Tugusheva T.Yu. Expeditions to Central Asia and the Discovery of Early Medieval Turkic Manuscripts // Russian Expeditions to Central Asia at the Turn of the 20th Century / Collected articles. Edited by I.F. Popova. St Petersburg, Slavia Publishers, 2008. P. 40-49.
During the Middla Ages Central Asia for a long time remained a terra incognita for Europeans. With the discovery of the sea route linking western, chiefly Mediterranean countries with Southern Asia, the Silk Road as
the main trade route between East and West became increasingly
untravelled. Arab navigators, whose ships were trading all
over the Western part of the Indian Ocean, from the Indian
coast to the eastern coast of Africa, made the most valuable
contribution to opening up the sea routes to India and China.
The Silk Road gradually broke up into a number of local roads
as far-off countries found Central Asia sinking into oblivion...
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