Philippe Forêt, Ph.D. (1992) in Geography, University of Chicago, is a Researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich and an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of Mapping Chengde (Honolulu, 2000) and La véritable histoire d’une montagne plus haute que l’Himalaya (Paris, 2004), and the coeditor of La Haute-Asie telle qu’ils l’ont vue (Geneva, 2003) and New Qing Imperial History (London, 2004).

Andreas Kaplony, Dr. (1986) in History and Arabic studies and Habilitation (2001) in Islamic studies, both from the University of Zurich, is an Assistant Professor at the Oriental Institute, University of Zurich. He is the author of Konstantinopel und Damaskus: Gesandtschaften und Verträge zwischen Kaisern und Kalifen 639–750(Berlin, 1996) and The Ḥaram of Jerusalem 324–1099 (Freiburg i.Br., 2002), and the coeditor of the Arabic Papyrology Database (www.ori.uzh.ch/apd) (2006) and Documentary Letters from the Middle East: The Evidence in Greek, Coptic, South Arabian, Pehlevi, and Arabic (1st–15th c CE) (Berne, 2008).

This book covers new ground on the diffusion and transmission of geographical knowledge that occurred at critical junctures in the long history of the Silk Road.

Much of twentieth-century scholarship on the Silk Road examined the ancient archaeological objects and medieval historical records found within each cultural area, while the consequences of long-distance interaction across Eurasia remained poorly studied. Here ample attention is given to the journeys that notions and objects undertook to transmit spatial values to other civilizations. In retracing the steps of four major circuits right across the many civilizations that shared the Silk Road, The Journey of Maps and Images on the Silk Road traces the ways in which maps and images surmounted spatial, historical and cultural divisions.