Horses were one of the most important means of transport in earlier periods. Especially the sedentary Asian cultures like India and China had an immense demand of horses, either for local transport or the armies. This demand also influenced the Asian economies. When asked what a foreign envoy should offer for sale or as gifts to the Imperial Court in Beijing, a Chinese official would probably have replied "horses and local products".

The Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the Institute of Sinology of the University of Munich, and the research project on "East Asian Maritime History", which is located at that Institute, want to enhance research on the horse economies of major Asian countries and thus organize this international conference. The major aim is to discuss various aspects related to the Asian horse economies. This chiefly concerns the organisation and structure of the horse trade, markets and merchants, the importance of breeding, as well as the use of horses in daily life and the military in pre-European periods.


Programm [PDF]
Pressetext vom 18.10.2006