The Silk Road, a series of passageways connecting China with the Mediterranean completely changed the world. These series of trade routes allowed the advancement of technology and cultural diversity like never seen before. These routes connected many different civilizations allowing the exchange of goods and ideas. This variety of nationalities made it a “Cultural Bridge between Asia and Europe. ” Before these pathways were established trade was nearly impossible due to extreme desert conditions and high mountain tops. Many people died making the journey, even after the trade routes were established. So why make the trip? How did the Silk Road impact history?
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.
There were 3 different routes to the Silk Road covering many different countries and civilizations. This cultural diversity was bound to start mixing with so many different people and beliefs mingling every day. They exchanged music, art, architecture and as people settled along the road different cultu...
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To begin, around 4000 B.C.E., China’s biggest seller was Silk. In fact, that’s mostly why the Silk Road was built! Everyone wanted some of China’s beautiful silk. In India, everyone traveled for spices as Christopher Columbus...attempted. But that was in the 1400’s. Around 50 C.E., the Kushan Empire started to take over these countries and the road after the Han Empire was overthrown. In the Background Essay, it says “Starting in 50 CE, another Asian Empire took shape and began profiting
Similarly to many ancient societies, the Chinese dynasties and societies flourished along the fertile land around rivers. The societies were based on agriculture, and engaged in trade networks along the Silk Road. The societies were ruled by semi-divine monarchies, with a class system. Unlike many of the other ancient societies, China’s rulers were chosen by The Mandate of Heaven, thus creating the dynastic cycle. China began to spread it’s ideals and products along the Silk Road, therefore influencing societies such as Persia, Greece and Rome.
During the classical era, there were shifts worldwide with regards to economic imports and exports. As many societies transformed from hunting-gathering societies into specialization societies, global trade networks expanded. This led to the founding and growth of many complex trade networks, both on land and by sea. Two notable trade networks were the Mediterranean Sea network and the Silk Road. The Mediterranean Sea is in Europe, and the trade network lined the shores of Turkey and North Africa. The Silk Road was trans-Asian. It reached from China to the Eastern Mediterranean. While these networks had multiple similarities in their expansion and spread of religion and ideas, there were many differences. These included the type of materials
During the time 600C.E-1450 C.E the Silk Road went through major changes while maintaining ingenuity. Changes and continuities interactions included cultural knowledge (changes in art, architecture and technology), political control (the impact the leader had on the Silk Road), culture diffusion (continuities in religion that spread and the impact) and trade (continuities of luxury items). Although there were many continuities, the changes of the Silk Road outweighed the continuities.
"Qing dynasty (Chinese history)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/112846/Qing-dynasty>.
Throughout history vast networks known as the Silk Road carried more than just priceless commodities and merchandise. The unabating amalgamate and movement of people resulted in the dissemination of concepts, beliefs, cultures, and knowledge, which had an ardent impact between various civilizations. Along the Silk Road, travelers were not only enthralled by the trade, but by the cultural and logical concepts or ideas that was being interchanged in the various cities by the Silk Roads (About the Silk Road). Naval routes were a significant part of this labyrinth, which connected the east and west via sea (About the Silk Road). These naval routes were recognized as the spice routes due to the trade of spices (About the Silk Road).
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, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads, and urban dwellers.... ... middle of paper ...
Web. The Web. The Web. 5 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. http://www.greatwall-of-china.com/42/discovery-research-1.html>.
The vast Silk road had people of different ethnicities travel itself, and even document it. Faxian was a Chinese Buddhist monk that had traveled the Silk Road. (Source 3) According to Faxian, their were “ a multitude of monks and a succession of very many monasteries”, this indicates that Buddhism spread across the Silk Road. Faxian even told us that “when stranger monks arrive at any monastery”, then older monks meet and receive them. Additionally Friar John of Montecorvino, a wealthy italian priest who wrote about his travels on the Silk Road. (doc 5) It is documented that the “wherein stands the church of St. Thomas the Apostle, for thirteen months”, this proves that catholicism traveled from italy all the way to India through the Silk Road. While in the excerpts the Mongols (led by 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
Through the Silk Road, Chinese goods such as silk and porcelain were transported to places such as Persia in exchange for foreign exotic goods . Furthermore, the Silk Road supported the influx of culture and religion to further enforce Taizong’s embracing attitude of a cosmopolitan society. The Silk Road was also a major factor in introducing Buddhism to China, as during the seventh century, Xuan Zhuang used it to travel to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures . The capital of the Tang, and the beginning of the Silk Road, Chang’an, was the most populous and diverse city in both religion and culture in the world at the time , hosting Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and high ranking officials and citizens from many countries in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East . Under Taizong’s guidance, China created close foreign relations with many foreign nations, and the Silk Road became a major component of trade and revenue for China’s economy. Correspondingly, his capital city of Chang’an became the greatest city in the
The Silk Road, or many trade routes helped to established of merchant colonies (trading center), relations, technologies, alliances, and the spread of religion and ideas. Traveling in long distances was sufficient for people, goods, and ideas to travel back and forth across large stretches of land and sea. Map 4.1 depicts how bananas, sugarcane, cotton, and songhum spread from Southeast of the Pacific Ocean all across to the Atlantic Ocean with the help of the trade road . Take cotton for example, cotton was originated in South Asia, but it traveled all the way to Africa, specifically somewhere near the Nigeria River. Most long-distance trade in the ancient and medieval words wasn’t in bulk commodities, it was luxury items.
It is not possible to think clearly about the Silk Road without taking into consideration the whole of Eurasia as its geographical context. Trade along the Silk Road flourished or diminished according to the conditions in China, Byzantium, Persia, and other countries along the way. There was also competition for alternative routes, by land and sea, to absorb long-distance
Jones-Leaning, Melanie, and Douglas Pratt. "Islam in China: From Silk Road to Separatism." Muslim World 102, no. 2 (April 2012): 308-334. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed April 8, 2014).
...laborers available only in China at that time (China Travel Guide: Culture of the Silk Road).