遊牧國家とオアシス國家の共生關係--西突厥と麹氏高昌國のケースから

Abstract

This article employs the Turfan documents to address the Gao-chang kingdom under the royal house of Qu 麹氏高昌國 of Turfan and the nomadic state of the Western Turks 西突厥 who supported it and to analyze the multifarious symbiotic relationships built up between the two. As a result of this analysis, it has become clear that the core of the symbiotic relationship built up between the nomadic and oasis-centered states was the mutually beneficial relationship of the dispatch and organization of missions by various khans and various nomadic groups and their acceptance by oasis-centered states. In other words, it is thought that the leaders of the various nomadic groups in nomadic states dispatched Sogdians in the region as their agents or assigned them to accompany the missions to the oasis-centered states, and they gained the opportunity to purchase various luxury goods stored in the oases while securing food and lodging, and in addition they sold their own products or transit trade goods. In other words, the dispatch of these missions amounted to organizing a caravan for trade. Moreover, these missions in providing an opportunity for safe long-distance travel brought together many individual Sogdian traders, who originally had no relationship to the missions. On the other hand, for the oasis-centered states the dispatch of the embassies by nomadic groups and their reception meant not simply the prevention of plundering by the nomadic states, but also these embassies brought prosperity through an increasingly thriving trade as a result of leading and protecting many Sogdian traders. In addition, these oasis-centered states themselves dispatched missions to various locations under the order established through the nomadic states' rule. In essence, trade across great distances in central Asia was conducted in caravans that were organized and dispatched by both nomadic and oasis-centered states and other groups, and as they developed they attracted and absorbed various individual Sogdian merchants. For the oasis-center states, the reception of missions of various nomadic groups was a vital enterprise that might determine the fate of these states. The formation of powerful nomadic states in central Asia brought about the formation of symbiotic relationships founded on the political relationship of lord and subordinate between the khans and oasis-centered states, and under these circumstances the dispatch of missions by states and other groups became nearly regularized as the formation of a broad order that stretched across the steppes and deserts was formed. It was these circumstances that caused trade in Central Asia to thrive.