Following the Silken Thread

An article by Luc de Battlemont, published in UNESCO Courier 1990

The July-August expedition across North-Western China was the first of several voyages planned under the Silks Roads Study, which will further investigate the desert route and its feeder roads, as well as the two other major East-West links along the maritime route from Venice to Osaka and across the steppes from Odessa to Alma-Ata.

The Maritime Expedition of the “Fulk Al-Salamah”

Ensconced amid the piles of documents and hundreds of history books which line the walls of his tiny dwelling in Djakarta, Adrian B. Lapian, aged 61, is already afloat on the “Fulk Al-Salamah” (Ship of Peace) which, from October 23 to March 9 next, will be carrying scientists and historians from 30 or so countries from Venice to Osaka in Japan, following in the wake of the merchant vessels which over the centuries plied the Silk Route.

“The expedition’s prime objective will be dialogue”, says Lapian who is a professor of Maritime History at the University of Indonesia. “First of all with people in each of the ports where we drop anchor, for that is where the first contacts between East and West were developed. Our job will be to uncover fresh material there which cannot be found in any history book. Secondly, on board ship, where we will be discussing what we have seen and drawing the first conclusions from our observations”.

Professor Lapian is convinced that “the dialogue between researchers and historians will be wide-ranging and productive” and that it will help to throw light not only on the history of the Silk Route but also on the history of the countries along that route, particularly in South-East Asia. The expedition plans to call in at some 20 ports, chief amongst which are Izmir (Turkey), Alexandira (Egypt), Muscat (Oman), Karachi (Pakistan), Goa (India), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Malacca (Malaysia), Surabaya (Indonesia), Manila (Philippines)m Guangzhou (Canton-China) and Osaka (Japan).

The highlights of these visits, which will last on average four to five days each, will be seminars, visits to historical sites and the study of archives. Professor Lapian, who is also a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), intends to make the voyage only from Colombo (Sri Lanka) to Surabaya (Indonesia) on the ship, which has been placed at the scholars’ disposal by the Sultan of Oman.

“The history of the Silk Route is important for our region,” he explains, “since it is closely linked to the history of the spice route on which very little research has been done. It was the spices which brought the Persians, the Arabs, the Indians and then the Portuguese and the Dutch to this part of the world,” he adds, pointing out that it is “difficult to untwine the two routes by which Buddhism and later Islam were imported into the region. This is part of our history and we have great expectations of this maritime expedition.”