Neander97 / Historical Trivia: Camels and dromedaries, two animals that in the Western mind are synonymous with such exotic locales as" Kara-korum, Bokhara, Sarai, Tabriz, Helena, Montana, and Walla Walla, Washington.
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Ships Of The Desert: and other exotic locales
Camels and dromedaries, two animals that in the Western mind are synonymous with exotic settings. Merely mention the word camel and people envision caravans winding their way between mountainous sand dunes . . . ferrying cargoes of silk and spices through trackless wildernesses . . . urged on across harsh and foreboding landscapes by fierce and wild tribesmen garbed in billowing robes . . . ever in search of the next oasis.
The camel and dromedary were among the last of humankind's stable of animal servitors to be tamed, most sources agree that both species were domesticated in the period between 1500 and 1200 B.C.E. The true camel, originating in Bactria, is a beast of burden admirably suited for the cold, arid, and mountainous regions of Central Asia. While the dromedary, which evolved in the Arabian Peninsula, flourishes in the broiling heat of the deserts of North Africa and the Near East.
When one examines the trade routes most often associated with camel caravans, the realization of both the camel's value as a beast of burden and its incredible endurance and vitality becomes evident. For prior to the development of the internal combustion engine, the camel provided the only sure and reliable means of communication between diverse and far-flung centers of trade, between sources of raw materials and factories.
One such route the Pe Lu, the Silk Road, stretched from Western Cathay (i.e. the western most reaches of China) to the bazaars of Constantinople and the trade depots of Venice and Pisa on the Black Sea coast. Along this route flowed the ebb and tide of trade between Asia and Europe--soft and sensuous silks, priceless porcelains, jadites, gems, and jewels wound their way West; while Europe reciprocated with shipments of gold, silver, furs, and cottons--all carried on the backs of Bactrian camels. From Tuen-hang across the wandering sands and stony wastes of the Gobi to the oasis at Turfan; over the frozen heights of the Muztagh-ata Mountain, which the nomads call the Father of Snows, to the valley of Samarkand; through the lands of the Uighars, Turcomans, Kipchaks, and Khirgis; stopping to rest and recoup at the caravanserai of Kara-korum, Bokhara, Balkh, Sarai, Tabriz, and Trebizond; the trade of the world flowed forth. This centuries' old pattern of commerce and contact--giving lie to the old saw "east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet"--was only made possible by the Bactrian's ability to haul thousands of pounds of goods across thousands of miles of inhospitable terrain.
But what of the Arabian camel--where did the so-called "Ship of the Desert" earn this appellation? Logically and correctly one would assume that the Arabian Peninsula would be the site of this creature's labors. For thousands of years the merchants of Aden, Yemen, and Oman--acting as middlemen between Southern Asian and the Mediterranean World--had sailed forth in their dhows to trade with the maritime provinces of India and the Spice Islands. Due to the vicissitudes of war and politics, the direct water route to market, via the Red Sea, was often closed to these Arab traders, thus, they were forced to transship their cargoes overland from the south of Arabia to the Mediterranean ports. From southern Arabia Bedouin tribesmen guided their camel caravans north across the sun drenched sands of the Empty Quarter, over the rock-strewn hillsides of the Negev, and through the tortuously twisted trails of the Sinai--transporting frankincense, myrrh, pearls, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, and the ornate filigreed and enameled wares produced by Indian metalsmiths--to Cairo, Acre, Beirut, Damascus, and Jerusalem.
The Arabian camel also found its home and, of course, its ceaseless toil as a long-haul carrier of goods in Africa. For year after untold year camel trains led by Arab, Berber and Tuareg tribesmen provided the trade conduit between sub-Sahal Africa and the Mediterranean littoral. From the southern fringes of the great Saharan Desert the wealth of Africa--salt, ivory, precious stones, exotic furs and feathers, and rare herbs and medicines--flowed north on the backs of camels. In exchange, the merchants of Europe and the Near East relied upon the camel to transport beads, cloth, glasswares, metal weapons and implements, and the usual such trade goods to markets in the south. Across a sun-baked wilderness . . . through realms of near lunar landscapes . . . over uninhabited voids where rain might fall only once in a century . . . the camel linked the kingdoms of Mali, Timbuktu, Senegal, and Niger to Madrid, Venice, and Cairo.
As one reflects upon the role of the camel in trade and commerce, yet one other exotic locale comes to mind. As dawn breaks over a vast mountainous wilderness, in a narrow isolated valley floor cameleers emerge from their bedrolls--kindle fires to brew their morning coffee--and begin to load leather pouches of gold dust, flasks of rich amalgam, and bars of bullion on the pack frames of their camels. As the sun slowly climbs over the mountain peaks to shed its light on the new day--in this, one of the least inhabited regions of the entire continent--the camel caravan sets out on its winding path, through Hell Gate Canyon, east toward Walla Walla . . . HUH? Yep . . . that's right . . . for a brief time in 1865 camels were used to haul freight between the gold camps in the Last Chance Gulch and Helena region to Walla Walla on the Columbia. Hebard and Brinninstool in The Bozeman Trail while recounting various attempts to employ camel-power in the American West note that "the experiment . . . extended as far north as Idaho and Montana. . . . particularly from Helena, Montana, to Walla Walla, Washington."
Readings:
Braudel, Fernand. THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN THE AGE OF PHILIP II, vol. 1 (1976).
Bulliet, Richard W. THE CAMEL AND THE WHEEL (1975).
Fowler, Harlan Davey. THREE CARAVANS TO YUMA: THE UNTOLD STORY OF BACTRIAN CAMELS IN WESTERN AMERICA (1980).
Hebard, Grace Raymond, and E.A. Brinninstool. THE BOZEMAN TRAIL, vol 1 (reprint, 1990/1922).
Marshall, Robert. STORM FROM THE EAST: FROM GENGHIS KHAN TO KHUBILAI KHAN (1993).
Pilters, Hilde. THE CAMEL: ITS EVOLUTION, ECOLOGY, BEHAVIOR, AND RELATIONSHIP TO MAN (1981).
Roberts, J.M. THE PELICAN HISTORY OF THE WORLD, rev. (1980).
Robertson, Deane. CAMELS IN THE WEST (1979).
Wilson, R. T. THE CAMEL (1984).
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