Gordon Stewart. When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the Riches of the East

Da Capo Press, 2009. — 256 p.While European civilization stagnated in the "Dark Ages," Asia flourished as the wellspring of science, philosophy, and religion. Linked together by a web of spiritual, commercial, and intellectual connections, the distant regions of Asia's vast civilization, from Arabia to China, hummed with trade, international diplomacy, and the exchange of ideas. Stewart Gordon has fashioned a compelling and unique look at Asia from AD 700 to 1500-a time when Asia was the world-by relating the personal journeys of Asia's many travelers.