历史交通地理视角下的南岭古通道

基于历史文献资料，从历史交通地理的视角探讨南岭五岭是哪五岭，并对其地理位置及成名进行考证，探讨南岭五岭通道的形成及其在历史交通上所发挥的作用，以及这种作用随着朝代更迭的历史性变化。分析结果认为：1）五岭因其驿道而著名，因此五岭更多是指5条重要古驿道，今天的五岭通常指：大庾岭、骑田岭、都庞岭、萌渚岭、越城岭；2）有学者认为南岭最东端的筠门岭驿道也很重要，它是联系赣南和粤东的重要通道。因此，我们认为，南岭古称“五岭”，改称为“六岭”也是未尝不可；3）南岭古驿道的历史功能更多的是商道，由商道而带来了更深的经济文化交往和人口迁移；4）五岭的交通重心随着政治经济的更迭变化和大庾岭通道的开通而发生了由西到东偏移。

Ancient Post Roads in the Nanling Mountains

The Nanling Mountains are a mountain system lying across Southern China, and serve as the dividing ridges between the Yangtze Basin and the Pearl Basin. There were many ancient post roads across the mountains, of which five roads were the most important. The five important ancient post roads were situated on the Five Ridges, and so the Five Ridges have been famous for their post roads. The ancient post roads of the Nanling connected the navigable rivers between the Yangtze and the Pearl systems, and goods from the north could be easily transported to Guangzhou, which was one of the most important departure ports of the ancient Marine Silk Road. Since the Qin Dynasty, the Nanling Mountains have always been called the Five Ridges. However, what and where are the Five Ridges? That has long been a problem. At present the Five Ridges are normally designated as Dayuling, Qitianling, Dupangling, Mengzhuling, and Yuechengling. Some people considered that in addition to the above-mentioned ancient post roads on the Five Ridges, there was another important ancient road on the Yunmenling at the easternmost of the Nanling, connecting the navigable rivers between southern Jiangxi and eastern Guangdong. Some geographers even held that the Nanling Mountains may also be called the Six Ridges. In this paper the historical functions and evolution of the ancient post roads in the Nanling Mountains are discussed. It is found that the main functions of the ancient post roads were merchants’ activities, and the roads played very important roles in the economic and human exchanges between northern and southern ancient China, as well as in the prosperity of the Marine Silk Road. It is also found that in the ancient period of two thousand years the communications of the Nanling had a trend that the traffic core moved from west to east. At first the post road of Yuechengling in the west was the most important, while from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty the Dayuling post road in the east became the busiest one.