Asia

Sound Clips from Asia (30K-50K)

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Chess finds its origins in the continent of Asia. It first began in India some time before the 5th century. In the 6th century it spread to Persia and then to the Arab culture after Persia was conquered by Omar I in the mid 7th century. By the 10th century, chess had spread to Burma, Ceylon, China, Japan, Siam and Tibet.

There are many legends that describe the invention of chess. One legend has it that there was an Indian princess with two sons. Her sons fought to determine who would be the successor to their mother's throne. Inevitably one of the sons died. A wise man of the court invented chess to show what happened and to console the poor mother.

Another legend tells that a man invented the game for an Indian king. The king really liked the game, and thought it would be really useful in teaching war strategy. He offered to give the inventor whatever he wanted. The inventor asked that one grain of wheat be put on the first square, two on the second, four on the third, and so forth, doubling the number of grains on each square until all squares had been covered. At first the king was shocked by the inventor's demand for so little. But, then the king came to understand that there was not enough wheat in the entire world to cover all the squares on the chess board as the inventor had asked.

There is another tale of an Indian king who freed his country from the conquest of Alexander the Great. With his country no longer at war, the king was bored. A Greek wise man is said to have brought the game to him to give him something new to occupy his time.