Research On The Restoration Of Roads On The Silk Road In The 14th And 17th Centuries Under GIS

This thesis mainly researches on Shaanxi-Xingdusi,Xinjiang,the Central and Western Asia in the Ming dynasty from the 14th to the 17th century.This area had long been important for the transportation of the Silk Roads Trades,and it had frequently witnessed wars take place and various ethnic groups settle down here.This thesis will investigate the roads conditions and classify the roads types,in the hope to reconstruct the transportation network of this area in the studied period.This thesis is divided into five chapters.The first four chapters discuss related problems of the formation,development and evolution of roads in the Northwestern,Xinjiang,Central Asian,Kabul,Western Asian,and Iranian regions.The final chapter is the conclusion.The contents are as follows:The introduction chapter mainly presents the significance,contents,methodologies and literature review of this research.The first chapter summarizes how the restorations and resettlements of the post road system in the Northwestern region were realized in Ming dynasty on the basis of the pre-dynasty efforts.It continues to discuss the features and persistence of the main roads,and correct the wrong post records.The second chapter inspects into the current literature about the traffic and roads in Xinjiang during the 14th and 17th centuries,analyzes the nature of the road and the changes of transportation between Jiayuguan and Turpan,and adds a discussion on the Northern Tianshan Road,which receives less attention by academia for a long time.In general,as the expressive official provisions tribute route to Western countries,the road from Jiayuguan to Turpan was successively occluded,accessible,messy and closed from the 14th to the 17th century.The Chen Cheng’s march to the Western Regions and the migration of the BieShiBaLi country westwards help prove that the traditional Northern Tianshan Road was still in use in this period,and many of the archaeological excavation materials will help outline and restore the direction of the Northern Road.The third chapter summarizes the reopening process of Central Asian roads during the 14th century.It compares the similarities and differences of the post road systems between China and the west.After that it reconstructs the roads in the Transoxiana and Kabul area.The fourth chapter analyzes the formation and evolution of the road network in the Western Asia,from the aspects of the natural environment of Iran and Iraqi region,the evolution of the ancient cities and diaries of travelers.From the materials it seems clear that there preserved a wealth of historical records of Central Asian region form the 9th to the 13th century,while the historical records from the 14th to the 17th century show traditional roads and traffic networks were still in use,but the accessibility and safety was greatly reduced because of the chaos and decline caused by wars.There is an introduction to the methodologies of road restoration in each of the above four chapters.The fifth chapter compares and summarizes the characteristics and causes of the Silk Road changes from the 14th to the 17th century,summing up the experience and reflections of applying GIS technology to reconstructing the ancient roads.The ancient Silk Road was neither a strictly official-oriented and uninterrupted single road,nor a number of trade roads with fixed starting site.On the contrary,it was more of an active road network with fragmented and regional interlocking traffic roads that included the political exchanges,economic exchanges and other purposes.