The Western Mongol World in the Early Eighteenth Century: Kalmyks and Oirats in Vasilis Vatatzēs’s Periēgētikon and His 1732 Map of Central Asia
Journal: Crossroads
Year: 2024

Abstract The article revolves around the information on the Kalmyks and Oirats contained in Vasilis Vatatzēs’s Periēgētikon (Voyages). Vatatzēs, a Greek-Ottoman merchant who travelled in Central Asia in the first half of the eighteenth century, supplemented his text with a map (engraved and published in 1732 in London) and produced a biography of Shah Nader of Persia, the founder of the short-lived Afsharid dynasty. Vatatzēs travelled along the caravan routes connecting the cities of southern Si