A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus

Author: John Wood and Matthew Schrimpf

Paperback

A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus traces a young naval officer's journey up the Indus to Afghanistan from 1836-8 in search of the source of the river known today as the Amu Darya.

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Summary

A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus traces a young naval officer's journey up the Indus to Afghanistan from 1836-8 in search of the source of the river known today as the Amu Darya.

Description

In 1836, the young Scottish naval officer John Wood embarked on a mission up the Indus River and into Afghanistan in search of the source of the Oxus River, one of the largest waterways of Central Asia and an important strategic feature in the nineteenth century's Great Game between the British and Russian empires. Steeped in the legacies of Alexander the Great, Babur, and Marco Polo, he would document his journey with not only a professional commitment to detail, but also a vivid personal curiosity and a clear moral sensibility. He illuminates both the physical territory that he traverses and the people whom he meets-from generous villagers to petty potentates, as well as a rogues' gallery of bandits, slave traders, and even a drunken and dueling Frenchman.

About the Author

CAPTAIN JOHN WOOD was born in Scotland in 1813. Following his schooling, he joined the Indian Navy and began a career that would both begin and end with missions dedicated to the rivers of the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. He died in 1871 in Simla. MATTHEW SCHRIMPF is the publisher of Ozymandian Editions. He studied History and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard College.