Today, scholars often study globalization; the term that describes a modern phenomenon of interconnected trade, global markets, and high-speed exchanges of culture. Globalization began after World War II, though began at modern rates after the fall of the USSR and the end of the Cold War (What). However, is globalization truly a modern invention? Many today argue no; that globalization began thousands of years ago. The Silk Road, the famous network of trade roads that ran from China to Europe, was the first truly global exchange (What). These trails spread thousands of miles, through new lands and with new people, and ended in faraway nations first believed to be on the edge of fantasy. In this paper the author argues that the Silk Road began …show more content…
Now Emperor Wu-ti controlled the famed Blood Sweating horses. These more powerful beasts helped the Han fight off incursions of the Xiongnu and would strike fear into their enemies (Mark). It is unknown if the horses actual sweat blood, but it is speculated that the cause was parasite which would burrow under the horse’s skin (Heavenly).
The Legacy of the Fergana Horses
Many scholars have different opinions on the actual conception point of the Silk Road. Some cite the Persian Royal Road as its true beginning because it would come to serve as a major path in the tangling trails of the Silk Road (Mark). It was established during the Ahaemenid Empire and ran from north Persia to modern day Turkey (Mark). Others cite the Steppe Route as the original Silk Road, a set of trade routes which ran through the Euroasian Steppe, Mongolia. Whichever the case, it is clear that:
“the consequences of [Cheng Ch’ien’s] journey was not only further contact between China and the west but an organized and efficient horse breeding program throughout the land in order to equip a cavalry. With the western horse of the Dayuan, the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu. This success inspired the Emperor Wu to speculate on what else might be gained through trade with the west and the Silk Road was opened in 130 BCE”
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“The greatest value of the Silk Road was the exchange of culture. Art, religion, philosophy, technology, language, science, architecture, and every other element of civilization was exchanged through the Silk Road along with the commercial goods the merchants carried from country to country (Mark). For the first time, isolated nations were learning about distant peoples, further away than they thought the world even went. Perhaps the most important good of all, religion, became to effect cultures and nations through these networks of paths. Buddhism would most effect China and Islam would spread amongst the trading peoples
In the Background Essay Q’s, Doc B, Box 1, it mentions Hinduism. Doc A box 3 mentions confucianism. Rome worships christianity. Hinduism is technically Buddhism. These reasons explain that trade was never JUST physical items, but ideas and beliefs as well. The Silk Road made sure if you didn’t trade items you can hold, then you can trade items you can cherish. Finally, in the western civilizations (Rome), was accessed by boat. Boats could carry a ton more items and it was less of a walk for the merchants/traders. However, the Silk Road did lead a small backup path up north of Parthia. Around 27 B.C.E., the Roman Empire had only begun, but the silk road had been a thing for a very long time before that. About 3,073 years to be close to proximity. This took trade across seas! This was also how the Silk Road was Forgotten...boat travel became popular, less expensive, and easier to carry bigger loads.On Doc A, the map shows a series of dashes across the Mediterranean Sea. This represents the route to Rome by boat. Also on Doc A, the dashes on the backup path lead from east of India, to the north of the Caspian Sea, then south to Rome. Also, the timeline says 27 B.C.E.- Roman Empire begins. This time subtracted from 4000 B.C.E- Silk Cultivation in China, is about 3,073
Francesco Pegolotti was a Florentine merchant and politician. He wrote the The Practice of Commerce in which he expressed the personal qualities he believed that merchants were most needed to survive, which were compliancy and the skill to work with others, and have understanding. Pegolotti’s history was based on the sensitivity to local rules and customs was the key to survival. In this paper it will argue that the personal qualities that was needed to succeed in the Silk Road trade.
Timothy Brook discusses in his book the aspects of world trade during the 17th century and how through the process of globalization, how regions became as interconnected as we know of today. Most people tend to have this conceptualized idea of what globalization is as well as its process. Throughout my educational career, globalization has always been portrayed as big businesses working together providing different goods and services worldwide. In other words, globalization simply involves big, fortune 500-esque companies and has no involvement from anyone else. In the text, however, Brook gives a different interpretation and does so by examining six different paintings by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. Instead of focusing primarily on the obvious aspects of each painting, Brook draws the readers’ attention to a variety of intricate details and provides insight for all of them. This helps support his belief that globalization can be traced back to the events of the 17th century and had contributions from several individuals.
Beliefs and religions ebbed and flowed through the Silk Roads that was “an artery that for nearly a thousand years was the primary commercial network linking East Asia and the Mediterranean world. This trade route extended over 5000 miles and took its name from the huge quantities of precious silk that passed along it.” Nomads, monks and traders survived on these open roads selling goods, services, and ideas to other people and traders to pass on. These people were wide and diverse since commerce went in between the “Mediterranean and South Asia reinforced frenetic rise in commercial activity within each region. Over land and across the seas, traders loaded textiles, spices, and precious metals onto the backs of camels and into the hold of oceangoing vessels destined for different markets. Trade thereby strengthened the political, intellectual, and spiritual shift.” Spirituality was an active invention as monks of all major beliefs (mostly Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism) spread the new ideas that were based in new religions and acts of missionary work was greatly encouraged. These groups should have been widely torn apart based on the challenging of each other’s beliefs but nomads had no desire to “undermine local cultural traditions” instead presentations of new cultural “ingredients” kept the peace especially the introduction of equestrianism trading along the road which creating having a horse a status symbol in the eyes of many foreign nations the pride at being from a horse tribe went so far as to despite the temperature it was a status symbol clans like the Kushans showed pride by wearing the clans trade mark clothing despite the climate. The Kushans made had such reverence to horses that became horses were a prestigious status symbol of the ruling elite.
During the early Ming Dynasty, China was one of the most economically and technologically advanced countries in the world. As Ebrey pointed out, “Europe was not yet a force in Asia and China continued to look on the outer world in traditional terms.” China was regarded as the center of Asia at the beginning of 15th century and the idea of “Middle Kingdom” (Zhong guo) began to take off at that time. The early Ming Emperors were not interested in promoting commercial trade at all. Emperor Hongwu, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, implemented the Hai jin policy which forbade maritime shipping and private foreign trade outside of the tributary system (Ebrey, p. 209). Emperor Yongle, the son of Emperor Hongwu, lifted this policy to a certain extent when he ordered his eunuch Zheng He’s voyages. However, he was only intereste...
One of the major lasting effects was the Han Dynasty’s changes to the economy. The Han Dynasty expanded their influence throughout the land and made improvements in many products made in China, including silk, iron, and textiles, as well as inventing paper. As stated in the article, “Great Journeys of China… The Silk Road”, “at the order of Emperor Wudi, courtier General Zhang Qian travelled to the “regions western ...
During this time in China the Han dynasty was responsible for the greatest expansion of China, to what is now southern China, northern Vietnam, and parts of Korea and had trade with Central Asia, India, Persia. Because of the expansion of the territory they were able to trade with more countries. This was furthered by the discovery of the Silk Road in 2nd century BC. The Silk Road, discovered by a Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian, was a series of trade routes from China to the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road got its name from the amount of silk used for trade during the Han dynasty. This route was used to travel from West to East on land they traveled to India, Persia, Arabia, and Europe, while traveling by sea they traveled through Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. These paths were used by merchants, pilgrim, monks, soldiers, nomads, and urban dwellers.
As told by the roman historian Cassius Dio, Silk was used in Caesar’s celebration. (doc. 1). When Dio talks about the silk he calls it a “device of barbarian luxury.” This proves that a well educated roman was oblivious to the advancements that the Chinese had made, including The Great Wall and Grand Canal. Not to mention that the Chinese have existed thousands of years prior to the Roman civilization. Secondly Sima Qian who wrote The Records Of the Grand Historian clearly hints that Zhang Qian may have started the Silk Road. According to the document, Zhang Qian travels several thousand li (1 Li is equivalent to a bit more than one third of a mile.) Zhang brings back crops such as wheat and rice, and even find out about wine and grapes. Zhang was the first person to bring a clear account of present day Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, claiming it was people settled on the
The Mongols influenced the world in many great ways, one of them was their vast trade system. They relied quite heavily on trade, not only to gain resources, but also to get their inventions and objects to the Europeans and then hopefully spread from there. The Mongols enhanced the trading system by composing the “Silk Road”. The Silk Road was a path/road that the Mongols had control of and it was a trade route that many travelers and traders took. Along the Silk Road, the main resource that was traded was silk, hence the name “Silk Road.” The
The Mongols conquered and then united China. This created peace among the country and led to other great things. One of these great things is the Silk Road. The Silk Road is a long trading route that was created when China was united as they had started
The four hundred years between the collapse of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.- C.E. 220) and the establishment of the Tang dynasty (618-906) mark a division in the history of China. During this period, foreign invasion, transcontinental trade, and missionary ambition opened the region to an unprecedented wealth of foreign cultural influences. These influences were both secular and sacred. Nomads, merchants, emissaries and missionaries flooded into China, bringing new customs, providing exotic wares, and generating new religious beliefs. Foremost among these beliefs was Buddhism, born in India, but which now took root in China. These new influences entered China by a vast network of overland routes, popularly known as the Silk Road
The Silk Road is trade route that connected east and west. Inaccurately named by Ferdinand von Richthofen in the 19th century, it is actually a collection of roads. Traders didn’t usually traverse the whole length of the route, however. Goods were usually traded multiple times before they reached the final destination. Items leaving from Asia and China were goods such as: silk, spices, textiles, ivory, jade, bronze objects, ceramics, lacquarware, flowers, furs, paper, jewelry, minerals, horses, and exotic plants and animals. Goods from the west were: wool, linen, coins, bullion, ambergris, gold, ivory, amber, coral, other precious stones, beads, and glass (a commodity that China has not been able to produce at this point). Goods originating from India were:...
Larger empires maximized long distance trade due to the demand for raw materials and luxury items. Because of this trade routes developed over land and sea to link various parts of the east. Some of the routes that formed were the Silk Roads, the Trans-Saharan caravan routes, and various sea lanes.
The Chinese were the first to produce silk from the silkworm. This was something that was very much desired by the West. The Romans even referred to it as the ‘land where silk comes from. ’ The Romans set out to find where this wonderful material was coming from. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia it is thought that the first contact between China and the west was around 200 BCE . Many types of merchandise were traded along this road. China had things like silk, bamboo work, and Chinese lacquers. The West had many new fruits, vegetables, spices, gold, and medicinal materials that China wanted. So this was a mutually beneficial trade route. As mentioned before much more than just material things were traded among this road like ideals, beliefs, and technology.
Globalization’s history is extremely diversified and began during the beginning of civilization. Now we live in a world that is constantly evolving, demanding people to use resources in locations that are very difficult to obtain certain resources. This could make it completely impossible to operate in these specific parts of the world. However, globalization allows people across the world to acquire much needed resources. Globalization creates the opportunity for businesses to take advantage and exploit the ability to take part of their business to a different country. Nevertheless, globalization is part of today’s society and will be involved in virtually all situations.