Innermost Asia: its Geography as a Factor in History

Abstract

CIR AUREL STEIN delivered the first “Asia Lecture “before the Royal Geographical Society on November 3. He chose for his subject an account of his three expeditions to the Tarim Basin in Chinese Turkestan, which he undertook in the years 1900-1, 1906-8, and 1913-15. Sir Aurel has long held a foremost position as an archaeologist and explorer. We well remember, many years ago, his interesting investigations into the identity of the site of Mount Aornus, described by the Greek historians, somewhere to the north of Attock, which Alexander the Great besieged on his way to India. Since then he has gone much farther afield, and his chief work has been in Central Asia.