We all know of the Vikings founding Vinland and Columbus' subsequent reaching of the Americas, but are there records of the first time Europeans encountered other distant nations, such as the Chinese, Indians etc?

Well, many modern Europeans came from the Russian and Central Asian steppes. It's rather hard to pinpoint a time when European and Asian civilization first encountered each other because they were never really separated like the Americas were form the rest of the world. Certainly the ancient civilizations knew of the distant civilizations to the east. The Indus valley civilization regularly traded middle eastern civs and through them to Europe. And we all know about the Silk Road.

I would have to say that because they weren't ever separated they always were aware of each others existence to a degree.

Really? The ancient Greeks were fully aware of the Chinese civilisation? I always thought that Persia was basically as far east as they were aware of

Really? The ancient Greeks were fully aware of the Chinese civilisation? I always thought that Persia was basically as far east as they were aware ofThey weren't aware of the Chinese civilization as such, but they did know that there were people 'over there'.

There were Greek kings that traded with the Indus. What's his name the guy that invaded Roman Italy?...Pyrrus (sp?) he bought elephants from India.

I have a book that deals with the history of pre-modern embassies; a few intersting anecdotes in there -- will post once I find it.


Off the top of my head, I remember reading a bit on how the Romans and the Han knew of each other, albeit very vaguely. They might have even come into physical contact with one another.

**edit** found this (http://www.silk-road.com/artl/romanenvoy.shtml) on Roman-Chinese contact. Bit too short. =\

**edit: part deux: Chinese history forum thread on same subject (http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:5Ov3zJIae2wJ:www.chinahistoryforum. com/index.php%3Fshowtopic%3D1994%26st%3D0+Roman+han+ch inese+contact&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5) (They did exchange envoys, but there isn't that much information on the subject =\ )

The Romans and the Chinese traded with each other in late antiquity, but Persia was generally the intermediary. There were religious contacts between these powers: by the seventh century the famous theological school at Nisibis was sending missionaries to the east. (Nisibis was of course not in the Roman empire, but there were close cultural contacts between the scholars there and those of Byzantium, so they knew what was going on.) There were certainly Christians travelling along the Silk Road, although we don't know how much evangelising was going on. But we do know that in 552 two Persian monks smuggled silkworms out of China and signed a contract with Justinian to supply silk to the Byzantine empire.

Interesting stuff... amazing actually. it would have been to all intents and purposes like trading with another world entirely for both sides

at herodots time though, noone in greece knew what was behind india yet.

After the Alexandrian conquest , when the Indo-Greek Kingdom was established , it traded with not only China ,Japan but other parts of Asia as well. And with other greeks as well.

In fact some art of Buddha and everything ethat was influenced by classical Greek way of art was found in Asia (China,Japan ,etc)


Links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Greek

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/TNMStandingBuddha.jpg/362px-TNMStandingBuddha.jpg

One of the first known representations of the Buddha, Gandhara, in pure Hellenistic style and technique: Standing Buddha (Tokyo National Museum). Height: about 1 meter.

Horace mentions the Chinese in one of his odes, which were published in 23 BC. Now I doubt he actually knows anything about them, other than that they're really far away, but it does seem to show some indication that the Romans of that era were in some way aware of people beyond India.

It's also worth mentioning that the earliest western reference to the Buddha comes in the works of Clement of Alexandria (early third century AD), although disappointingly he doesn't say anything about him. It was common at this time for philosophers to travel in the east to learn mystical doctrines - or at any rate for them to say they had done so - which is why we hear of people like Plotinus and Julius Africanus doing so. Africanus certainly made it at far as Edessa, where he discussed archery with Bardaisan - this at a time when Edessa was still part of independent Osrhoene and therefore rather more exotic to a Roman than it would later become. It's still striking how much shared culture there could be between these people, though, since Africanus and Bardaisan not only shared an interest in archery but were both Christians.

I remember reading that after Alexander's conquests there was contact between Chinese and Greeks/Macedons, particularly the Graeco-Bacrian-Kingdom.
Since it's late and i am too lazy to search for better sources 'll just link wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Bactrian_Kingdom#Contacts_with_China

I remember reading that after Alexander's conquests there was contact between Chinese and Greeks/Macedons, particularly the Graeco-Bacrian-Kingdom.
Since it's late and i am too lazy to search for better sources 'll just link wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Bactrian_Kingdom#Contacts_with_China

True but too late , i said it first .:D

You. Plagiarist , you . (A reference to another thread).

The Han Chinese and Romans definitely knew of each other. At the battle of Carrhae, the Parthians did take a few Roman soldiers as prisoners and sold them to the Chinese. Those Roman ended up in the Far East guarding buildings or something like that.

Though it may be somewhat late, there has been found a Buddha figure in a Viking age treasury.

True but too late , i said it first .:D

You. Plagiarist , you . (A reference to another thread).

Oh, yes I was too tired and didn't really "read" all post.
We should let our lawyers settle this.

Rome apparently send an "embassy" to the Han court although they are more likely just Greek or Roman merchants.

The Romans definitely were aware of China ("Seres" was marked on Ptolemy's map, as well as Taprabone (Sri Lanka) and Chryse Chersonesus (South East Asia)). As for the Chinese, Ban Chao's expedition got as far as the Caspian Sea, when they decided to turn back thinking Rome was too far away to reach.

By the time of the Tang Dynasty there was regular contact between China and the lands to the west as far as Persia. Chang'an at its height have substantial populations of Zoroastrians, Muslims and Nestorian Christians.

when did Europeans first become aware of Australia's existence?

when did Europeans first become aware of Australia's existence?

when the dutch discovered it i guess?

edit: http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/australianhistory/

There's some evidence that the Portuguese or the Spanish reached bits of it first, but the generally accepted official version is the Dutch in 1606. Torres sailed between New Guinea and Australia, and the Dutch landed on the Western Australian coast, both in 1606. There's also stories of an ancient Portuguese Caravel wreck from 1522 in Victoria. Given the strong winds around the 40th parallel, it's entirely likely there's an unknown wreck or two around the southern or western coasts of Australia.

Also there's a chance the Chinese were there earlier, however briefly, and the Makassars from the Indonesian island of the same name, and some New Guineans, certainly traded with the Aboriginies in the north.

But really, the process of finding and mapping Australia was rather peacemeal--it's the size of Europe after all. People thought there would be a huge southern continent, and were exploring all over the place. Comprehensive circumnavigation and mapping took place between about 1770 and 1820, with the first colony of Port Jackson established at Sydney Harbour in 1788 (one year before the French Revolution we were starting out as a slave labour colony under a military dictatorship...). As for the interior... just ask Burke and Wills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_wills).

One of my favourite anecdotes is of a Spanish explorer, Louis Vaez de Torres, sailing through the Torres Straits between New Guinea and Australia without apparently being aware of them, doing the equivalent of threading a needle.

Roman ships are known to have gone as far as Kerala and Sri Lanka. Wreckages of the Roman ships along with coins and statues have been.

When I went to Kerala in one of the museums it had a Roman coins on display.