Syria and throughout the Middle East - the city of Acre. Only the islands of Crete, Rhodes and a number of other islands of the Mediterranean Sea remained behind the crusader knights in the East.

This was the end of the nearly three hundred year era of the Crusades. But historically and socially, the Crusades also had positive results. For the first time, Western Europeans rose from their seats in large masses, which gave them the opportunity to get acquainted with countries and peoples unknown to them. They partly adopted their manners and customs, partly passed on theirs to them. Thanks to these campaigns, Europe was able to get acquainted with the achievements of science and culture of the Arab world. European scientists have significantly enriched their knowledge in the field of astronomy, geography, mathematics, and chemistry.

Universities are springing up in Europe. Bologna, founded at the end of the 11th century, can be considered the first university. In 1200, the University of Paris appeared, which was formalized as the "Sorbonne" by the constituent charter of Philip II. In the XII century. Oxford and Cambridge universities were founded in England, Salaman in Spain and Neapolitan in Italy. Arab philosophers translated into Arabic and preserved many works of ancient authors, in particular Aristotle. In European literature, new plots began to appear, borrowed from the works of Eastern authors. The food has become more varied. Europeans began to cultivate previously unknown rice, apricots, lemons, buckwheat, watermelons, pistachios, to use sugar obtained from sugar cane. Prior to this, honey was the only sweet product in Europe.

In the XII century. in Europe began to build windmills. The crusaders saw them in Syria. Eastern origin some fabrics, such as satin, which means "beautiful" in Arabic. From the end of the XII century. began to breed carrier pigeons, which had long been used by the Arabs. The Crusades gave a significant impetus to overland travel. Further development of travel is associated with the Mongol conquests. At the beginning of the XIII century. Mongol-Tatars created a huge empire from the Danube to the Pacific Ocean. As a result of the Mongol conquests, routes were created through Eastern Europe to Central Asia and China. In European circles, it was believed that it was possible not only to trade with the Mongols, but also to use them as allies in the fight against Muslims during the Crusades.

In 1245, on behalf of Pope Innocent IV, the Italian Franciscan monk Giovanni del Plano Carpini went to establish diplomatic relations with the Mongol khans. He left Lyon, where the Pope's residence was. Then he proceeded through the Czech and Polish lands and arrived in Kyiv. There he purchased furs and other valuable gifts for Mongol Khan. From Kyiv, Carpini reached the city of Danilov, and, having moved to Kanev on the Dnieper, ended up in the possession of the Mongols.

The Karpini embassy initially reached the headquarters of Batu Khan, which was located at the mouth of the Volga. The Mongols liked the gifts and the content of the papal letter, and Karpini was allowed to go to Karakorum to the Great Khan Ogedei. But Carpini was allowed to take with him only one companion - the Franciscan monk Benedict. They traveled more than eight thousand kilometers in three and a half months. By the time they arrived in Karakorum, the Great Khan Ogedei had died. While the ambassadors were waiting for who would become the new great khan, Carpini observed the life and way of life of the Mongols. In his famous book "History of the Mongols" Carpini talks about the customs, customs, traditions of this people, gives a description of their appearance and even character traits. A month later, Ogedei's son Kuyuk was proclaimed Great Khan. He rejected the proposal of the ambassadors for a military alliance and even threatened to destroy the whole world from East to West. Safely leaving Karakorum, the ambassadors reached Kyiv in 1247, and from there returned to Rome.

Six years after the return of Carpini, the Franciscan monk Guillaume de Rubruk went to the Mongols. He was sent by Louis IX during the seventh crusade. In 1253, Rubruk sailed from Acre (then it was still under the rule of the crusaders) in order to persuade the Mongols to oppose the Muslims and help the defeated knights of Louis IX. Rubruk reached the Crimean peninsula by sea. Then he rode on wagons to the Volga and, along the route laid by Carpini, reached the Karakorum. There he was received by the Great Khan Mongke, who Once again rejected European proposals for any kind of alliance.

But the work left by Rubruk - "Journey to Eastern Countries" gave Europeans a lot of valuable information about the life of the Mongols. In 1911 the book was translated into Russian. It describes Astrakhan, the Caucasus, the cities of Asia Minor. Having examined the coast of the Caspian Sea, Rubruk determined that it was not an ocean bay, as Herodotus and Strabo believed, but a lake. Rubruk also marked the Central Asian highlands on the map.

Odoriko Matiusz, a Franciscan monk from the Czech Republic, traveled around Asia with missionary goals. He began his journey in 1316 from the walls of Constantinople. Crossing the Caucasus, he reached Iran, where he visited ancient capital Persepolis. Then he went to Baghdad and from there he moved to the port city of Hormuz and sailed to Bombay by sea. Passing south along the Malabar coast, he visited the island of Ceylon and Madras. From Madras he sailed to the great Sunda Islands and from there he arrived in China. Matt lived in Beijing for three years. The traveler returned through Tibet, Afghanistan, Northern Iran, the Caucasus, and from there by sea to Venice. In total, his travels lasted 14 years, and wherever Odoriko Matiusz went, he tried to convert the local population to the Christian faith. For his missionary work, he was canonized by the Catholic Church. And yet, the Venetian merchant Marco Polo is considered the most famous traveler of the Middle Ages.

In the XIII century. Venetian and Genoese merchants dominated the Mediterranean Sea. It was they who tried to compete with Arab merchants in the struggle for markets in the East, Central Asia and China. The richest merchants of Venice, who, in terms of income, could be put on a par with the nobles, were the brothers Nicolo and Maffeo Polo. They lived in Constantinople, where at that time the Venetian merchants dominated, by whose will the crusaders captured this city. From there, the brothers went to the northeast, to the country of the Tatars, in order to establish new trade relations. In 1266 they arrived at Khan Kublai, the fourth son of Genghis Khan. The Mongols accepted the offer of the merchants and decided to send an embassy, ​​instructing the Polo brothers to be his representatives before Pope Gregory X. The Venetians returned home in 1269. On their next trip, the Polo brothers took their son Nicolò Marco with them.

The second journey began in 1271 from Acre. Constantinople at that time had already been recaptured from the crusaders, and Byzantine and Genoese merchants dominated there - the worst enemies of the Venetians. Further, the merchants reached the city of Layas (a port in Cilicia). Then their path lay through the cities of Kaiseria, Sivas, Erzinjan and Erzerum in Asia Minor. Through Anatolia, they arrive at the foot of Mount Ararat and further through Mosul, Tabriz, merchants travel through the cities of Persia: Tabriz, Sava, Yazd, Kerman. Then from Hormuz they intended to sail by ship to China. But the ships seemed unreliable to them, and they turned north to Afghanistan. Then they crossed the Pamirs and descended on the caravan route from Central Asia and Persia to China. But, unlike the first journey, the merchants did not go to Karakorum, but turned southwest and went to the Yellow River and reached Shandu, the summer headquarters of the Great Khan Kublai. Marco Polo entered the service of the Mongol Khan and served at the court of Khubilai for 17 years.

In 1295 Marco Polo returned to Venice. By this time, the enmity between the Venetian and Genoese merchants had reached its limit. This resulted in open confrontation. In 1298 the Genoese fleet attacked the Republic of Venice. The Genoese defeated the Venetians. Among the captured Venetians was Marco Polo. He was imprisoned in a fortress, and there he dictated his book "The Book of M. Polo on the Diversity of the World", which was written down by fellow prisoner Rusticiano. Peace was concluded in 1299, and Marco Polo returned home. The book of Marco Polo, according to many scholars, occupies an exceptional place among the works of medieval travelers and geographers. It contains a lot of information about East, South and West Asia. M. Polo also collected information about China, described the lands from Japan to Madagascar. This book even contains information about countries that Polo has never been to. This is what gave rise to some scientists to doubt the reliability of the book's materials.

Almost simultaneously with the journey of Marco Polo, the journey of two Uighurs, natives of China, Sauma and Marcos, took place. They belonged to the Nestorian Christians. Deciding to become hermits, Sauma and Markos settled in a cave dug by them not far from Khanbalik. It was there that the idea to get to Jerusalem was born. In 1278 they set off. Through East Turkestan, the travelers reached the headquarters of the Mongol Khan, from whom they received a safe-conduct that gave them the right to unhindered travel throughout Central Asia. Then there were the cities of Urgench, Khorezm and Khorasan. After a short rest, the wanderers crossed the Persian region of Azerbaijan and reached Baghdad. In 1280 Marcos and Sauma in Baghdad were proclaimed leaders of the Nestorian Church in China. Marcos later became the patriarch of the Nestorian Church.

At this time, the Mongol Khan Argun planned a campaign against Palestine and Syria, and decided to send an ambassador to the Byzantines and Western Europeans to enlist their help. Sauma was appointed as such an ambassador. In 1287 the embassy crossed the Black Sea and reached Constantinople. Then the embassy went to Naples, Rome, Genoa and Paris. From Paris, the embassy went to Bordeaux, and from there to Rome. After ten years of wandering in 1288, Sauma returned to the headquarters of the Mongol Khan. There he wrote notes about his travels. These notes formed the basis of the book "History of Mar Yabalakhi III and Rabban Sauma". In the Middle Ages, the movement of peoples took place not only from west to east, but also from east to west. Travelers made a significant contribution to the development of new countries and territories medieval China whose works were used by European scientists. For example, A. Humboldt in the book "Central Asia", K. Ritter in the book "Comparative Land Tenure of Asia" and others.

Starting from the IV century. AD, Buddhism spreads in China. This is due to the expansion of cultural ties between China and India. Pilgrims are sent from China to India, paving the way to Buddhist shrines. The most prominent of them was Fa Xian. In 339, he set out from his hometown of Xi'an northwest across the Loess Plateau and along the southern edge of the sandy deserts of northwestern China. After crossing several mountain ranges and passing through the Gobi desert, the traveler reached Lake Lob-Nor. From there, Fa Xian headed northwest, crossed the Tien Shan and reached the Ili River (near the modern border of China with Russia). Then he arrived in the kingdom of Khotan, where the Buddhist Tatars lived. There, Fa Xian attended a solemn Buddhist holiday, which he later colorfully described in his book. Then the traveler went to Eastern Afghanistan, where he visited and described the huge Buddhist statues carved into the rock.

Having crossed the mountains of Eastern Afghanistan, Fa Xian arrived in Northern India. After exploring the sources of the Indus River, he arrived at Peshawar, located between Kabul and the Indus. Then he crossed the Hindu Kush ridge and came to the Punjab, and in 414 he returned to his homeland by sea. In India, Fa Xian collected legends and tales about Buddha, observed nature, people, their customs and mores. Fa Xian expounded all his knowledge in the book Description of Buddhist States. It describes more than 30 states of Central Asia and India, summarizes historical, geographical and ethnographic information about these states. Two centuries after Fa Xian, a representative of Eastern Buddhism, Xuan Zang, traveled to India. In 626, he left Xi'an and traveled the first part of the journey along the road followed by his predecessor. From the city of Anxi, Xuan Zang went to the Tien Shan and reached Lake Lop Nor. Then the traveler turned to the northwest and, having crossed the Bedel pass (4,284 m), headed for the Central Asian territory. He walked along the banks of Issyk-Kul, visited the Chui valley, Chimkent, Tashkent and Samarkand. Then he went southeast to the lower reaches of the Vakhsh River and, not far from its confluence with the Pyanj, entered the territory of Afghanistan. The traveler crossed its eastern part through Kunduz, Charikar, Jalalabad and went to the Indian city of Peshawar.

Xuan Zang wandered around India for about 17 years. On the way back, he again visited Afghanistan and went to Xinjiang along the Pyanj valley, along the southern outskirts of the Pamirs. Through Tashkurgan, Kashgar and Kargalyk, he headed to Khotan and further east to Lake Lob-Nor. In 648, Xuan Zang wrote his famous work Notes on the Countries of the West, which was included in the treasury of Chinese literature. The book is distinguished by a wealth of factual data on history and geography. Eastern countries. In the 8th century it has been reprinted several times European languages. Thus, thanks to the travelers and explorers of the Middle Ages, a vast expanse from Norway to China was explored.

Shores explored Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and Red Seas, the Indian Ocean and the China Sea. Travelers penetrated into the interior regions of different countries - from Egypt to Ethiopia, from Asia Minor to the Caucasus, from India and China to Mongolia. The ships were well oriented in the wind regime, navigation instruments appeared, which made it possible to confidently embark on long voyages and created a prospect for new discoveries.

Until the middle of the XV century. the discoveries of the Greeks were forgotten, and the "center of geographical science" shifted to the East. The leading role in geographical discoveries passed to the Arabs. These are scientists and travelers - Ibn Sina, Biruni, Idrisi, Ibn Battuta. Important geographical discoveries in Iceland, Greenland and North America were made by the Normans, as well as the Novgorodians, who reached Svalbard and the mouth of the Ob.
Venetian merchant Marco Polo opened for Europeans East Asia. And Afanasy Nikitin, who sailed the Caspian, Black and Arabian seas and reached India, described the nature and life of this country.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries, the search for new lands and routes was carried out on a state scale. The fixation, mapping and generalization of the acquired knowledge have become of great importance. The search for the southern mainland ended with the discovery of Australia and Oceania. J. Cook made three round-the-world expeditions, discovering Hawaii and the Great Barrier Reef. Russian pioneers advanced to Siberia to the Far East.
15 CENTURY Afanasy Nikitin - robbed. Across the Caspian to Derbent, I spent a year. Debts. Went south to Baku. In the spring of 1469, Athanasius Nikitin reached Hormuz, a large port at the entrance from the Arabian Sea to the Persian Gulf, where trade routes from Asia Minor, Egypt, India and China crossed. In April 1471, Afanasy Nikitin went to India under the name of Haji Yusuf. After spending more than three years in India, Afanasy Nikitin set off on his return trip.
Afanasy Nikitin was the first Russian to describe South and Southeast Asia from Iran to China. He was the first among Europeans 30 years before Vasco da Gama reached India.
16 CENTURY Ermak - Chusovaya, crossing the Urals, Tagil, Tura. In October 1582, Yermak's ships reached the Irtysh River and anchored in Tobolsk. Tatars, Isker. Along the Irtysh. From the beginning of the spring of 1585, the detachments of Khan Karachi kept Isker under siege for a whole month. Yermak, under the cover of night, with a detachment of Cossacks, made his way to the headquarters of Karachi and defeated it. The khan himself managed to avoid death, but his troops retreated from Isker.
Tatars spread a rumor that a caravan from Bukhara had been detained at the mouth of the Vagai River. In 1585, near the city of Vagai, the Cossacks stopped for the night and were attacked by numerous detachments of the Tatars. With heavy losses, the Cossacks managed to break out of the encirclement and get to Isker on ships. But in this battle Ermak died. Ermak's Siberian campaign was a harbinger of numerous expeditions. A few years later, Russian troops took Pelym, conquered the Pelym principality and defeated the remnants of the Siberian Khanate. Then the routes from Vishera to Lozva were mastered, more convenient and easier than Tagil. Ural Range was finally conquered. Explorers moved to Siberia, who were waiting for new discoveries. Later, these lands began to be filled with military people, industrialists and peasant settlers.
16 CENTURY Magellan opened the western route to Asia and the Spice Islands. This first-ever circumnavigation of the world proved the correctness of the hypothesis about the sphericity of the Earth and the inseparability of the oceans washing the land.
15 CENTURY Vasco da Gama - opened sea ​​route from Western Europe to India and East Asia. Portugal became a colonial empire stretching from Gibraltar to the Strait of Malacca.
13 CENTURY Marco Polo - Venetian traveler. Born in the family of the Venetian merchant Niccolo Polo. In 1260, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, Marco's father and uncle, went to Beijing, which Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, made the capital of his possessions. Khubilai made them promise to return to China and bring some Christian monks with him. In 1271 the brothers set out on a long journey to the east, taking Marco with them. The expedition reached Beijing in 1275 and was warmly welcomed by Khubilai. Marco was a diligent young man and had a gift for languages. While his father and uncle were engaged in trade, he studied the Mongolian language. Khubilai, who usually brought talented foreigners closer to the court, hired Marco into the civil service. Soon Marco became a member of the secret council, and the emperor gave him several instructions. One of them was to draw up a report on the situation in Yunnan and Burma after the latter was conquered by the Mongols in 1287, the other was to buy a tooth of the Buddha in Ceylon. Marco subsequently became the prefect of Yangzhou. For 15 years of service, Marco studied China, collected a lot of information about India and Japan. Marco managed to get out of China only in 1292. Marco Polo died in Venice on January 8, 1324.
Abu Abdallah Mohammed Ibn Battuta is a famous Arab traveler and itinerant merchant who traveled all over the Islamic world - from Bulgar to Mombasa, from Timbuktu to China. During a nine-month stay in the Maldives, he married the daughter of a local Sultan
Pilgrimages to Mecca, Journeys to Yemen and East Africa Through Asia Minor To the Golden Horde and Constantinople To India and China To Mali.
In total, Ibn Battuta covered 120,700 km, which is beyond the power of many researchers, even those who use modern technical innovations. Ibn Battuta described all the visited countries as completely as possible. For the history of Russia, the description of the Golden Horde of the times of Khan Uzbek is of the greatest importance.
16 CENTURY Willem Barents - Dutch navigator and explorer. Leader of three Arctic expeditions.
First expedition - In 1594, the expedition with his participation left Amsterdam. The goal was to find the Northeast Passage to Asia. On July 10, Barents reached the coast of Novaya Zemlya, after which it turned north, but upon reaching the extreme northern point of the archipelago, it was forced to turn back.
Second Expedition - An expedition of seven ships that began in next year again under the command of Barents, made an attempt to pass between the coast of Siberia and the island of Vaygach. The expedition reached the strait too late - the strait was almost completely covered with ice.
The third expedition - May 16, 1596 launched the third expedition of the Barents to find the northern route to Asia. At the same time, he managed to discover Bear Island (Spitsbergen archipelago). Expedition of Barents, rounding Novaya Zemlya, reached the Kara Sea. Fearing death among the ice, the expedition landed on the shore and arranged a winter quarters. In the winter of 1597, while wintering, Barents fell ill with scurvy. Although by the beginning of June 1597 the Kara Sea was free of ice, the bay where the ship was anchored was still covered with ice. The winterers did not wait for the release of the ship - the northern summer is too short - and on June 14, 1597 they made a desperate attempt to get to the Kola Peninsula on 2 boats. Although the expedition reached the peninsula, Barents died on June 20 during this journey.
This expedition was the last Dutch attempt to find a northern route to Asia. Willem Barents was the first European to winter in the Arctic. The Barents Sea is named after him.

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  Travelers And pioneers era Middle Ages. Until the middle of the XV century. the discoveries of the Greeks were forgotten, and the "center of geographical science" shifted to the East. The leading role in geographical discoveries passed to the Arabs.


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  Travelers And pioneers era Middle Ages. Until the middle of the XV century. the discoveries of the Greeks were forgotten, and the "center of geographical science" shifted to the East. B. Merit of the Normans as travelers-navigators.


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  Travelers And pioneers era Middle Ages. Until the middle of the XV century. the discoveries of the Greeks were forgotten, and the "center of geographical science" shifted to the East. IN.


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  Travelers And pioneers era Middle Ages. Until the middle of the XV century. the discoveries of the Greeks were forgotten, and the "center of geographical science" shifted to the East.


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  Tourism era Middle Ages.
  Majority travelers were missionaries, priests and pilgrims traveling to holy places.


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  IN era Middle Ages the wise men become the patrons of wanderers and travelers: Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar, who made an unprecedented, truly sacred journey in their time, who came to worship
  They often help travelers money.


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  Perhaps in the entire history of mankind there would not have been a time when the importance of the church and religion would have been so great as in era middle ages. During the Middle Ages, the final Christianization of Europe took place.


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  European archeology arose as a science caused by the needs era Enlightenment, its relationship to the past.
  Among these pioneers there were such bright and colorful figures as V. Poyarkov, E. Khabarov, S. Dezhnev and many others.


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  The role of the Normans in the early Middle Ages. Normans - participants in sea campaigns on the territory of the Franks at the end of the VIII - the middle of the XI century. Today we call them Vikings; contemporaries of the Franks called them Normans.


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  Travelers others
  So, for example, if in era Paleolithic (40 - 15 thousand years ago) about 2 - 3 million people lived on Earth, then in era Neolithic (10 - 3 thousand years ago), the population of the Earth increased by more than 10 times.

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In the early stages of the formation of tourism as a sociocultural practice, individual travel dominated, many of which were unique and of great importance for the development of civilization. At all times there have been people whose curiosity and desire to know new countries and peoples forced them to undertake long and dangerous journeys, sometimes taking many years. Those travelers who left records and testimonies of their adventures became famous.

Such a great traveler in the world of the East in the XIV century. was Ibn Battuta, came from a trading and scientific family. In 1325, he set off from Tangier in North Africa on the traditional Muslim hajj to Mecca and Medina, left with a caravan to the east, passed Tripoli, Alexandria, Cairo and disappeared. Ibn Battuta returned to his native Tangier only after 25 years as an experienced wanderer. He became famous thanks to the exciting stories about his wanderings at the court of the Moroccan sultan. Fascinated by the extraordinary stories, the Sultan even appointed the narrator a special salary and offered to make a new trip to unknown Africa.

Ibn Battuta colorfully described new lands and unusual customs of people in other countries. He traveled to Jerusalem, reached Damascus, reached Mecca and Medina, Baghdad, then the center of the Islamic world, and then continued his way east to China (Fig. 3.1). Almost the entire non-Christian world known at that time was reflected in the stories of this traveler. His wanderings ran through Persia (Iran), Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf and the East coast of Africa. Ten years of travel occupied the Black Sea steppes, the banks of the mysterious Volga with the possessions of the Golden Horde. He visited the Crimea, in a trading cafe (Feodosia), reached Astrakhan, Bukhara and Samarkand, arrived with a caravan of furs in the "wonderland" of India, where he lived for almost nine years and even headed the Indian embassy to China.

The travel history of Ibn Battuta contained a description of many dangers and adventures: meetings with robbers, shipwrecks, imprisonment, battles with pirates, marriages to beauties, unexpected enrichment and losses. In fact, it was not even a journey, but a wandering life of an inquisitive and adventurous person. He admired precious stones in Ceylon, palaces in India and China, mastered the occupations of a sailor, merchant, diplomat, and writer. Almost all Muslim countries, eastern cities appear in the stories of this traveler. He first described the imperial palace

Rice. 3.1.

and the construction of the Grand Canal in China, the customs of the peoples of India, the habits of the black tribes of Africa. These were such fascinating stories that the Sultan of Morocco ordered them to be written down in 1355 as "A gift to those who contemplate the wonders of cities and the wonders of travel." In the 19th century the book about Ibn Battuta's journey became known in France and entered European culture as a medieval monument of travel literature.

The Arab world was also famous for its trade voyages. Arab merchants already in the X century. reached North Africa and the Mediterranean, their ships sailed the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Travel was so common among the Eastern peoples that the famous physician from Bukhara, Abu Ali ibn Sina, devoted several chapters of his book on the art of medicine to advice to the traveler and ways to help on the road. In particular, the advice concerned caution with unfamiliar food, the rules for drinking water in a hot climate, instructions were given for determining the quality of water and first aid during sea voyages.

Same famous books about the "great journeys" of the book by the Venetian Marco Polo about China and the Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin "Journey Beyond the Three Seas" about India. Great Traveler Marco Polo came from a merchant family of Venice, the famous center of medieval international trade, a cosmopolitan and active city, rich in enterprising people and constantly receiving foreigners. The brothers Nikolo and Matteo Polo in 1260 set off on a journey to the East, through Constantinople to the Caspian cities. A few years later, the Polo brothers returned to Rome as envoys of the Mongol Empire, which was then ruled by the grandson of the famous Genghis Khan. After unsuccessful negotiations in Rome, the brothers again set off along the same route, taking with them a young member of their large family - Marco. Thus began the great journey to the East famous traveler Marco Polo, described by him in the essay "The Book of the Diversity of the World". For 17 years, Marco Polo traveled to different countries of the East as an envoy of the Mongol Khan Kublai. His book describes most of the countries and peoples of that time: Burma, Armenia, Korea, Siberia, India, Tibet. The traveler describes the climate and appearance of various territories, the customs and culture of the peoples who inhabited them. The book was written so vividly and told about such unusual things that for several centuries it became a real bestseller among the European reader, as well as a source of information for scientists. The work of Marco Polo gave Europeans the first information about the far East, in those days - the outskirts known world. In addition, it served as a source for compiling the first maps of Asian territories.

The great travelers of the Middle Ages and early modern times embarked on wanderings at their own peril and risk. "The Traveler's View" of other countries and peoples constituted a whole layer of literature on adventures and travels. Starting from the XVI-XVII centuries. increasingly rigid legal boundaries lie between countries. The rulers and state power are increasingly restricting the movement of people on their territory, and foreigners in the first place. Monasteries began to issue special documents to pilgrims so that they would not be arrested for vagrancy. In 1548, the word "passport" first appeared in British law. In the XVI century. permission to "overseas" travel could be obtained in Britain for a rather high fee.