The epic journeys of the Radanites
As a youth, I was fascinated to read about the travels of Marco Polo who, in 1275, had journeyed from his home in Italy to distant China.
That was no mean feat in the thirteenth century, even though Alexander the Great had taken his Greek army as far as the Punjab in India, fighting all the way, some sixteen hundred years earlier.
Other European travelers to distant lands included Giovani di Piano Caprini, a Papal legate, who in 1245 had reached Karakorum, near the River Orkhon in what is today central Mongolia. And Guillaume de Rubrouck arrived at the same city in 1253. Karakorum had once been the residence of Genghis Khan.
But it was not until later that I learned about those other fascinating European travelers to China who had made the perilous journey much earlier in the ninth and tenth centuries. Those travelers were Jewish merchant adventurers who lived in the south of France and northern Spain.
They were known as Radanites and made their epic journeys by sea and overland. It would seem likely that they were the only Europeans at that time making such arduous expeditions into relatively unknown territories.
The Arab geographer, Ibn Khordadhbeh, who lived in the middle of the ninth century, gave an account of the many places visited by the Radanites as they traveled from Europe to China.
He included them in his book, The Book of Ways and Kingdoms , and described four different routes the Jewish merchants took. Here is some of what he wrote:
“These merchants speak Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Greek, Latin, Frankish, Spanish, and Slav languages. They journey from West to East, from East to West, partly on land, partly by sea. They transport from the West brocade, castor, marten and other furs, and swords.
Route 1. “They take ship from France on the western sea (Mediterranean) and make for Pelusium (Port Said, Egypt). There they load their goods on camelback and go by land to al-Kolzom (Suez). They embark in the Red Sea and sail from al-Kolzom to al’Jar (Medina) and the port of Jeddah. Then they go to Sind (India) and China.
“On their return from China they carry back musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon, and other products of the eastern countries to al-Kolzom, and bring them back to Pelusium where they again embark on the Western Sea.
“Some make sail for Constantinople to sell their goods to the Romans; others go to the palace of the kings of the Franks to place their goods.
Camel Trekking In Egypt - News
For Hunken, it's the life experience, education and friends that made the 27 flights, camel rides, donkey treks and tuk-tuk (motorcycle) journeys worth it. To check out a blog of the couple's adventure, visit http://www.getridofme.com/blog.
In the south Sinai “We have nothing but camels and nature,” Maged says half jokingly, “so [the idea] came to me.” Guests can choose to take a 3-day course to earn a camel-riding license or go on a 3- to 10-day advanced camel trek across the Sinai
Out on the dunes, the sun is even less forgiving, so our Berber guide, who is leading one of the last few tours that Tucan Travel will conduct in Morocco, postponed our departure until 6pm. After a few fits and giggles (think young girls on smelly,
When the Radanites disembarked from their ships, their journeys were continued by horse and camel. The picture above is a statue of a Jewish merchant traveler made in China during the Tang dynasty, a period from the 9 th to the 10 th century.
He and others hear of a farmhouse some hundred miles to the east and trek there through the snow. They are told there are potatoes there. They make the journey, desperate just for this food, only to find the farmhouse deserted, the potatoes piled,
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