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GODS OF THUNDER
GODS OF
THUNDER
H OW C L I M ATE C HA NG E ,
T RAV E L , AN D S PI R I T UA L I T Y
RESH APE D PR E C O L O NI A L
AM E R I CA
Acknowledgments xi
Timeline xvi
Glossary 281
Notes 289
Further Reading 317
Index 321
Acknowledgments
Of course, the human history upon which this book is based must,
in the final analysis, be credited to the hundreds of generations of
Indigenous North Americans who lived and died on this, their con-
tinent, so that we could ruminate on the deeper meanings of their
time on earth. They built the great centers through which the reader
will pass, although most will necessarily remain anonymous, as they
perhaps were even in their own time.
In the same vein, let us acknowledge the precious materials and
phenomena of (and around which Native people built) the cen-
ters. Such materials and phenomena were and are alive, so to speak,
and helped to give the places herein their vibrancies and legacies.
Accordingly, this book must also be credited to the earth, the waters,
and the sky above, which deserve our attention and need our help to
mitigate the many serious threats posed to them by the worst forces
of the modern world.
In my own journey, I have been profoundly affected by several
of the places in this book for what they do to the visitor. Go and
immerse your being in the dark trickling waters of Actun Tunichil
Muknal. Stand amid the breathtaking monuments of Aztec, Cahokia,
Carson, Chaco, Chichen Itza, and Teotihuacan. Witness the time-
less sweep of Chimney Rock’s horizon. Walk through the intimately
stratified history of Cuicuilco, Tenochtitlan, and Tlatelolco. Hear the
jungle sounds of Tikal, and feel the earth’s breath at Wupatki. Even in
ruins, these places have the power to inspire.
Map showing routes and locations mentioned in text (dots = archaeological
sites, stars = modern cities).
Southwest & Caddo &
Year CE Mesoamerica North Mexico Cahokia
Coronado expedition De Soto
Ice Narváez expedition
Cortés conquers expedition
Aztecs
1500
Age
Mississippian Period
Period
Little
1400 Spiro’s
Period
Great Mortuary
Katsina religion
Tenochtitlan Cahokia
founded Casa Grande/Grewe depopulated
Period
1300 Paquime
Colonial founded
Salado
Period
Cherry Valley
classic
complex built
1200
Ridge Ruin magician Cahokia’s steam bath
buried ceremonialism terminated
Toltec Chaco
contraction Cahokia fortified
depopulation
Post
Warm
1100 Tri-walls
Carson
Trempealeau
Period
Ceboruco erupts
1000
Pueblo
Medieval
Period
Crenshaw
Las Flores
Lunar aligned monuments
Maize
900 adopted
Tula Grande built
Terminal Classic Period
Period
Wood land
Chalchihuites
Epi-Classic or
culture Snaketown
700
Basketmaker
Colonial
Fourche
Teotihuacan
600 collapses
1836, when Texas declared its independence from Mexico. The his-
tory herein heeds modern political boundaries no more than it does
a strict separation of nature and culture.
The chapters that follow will freely cross modern borders and cover
a lot of ground. In so doing, this book will provide an explanation of
how history unfolded in one particular two-to three-century chunk
of time in places that few of us think about today. Knowing how this
history happened is possible because archaeology allows a sweeping
survey of some remarkable Native civilizations that, we now know,
developed alongside each other during the period 800–1300 ce.
At the end of each chapter, you’ll be encouraged to think about
these parallels in detail by visiting key cultural sites featured in the
chapter. As you do, you will also see the evidence for a series of new
religions, religious movements, or cults starting in the 800s and ex-
tending through the 1000s. These were all part of one big history, one
big movement—both literally and figuratively—that saw great jour-
neys, pilgrimages, and migrations.
This big history is, in actuality, even bigger than portrayed in this
book, since the Medieval Climate Anomaly was global, with the most
dramatic impacts known from the Northern Hemisphere in Europe,
Asia, North Africa, and North America. Most readers will already be
familiar with the word “medieval” because it denotes a well-known
European historical period dating to the second half of the so-called
Middle Ages, the period after the collapse of Rome and before the
Renaissance. But keep in mind that European medieval cultural his-
tory was enabled by global climatic conditions in no way restricted to
Europe. And the medieval climatic era itself was a result of centuries
of reduced volcanic activity on earth that, in turn, allowed more solar
radiation to reach the surface, heating the air and oceans and, from
there, producing historically anomalous atmospheric and oceanic cir-
culation patterns.
In northern Europe, the combination led to warming trends that
enabled farmers to expand or intensify their production.2 What
followed was the age of Vikings, who were able to increase their
Introduction 3
Under the later Chagatai Khans, Islam recovered from the set-back it
had received from the invasions of Chengiz Khan and his immediate
successors, thanks mainly to the influence of Bokhara and
Samarcand, which had become important centres of Moslem
learning. During the reign of Rashid Khan, the celebrated saint
Sayyid Khoja Hasan, more generally known as Makhdum-i-Azam or
“The Great Master,” visited Kashgar from Samarcand and was
received with extraordinary honours. The saint’s sons settled at
Kashgar, where their father had married a wife and had received rich
estates, and gradually established a theocracy, laying upon the
necks of the submissive, apathetic people a heavy yoke which they
still bear. In course of time two parties were formed whose influence
on the subsequent history of the country has been profound. The
supporters of the elder son were termed Ak Taulin or “White
Mountaineers,” from the name of the range behind Artush, their
headquarters, whereas the supporters of the younger were known as
Kara Taulin or “Black Mountaineers,” from the hills near Khan Arik.
Both parties of Khojas, as they were termed, aimed at political
supremacy and intrigued with any external power that appeared
likely to favour their ambitions.
In 1603 the famous Portuguese monk Benedict Goez reached
Yarkand and was honourably received by its ruler, to whose mother
he had lent money at Kabul. The Prince repaid the debt in jade,
which the traveller sold to great advantage during his onward
journey.
We now come to the rise of the Zungars or Kalmuks, a Mongol race
which then dwelt in Ili and the surrounding districts. Under Khan
Haldan Bokosha, one of the outstanding figures of the period, their
power stretched northwards to Siberia and southwards to Kucha,
Karashahr and Kunya-Turfan; but Haldan rebelled against the
Chinese and was decisively beaten.
His nephew and successor, Tse Wang Rabdan, ruled from Hami on
the east to Khokand on the west, and, until his murder in 1727, was
the most powerful of Zungarian rulers. The Torgut Mongols from fear
of him fled to the banks of the Volga. Sir Henry Howorth gives an
interesting account of the relations between Tse Wang and the
Russians, from which it appears that Peter the Great, attracted by
rumours of gold in Eastern Turkestan, despatched a body of 3000
men up the Irtish with Yarkand as their objective; but the Zungars
assailed the column and forced it to retire.
To return to the Khoja family, its most celebrated member was
Hidayat Ulla, known as Hazrat Apak or “His Highness the Presence,”
head of the Ak Taulins, who was regarded as a Prophet second only
to Mohamed. Expelled from Kashgar he took refuge at Lhassa,
where the Dalai Lama befriended him and advised him to seek the
aid of the Zungars. In 1678 the latter seized Kashgar, which
remained in their power for many years, and Hazrat Apak ruled as
the deputy of the Khan, paying tribute equivalent to £62,000 per
annum. In his old age the saint retired from the world to end his days
among his disciples.
Some years later internal disorders enabled Amursana, one of the
Zungar chiefs, to declare himself and his tribe Chinese subjects, and
to persuade other tribes to follow his example; he also induced
Kashgar to tender allegiance to the Chinese. It was the policy of the
Emperor Keen Lung to reconquer Ili and Eastern Turkestan for the
Celestial Empire; and in 1755 he despatched an army 150,000
strong, which met with little resistance and enabled him to
consolidate the allegiance tendered through Amursana, who was
appointed Paramount Chief. The Zungar soon tired of Chinese rule
and massacred a detachment of the Celestial forces; but the
Chinese reoccupied Zungaria in 1757, and in the following year
crushed the tribe. Kulja was founded on the site of the Zungarian
capital, and the modern name of Hsin-Chiang or the “New Province”
was formally bestowed on the reconquered countries.
The Chinese, realizing their numerical weakness, settled soldiers
and landless men in the fertile districts of the “New Province,” to
which they also deported criminals and political prisoners, among the
latter being Tunganis deported from Kansu and Shensi. Chinese rule
was evidently less harsh than Russian; for in 1771 the Torgut
Mongols to the number of 100,000 families fled back to the Ili valley
from the banks of the Volga, as narrated in dramatic fashion by De
Quincey.
The prestige of China after her splendid successes was naturally
very high and led to further acquisitions. First the Middle and then
the Little Horde of Kirghiz, in spite of their connection with Russia,
offered their submission; it was accepted, and the rulers of Khokand,
Baltistan, and Badakshan followed suit.
The Khans of Central Asia were alarmed by this display of Chinese
power, and formed a confederacy, headed by Ahmad Khan, the Amir
of Afghanistan, who despatched an embassy to Peking to demand
the surrender of Chinese Turkestan on the ground that it was
inhabited by Moslems. Receiving an unsatisfactory reply, the Afghan
Amir was careful not to attack the Chinese, but contented himself
with holding Badakshan in force; and soon afterwards the
confederacy broke up.
Chinese exactions both in taxation and in forced labour for the
erection of cantonments now became very heavy, and many of the
oppressed peasants fled to Andijan, where they formed a party of
malcontents, who awaited their opportunity.
The first attempt to expel the Chinese was made in 1822 by
Jahangir, the Khoja, who, supported by the Kirghiz, raided Kashgar,
but was repulsed, and retreated to the country south of Issik Kul,
where he defeated a Chinese expedition. In 1826 he again tried to
win Kashgar, and this time with success. Enormous forces were
organized for its recovery, and after a trial by champions, in which a
Kalmuk archer defeated a Khokandian armed with a musket, the
Chinese won the day, and Jahangir was captured and put to death.
Confiscations and executions followed, and 12,000 Moslem families
were deported to Ili and settled as serfs under the name of
Tarantchis. Forts, too, were built at all important centres and Chinese
authority seemed to be stronger than ever. As a further precaution a
blockade was declared against Khokand. The Khan, resenting this
policy and using Yusuf, the brother of Jahangir, as a puppet, invaded
the province in 1830, but was forced to return to defend his own
country against an invasion from Bokhara.
In the following year the Chinese made peace with Khokand,
bestowing valuable privileges on the Khan, including a yearly
subsidy of £3600, in return for which he was pledged to prevent
hostile expeditions; he was also granted entire control of his subjects
in Chinese Turkestan, to be exercised through Aksakals or “Elders”
of their own nationality. The term Alti Shahr, or “Six Cities,” now
began to be applied to the western part of the province, which was
specially affected by the treaty.
In 1846, the result of the British operations against China and the
weakness of that empire becoming known, the sons of Jahangir
attempted another expedition, headed by Ishan Khan Khoja, known
as Katta Tura, or “Great Lord,” who was the moving spirit among the
brothers. Kashgar was captured by treachery; but the tyranny of the
victors alienated the province, and the Chinese garrison at Yarkand
was strong enough to expel the motley gathering of Kirghiz and
Khokandi adventurers, in whose wake some 20,000 families left their
homes and crossed the Terek Dawan in mid-winter.
A decade later another attempt was made by Wali Khan Khoja, who
occupied Kashgar in 1857 and massacred the Chinese. Surrounding
himself with fanatical Khokandis, he ill-treated and oppressed the
population, enforcing five daily attendances at the mosques, by
means of cruel punishments, and forbidding the time-honoured
custom of plaiting the hair; he also barbarously murdered the
German traveller Adolph Schlagintweit. Thanks to his unpopularity
the Chinese army which attacked the usurper met with no
resistance, and the Khoja fled back to Andijan, followed, it is said, by
some fifteen thousand families. But probably all these numbers are
exaggerated.
A new figure was now about to appear on the stage, through whose
action Chinese Turkestan was opened up to Great Britain and
Russia. We may therefore fitly end the second section of this
historical sketch before describing the kingdom founded by Yakub
Beg.
Supplementary Sketch Map
showing
COUNTRY to the EAST of
ROUTE MAP
(click image to enlarge)
CHAPTER XV
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CHINESE TURKESTAN:
THE MODERN PERIOD
The soldiers of the Atalik in the Six Cities were many; gold-embroidered
turbans and silk cloaks were the instruments of death for these dainty
warriors.—From a Kashgar Ballad.