Abstract
ON Tuesday, March 24, at a meeting of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Sir Aurel Stein read a paper on “Innermost Asia: its Geography as a Factor in History.” It dealt with the part which the elevated drainageless basins between Tibet in the south and the great Tian Shan range in the north have played for two thousand years as a natural corridor for the interchange of the civilisations of China, India, and the West. This vast region, stretching for close on 1600 miles from east to west, is for the most part occupied by deserts of drifting sands, wind-eroded steppe, and bare gravel. By denying to this region adequate atmospheric moisture and grazing grounds, Nature has protected it from -becoming the scene of great nomadic migrations and of the upheavals entailed by them. Cultivation all through historical times has there been entirely dependent on irrigation, and hence restricted to a thin string of oases along the foot of the encircling mountains.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Innermost Asia: Its Geography as a Factor in History. Nature 115, 588 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/115588a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/115588a0