Rise And Fall Of Civilizations Spread Along The Silk Road

Jaela Harding From 200 BCE to 1450 CE, while civilizations rose and fell and spirituality spread along the Silk Road, trade and the exchange of ideas continued. The Western Roman Empire and Han Dynasty met their demise, and later Eurasia witnessed the rise and fall of the great Mongol Empire. As merchants spread their spiritual beliefs, the popularity of world religions fluctuated. Despite political transformations and the exchange of religious ideas, the main purpose of the land and sea trade network remained and the exchange of goods continued to impact the region socially and economically.

The rise and fall of civilizations along the Silk Road marked one of the significant changes along the trade routes. In the early years of the trade

Buddhism had existed in India for approximately one century, but the Silk Roads helped it spread to the rest of Asia. Although it was expelled from India by the Hindu majority, other places such as Japan, Tibet and Southeast Asian embraced Buddhism. The religion was extremely popular with the poor, since it offered enlightenment and salvation to any who would follow the proper steps. Buddhism appeared during the Tang Dynasty, but continued to spread once the Mongols adopted it. Christianity, also spread along the Silk Road; it had started in the former Western Roman Empire (where it had become the state religion), and spread as far east as the Byzantine Empire. While missionaries continued to spread Buddhism and Christianity, Islam spread much differently. Muslim congregations began to seize polytheistic cities and demand taxes from those who refused to convert. Merchants traveling and trading along the route were exposed to local beliefs and through their interactions with others these merchants helped spread Islam to Africa and

At the inception of the Silk Road, the Han Chinese sent merchants with items such as spices and silk to the Mediterranean and India, where the foreign fabric was considered a luxury. Westerners paid high prices for silk as it was a symbol of wealth because the commodity could only be produced in China. China’s mulberry trees enabled silkworms to thrive and the method of processing the prized threads into fabric was carefully guarded preventing others from producing the silk themselves. This had a great impact on the economies of all of Asia and Europe. The East continued to prosper from the trade of its exotic goods, while the West exported gold and silver—the precious metals valued highly by Eastern