DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION:
INTERACTIONS ALONG THE EURASIAN STEPPE
DIRECTIONS
The following question is based on the accompanying documents. (The documents have
been edited for the purpose of this exercise). The question is designed to test your ability to
work with and understand historical documents. Write an essay that:

Has relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.

Uses all or all but one of the documents.

Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible and
does not simply summarize the documents individually.

Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ points of view.
ESSAY PROMPT
Analyze the importance of interactions and movements across the Eurasian steppe.
Evaluate their impact on international, economic, and social developments as well as
determine what their single greatest contribution to greater Eurasian history was.
Based on the following documents, discuss the significance of the Eurasian steppe in world
history. What types of additional documentation would help access its impact on its
neighboring regions?
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Eurasian steppe stretches from just east of Beijing, China across Inner Asia to the
Ukrainian borders with Poland, Moldava, Romania, Russia and Belarus. It stops in the
great taiga forest zone of North Asia, but connects easily to the deserts of Central Asia, the
Kara and Kizil Kum with their river basins as well as the Great Northern European Plain
which runs to the North Sea. Inner Asia consists of parts of Siberia (Eastern Russia),
Khazakstan, Kirgizistan, Uzbekistan, Tadzikistan, Turkmenistan, Sinkiang, Manchuria
and Inner Mongolia (Western and Northern China), and Mongolia.
DOCUMENT 1
PASTORAL NOMADIC MOVEMENTS OFF
THE EURASIAN STEPPE INTO OTHER REGIONS
TRIBE
PERIOD
INNER
ASIA
SW
ASIA
Indo-Europeans
Indo-Iranians
Indo-Aryans
Scythians/Sakas
Sarmatians
Xiong-Nu
Bactrians
Parthians
Kushans
Huns
Avars
Khazars
Turks
Bulgars
Uighurs
Magyars
Petchenegs
Khitan
Jurchen
Mongols
2ND millennia BCE
2ND millennia BCE
2ND millennia BCE
6th– 3rd century BCE
5th century BCE
2nd century BCE
2nd century BCE
2nd century BCE
1st century CE
th
4 – 5th century CE
5th– 6th century CE
6th century CE
th
6 –10th century CE
6th century CE
9th century CE
9th century CE
10th century CE
11th century CE
11th-17th century CE
13th–15th century CE
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
SOUTH
ASIA
EAST
ASIA
Yes
Yes
EAST
EUROPE
WEST
EUROPE
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
DOCUMENT 2
Hasadi Ibn Shaprut, Jewish Chief Minister of the Caliph of Cordoba (Spain), a
letter to King Joseph, Kingdom of the Khazars (Turks) who lived in Southern
Russia and converted to Judaism, c. 955 CE
“I questioned the Byzantines about your kingdom, and they replied that it was
true [it existed] and that the name of the kingdom is al-Khazar. Between
Constantinople and this country the Byzantines say there is a journey of fifteen
days by sea . . . ships come to us from their land bringing fish, fur, and all sorts of
merchandise. They are in alliance with us and honored by us. We exchange
embassies and gifts. They are powerful and have a fortress for their outposts and
troops, which go out on forays [against the Muslims and pagan nomads] from time
to time.”
DOCUMENT 3
REGIONAL EXCHANGES ALONG THE SILK ROADS AND STEPPE
Place of Origin
Contributions to the Exchanges
China
Silk, Paper, Books, Paper Money, Porcelain, Lacquer
Ware, Jade, Tea, Gunpowder, Firearms, Compass,
Wheel Barrow
Central Asia
Horse, Chariot, Stirrup, Cavalry, Camel, Pants, Iron
Smelting Technology
South Asia
Spices, Gems, Perfumes, Cotton, Cotton Cloth,
Buddhism, Religious Objects, Religious Scriptures,
Numerals, Mathematics Concepts
Southwest Asia Textiles, Sugar Cane, Tapestries, Carpets, Metals, Fine
Iron Weapons, Medicines, Medical Knowledge, Scientific
Knowledge, Nestorian Christianity, Manchaeism, Islam
Europe
Honey, Glassware, Slaves, Gold, Silver, Christian
Missionaries
DOCUMENT 4
Kushan (Greco-Bactrian)
Central Asia
1st Century CE
Guptan Dynasty
Northern India
5th Century CE
Kamakura Shogunate
Japan
th
12 century CE
IMAGES OF SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA (“THE BUDDHA”)
DOCUMENT 5
The Prophet Jeremiah, Book of Jeremiah, Hebrew Tanaka, 5: 15-17, 50: 41-42
describing an account of the Scythians, Indo-European nomads from the steppe
“Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar . . . and they shall eat up your
harvest, and your bread. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They
shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. They shall impoverish your walled
cities, wherein you seek safety, with sword . . . Behold a people shall come from
the north (the steppes) and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up
from the coasts of the earth (Black Sea). They shall hold the bow and the lance;
they are cruel, and will not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea, and
they shall ride upon horses.”
DOCUMENT 6
Kutadgu Bilig (Wisdom of Royal Glory), a book of advice for Turkish rulers of
Central Asia, c. 1069 CE
“[Merchants] never rest from trading and making a profit. They roam the world
for a living, while they keep mind and heart devoted to God. Associate with them
– do business with them . . . For they have acquired all the choice and beautiful
and desirable things of the world. They travel round from east to west . . . They
provide all sorts of silken stuffs, and all the world’s rare and wonderous things. .
. . If the China caravan ceased to raise dust on the roads, how could these
countless kinds of silks arrive. So consort with them, leave the door open. Treat
them kindly . . . Hear a man who has roamed the world: if you would spread
your name abroad, be sure to treat travelers hospitably. Give merchants good
recompense . . . favor the traveler and merchant caravan.”
DOCUMENT 7
Al-Magrizi, Egyptian doctor and historian, from his chronicle of the spread of
the Black Death in Southwest Asia, mid – 1300 CE
“Before the disease reached Egypt, it began in the lands of the Great Khan, a six
month journey from Tabriz (city in Iran), a country inhabited by the Khitai and
the Mongols. These heathen people numbered more than 200 tribes and all
perished without apparent reason in their summer and winter encampments, in
the course of pasturing their flocks and during the seasonal migrations [across
the steppe]. Their mounts died, beasts and men abandoned where they fell. The
land of the Khitai became deserted; in three months, sixteen princes died. The
soldiers of the Mongol Great Khan perished in considerable numbers. Ultimately
the Great Khan himself and six of his children succumbed to the disease. China
was depopulated by the pandemic, while India was damaged to a lesser extent.”
DOCUMENT 8
Chinese Hymn, Han Dynasty 101 B.C.E.
“The Heavenly Horses are coming, coming from the West.
They crossed the Flowing Sands, for the barbarians are conquered.
The Heavenly Horses are coming, that issued from the waters of a pool.
Two of them have tiger backs; they can transform themselves like spirits,
The Heavenly Horses are coming across the pastureless wilds.
A thousand leagues at a stretch, following the eastern road.
The Heavenly Horses are coming . . .
Open the gates while there is time.
They will draw me [Emperor Wu] up and carry me,
To the Holy Mountain at K’un-lun.
The Heavenly Horses have come,
And the Dragon (China) will follow in their wake.
I shall reach the Gates of Heaven.
I shall see the Palace of God.”
DOCUMENT 9
Friar William of Rubruck, Agent of King (St.) Louis IX of France to the
Mongols, from his journal record of the expedition, c 1254 C.E.
“Living among the peoples of Asia though of alien race are Nestorian
(Christians) and Saracens (Muslims) all the way to Cathay (China). In fifteen
cities of Cathay there are Nestorians, and they have a bishop in a city called
Segin (Ch’ang-an, the old Tang capital) . . . The priests of the idols (Buddhists)
all wear wide saffron-colored cowls. There are among them, as I gathered some
hermits who live in forests and mountains, and who are wonderful by their lives
and austerity. The Nestorians know nothing. They say their masses and prayers
and have sacred books in Syriac, but they do not know the language so the chant
like monks among us who do not know grammar, and they are absolutely
depraved. They are usurers (loan money for profit) and drunkards; some even
have several wives. When they enter church, they wash their lower parts like
Saracens. They administer no sacrament without receiving renumeration.”
DOCUMENT 10
Poem by Yüan Chen, 8th century C.E. Tang Dynasty Poet
“Ever since the Western (Turkish) horsemen
began raising smut and dust,
Fur and fleece, rank and rancid
have filled Hsien (Ch’ang-an, Tang capital) and Lo (Loyang).
Women make themselves Western
Matrons by the study of Western makeup;
Entertainers present Western tunes,
In their devotion to Western music.”
DOCUMENT 11
Orkhon Stone Inscription, Eastern Turks in Inner Mongolia, 679 C.E.
“The sons of the Turkish nobility became slaves of the Chinese people and their
virgin daughters became bondmaids. The Turkish nobles abandoned their
Turkish titles and received Chinese ones in their place. They submitted to the
Chinese kaghan, and for fifty years worked and strove on his behalf. For him
they undertook expeditions towards the rising sun, and to the west as far as the
Iron Gates (in Turkestan). But to the Chinese kaghan they surrendered their
empire and their institutions.”
FOOTNOTES
1. Erik Hildinger, Warriors of the Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to
1700 A.D. (New York: Sarpedon, 1997), vii – x in passim.
2. Arthur Koestler, The Thirteen Tribe: The Khazar Empire and its Heritage (New York:
Random House, 1976), 70.
3. Peter N. Stearns, et. al, World Civilizations: The Global Experience (New York:
Longman – Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc., 2001), 484.
4. Jerome Dominquez, compiler, World Religions, and 101 Cults, Sects, and Denominations
(New York, accessed March 13, 2004); [database on-line]; available from
http://www.religion-cults.com/index.html; Internet.
The Buddhist Scriptures – An Overview (Australia: Pandora Archive, accessed March
14, 2004); [database on-line]; available from http://pandora.nla.gov.au/
pan/14286/20010703/www.buddhanet.net/mag_scr.htm; Internet.
5. Renate Roll, The World of the Scythians, translated by F. G. Walls (Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 1980; 1989 English translation), 70.
6. Isenbike Togan, Flexibility and Limitations in Steppe Formations: The Kerait Khanate
and Chinggis Khan (Leiden, Netherlands; New York; Koln, Germany: Brill, 1998), 53.
7. Michael W. Dols, The Black Death in the Middle East (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 1977), 40 – 41.
8. Irene M. Franck and David M. Brownstone, The Silk Road: A History (New York: Facts
on File Publications, 1986), 91.
9. Nigel Cameron, Barbarians and Mandarins: Thirteen Centuries of Western Travelers in
China (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976), 47 – 48.
10. Irene M. Franck and David M. Brownstone, 185.
11. Irene M. Franck and David M. Brownstone, 185.
DBQ INNER ASIA GEOGRAPHY
In order to understand the history of Central or Inner Eurasia, one must begin with its
physical and climatic geography. The region is dominated by a rolling, grassy steppe that
runs almost the entire length of the great continent. Bordering the steppe to the west and
east are expansive plains in Europe and Northern China and the arid deserts of Central
and East Asia. To the south run broad mountains and mountain plateaus with numerous
passes and gorges into other regions. In the north the thickly forested taiga runs from the
North Sea in Europe to the Pacific Ocean. Within this area, originated the Central Asian
pastoral nomads, which until 1750 interacted with the settled civilizations of Europe,
Southwest Asia, South Asia, and East Asia. Students should be able to locate and identify
these geographic terms and places.
1. NATIONS OF INNER EURASIA
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
KAZAKHSTAN
TURKMENISTAN
TADZIKSTAN
KIRGIZIA
UZBEKISTAN
MONGOLIA
g. CHINA
(1) SINKIANG
(2) INNER MONGOLIA
(3) MANCHURIA
h. UKRAINE
i. RUSSIA
(1) WESTERN SIBERIA
(2) EASTERN RUSSIA
(3) KUBAN
2. PLAINS
a. EURASIAN STEPPE
b. GREAT EUROPEAN PLAIN
c. SOUTH RUSSIAN PLAIN
d. PLAIN OF HUNGARY
e. NORTH CHINESE PLAIN
3. DESERTS
a. KARA KUM
b. KIZIL KUM
c. GOBI
d. UST-URT
e. TAKLA MAKAN
4. TAIGA FOREST BELT
5. TARIM BASIN
6. MOUNTAINS
a. T’IEN SHAN
b. K’UNLUN SHAN
c. ALTAI
d. DZUNGARIA GAP
e. HINDU KUSH
f. CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS
g. URAL MOUNTAINS
h. HINDU KUSH
i. KHYBER PASS
j. IRANIAN PLATEAU
k. TIBETAN PLATEAU
l. MONGOLIAN PLATEAU
7. BODIES OF WATER
a. CASPIAN SEA
b. ARAL SEA
c. LAKE BAIKAL
d. BLACK SEA
e. AMU DARYA RIVER
f. SYR DARYA RIVER
g. VOLGA RIVER
8. THE SILK ROAD
DBQ INNER ASIA VOCABULARY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
NOMADS
SEDENTARISM
PASTORAL NOMADISM
DOMESTICATED ANIMALS
SHIFTING AGRICULTURE
TRIBUTE EMPIRES
COURAGE CULTURES
SHAMANISM
NOMADIC WOMEN
10. SILK ROAD
11. SILK ROAD EXCHANGES
a. RELIGION ALONG THE SILK ROAD
(1) MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
(2) NESTORIAN CHRISTIANITY
(3) ZOROASTRIANISM & MANICHAEISM
(4) SUNNI AND SUFI MUSLIMS
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
MERCHANT CARAVANS
TRADE GOODS
ART
TECHNOLOGY
DISEASES
12. CHARIOT PEOPLES
a. INDO-EUROPEANS including HITTITES, CIMMERIANS
b. INDO-IRANIANS
(1) SOUTHWEST ASIA: MEDES, PERSIANS, PARTHIANS, BACTRIANS
(2) CENTRAL ASIA:
SCYTHIANS, SARMATIANS, SAKAS
(3) SOUTH ASIA:
INDO-ARYANS
13. YÜEH CHI (KUSHANS)
14. XIONG-NU including HUNS, EPHTHALITES (WHITE) HUNS, BLACK HUNS
15. AVARS, MAGYARS, PECHNEGS
16. TURKS including KHAZARS, BULGARS, KIPCHAKS, UIGHRS
17. “MAMELUKS”
18. MONGOLS
19. “PAX MONGOLICA”
20. JURCHEN (MANCHURIANS)