From Ukraine to Gaza
While the name is self-explanatory, it's important to note the importance of silk on this massive trade route. Chinese silk was unknown before the establishment of the Silk Road, and more than gunpowder or spices, silk was the West's favorite import.
Historians prefer the term "Silk Routes" to the more popular "Silk Road," because there were in fact numerous different routes stretching out from China, although not all of them made it as far west as the main route. Other roads included the Northern Route, which went up through Russia, and the Tea Horse Road, which dipped southward into Tibet and India.
The Silk Road was a vast system of trade routes that stretched from the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an all the way to Rome on the Italian Peninsula. For more than 1,000 years, it was the most important trade system in Eurasia.
While silk was one of the most popular commodities traded along the Silk Routes, it was far from the only commodity. Treasures of all sorts, from precious metals and medicines to intangible ideas and deities, were also circulated across the continents.
It's important to keep in mind that the Silk Road wasn't called the Silk Road by the societies who actually used it. That term wasn't applied until the late 19th century, by a German geographer by the name of Ferdinand von Richthofen.
Gunpowder wasn't the only invention spread throughout Eurasia via the Silk Road. Other revolutionary tools included the process of paper making and printing, and the compass.
China sent previously mentioned inventions like gunpowder, the compass, and paper printing, but also sent along goods like porcelain, as well as many principles of Eastern medicine and healing practices. And, of course, silk.
One of the most critical side effects of the Silk Road was the introduction of Buddhism into China during the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Missionaries from India traveled the Silk Road eastward to spread their teachings, which led to Buddhism becoming the dominate religion throughout much of China and the rest of Asia, in tandem with the secular philosophy of Confucianism.
The West provided goods such as livestock, specifically horses; precious metals like gold and silver; textiles, in particular wool and woolen rugs; and other luxury items like ivory. The Silk Road also contributed to the spread eastward of Western religions like Christianity and Islam.
From its beginnings in the 2nd century BCE, the Silk Road was used to various degrees until 1453 CE. Over the course of those 1,500-plus years, although some eras were busier than others, it remained the essential vein of contact, commerce, and culture between Europe and Asia.
Since the Chinese economy came to rely so heavily on the West's obsession with silk, it was imperative that they keep silk production a secret. For nearly 500 years Westerners believed that the fabric grew on special Chinese silk trees.
Despite its huge popularity, there was some controversy regarding the use of silk in the West, specifically in the Roman Empire. The famous Stoic philosopher Seneca saw the use of silk as clothing as depraved and immoral, claiming it was just an excuse for people to throw away their modesty.
From the very beginnings of the Silk Road, China was most interested in both horses and the principles of horse riding and cavalry. Some historians argue this was the sole reason China opened trade with Central Asia and then the West in the first place. In the 2nd century BCE, Han China was in the throes of a major war with the nomadic Xiongnu tribes and was in desperate need of warhorses. It worked out wonderfully that the West saw silk for horses as a fair trade.
The city of Baghdad, in modern-day Iraq, was one of the most important commercial hubs on the Silk Road. Its perfect position between China, India, and the West made it a central meeting place for merchants, buyers, and suppliers.
The Silk Road was stronger the less divided it was. After the fall of the Chinese Tang dynasty in the 10th century, a number of minor factions and states came to control many small portions of the road. That is, until the Mongol Empire became the largest governing body the world had ever seen and reunited the Silk Road under the Khan's rule. Under the Mongol Empire, the Silk Road was at the height of its usefulness and popularity.
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant who became famous for his adventures and travelogues, and for being a close friend and confidant of the ruler of the Mongols, Kublai Khan. He frequently traversed the Silk Road and documented a myriad of characters, scenes, and stories along the way.
A 21st-century iteration of the Silk Road is the China Europe Railway Express, an extensive rail network that connects China to 25 European countries and 219 European cities.
Sources: (Britannica) (Ranker) (China Highlights)
See also: Highway to hell: Spooky stories set along Route 66
The West had begun to rely on the goods and materials they received from the East over the centuries, and after the Ottoman Empire cut off their line of commerce it became imperative to find another way around. Historians believe this was the driving factor in the birth of the Age of Exploration, one of the most important and world-changing eras in history.
Over the centuries, empires along the Silk Routes rose and fell, and rose again. The Han dynasty eventually gave way to the Tang dynasty, and a number of small Grecian and Persian empires popped up along the way over time.
One of the first and most important empires to participate in trade along the Silk Road was the Parthian Empire. Until its collapse in 224 CE, the Parthian Empire served as an essential intermediary between the Hans to the East and the Romans to the West.
The Kushan Empire, which ruled over most of northern India for more than 400 years until 375 CE, was also instrumental in the operation of the Silk Road. The Kushans controlled the seafaring trade between the West across the Indian Ocean, allowing merchants to take one of the southern Silk Routes and circumvent the Parthians.
The obsession with silk that stemmed from Rome, Egypt, and other Western powers caused an influx of wealth and materials the likes of which China had never seen. After being financially and structurally damaged from their wars with the surrounding nomadic tribes, the Han dynasty recovered with unprecedented speed and quickly became a formidable power in Asia.
In 139 BCE, the Chinese Han emperor Wudi sent one of his finest diplomats, Zhang Qian, westward in search of possible allies. Qian brought back immensely beneficial knowledge of what lay to the west, including information about the Macedonian and Parthian empires. Later, as Chinese expansion westward continued, the Han dynasty established trade routes with the Parthian Empire, who extended the reach of the road on to Rome.
While the Han dynasty of China started the Silk Road, there was no way for them to regulate and control the whole of the routes across two continents. The Silk Road was an early testament to the power of collaboration between powerful groups.
Not everything that was traded along the routes of the Silk Road was in particularly high demand. The constant and widespread mixture of people from far away places also meant epidemics and contagions that would once be isolated to the area they originated in could now be spread across two continents. When the Black Death started to ravage Europe in the 14th century, it quickly traveled across the continent and decimated the Mongols as well.
The Silk Road saw a brief and fleeting rebirth in the 20th century. When the Japanese Empire began to invade China and strangled their maritime shipping lines, commerce across land once again became their only option. China received material support from their allies in classic Silk Road fashion until the end of 1941.
One of the many important inventions shared along the Silk Road was gunpowder. Gunpowder had been used in China since at least the 9th century CE, but the West wasn't aware of it until the 1200s.
After 1,500 years of use, the Silk Road came to an abrupt closure in 1453. Once the Ottoman Empire took control of Constantinople, a critical spot on the Silk Road, they boycotted and effectively ended all commerce and trade with Western Europe, putting a stop to the Silk Road as a link between the continents.
Few trade routes in history have had as big an impact on the course of the world's development as the Silk Road. One of the longest, most enduring and famous roads did much more than transport silk and spices from one edge of the Old World to the other. It also helped diffuse ideas, tools, and languages, making the knowledge of one society the knowledge of all societies. As merchants trekked through the mountains, valleys, and deserts between the East and the West, they were, perhaps unknowingly, shaping the world we live in today.
Intrigued? Read on to find out everything you need to know about the history of the Silk Road, and why it's so important.
Information and communication also began to travel much faster with the introduction of the Silk Road. The Persian Messengers who rode across the continents with letters and documents were so efficient and organized that they inspired nearly every other postal service since, including the famous American Pony Express.
The fascinating history of the Silk Road
The trade route that connected two worlds
LIFESTYLE History
Few trade routes in history have had as big an impact on the course of the world's development as the Silk Road. One of the longest, most enduring and famous roads did much more than transport silk and spices from one edge of the Old World to the other. It also helped diffuse ideas, tools, and languages, making the knowledge of one society the knowledge of all societies. As merchants trekked through the mountains, valleys, and deserts between the East and the West, they were, perhaps unknowingly, shaping the world we live in today.
Intrigued? Read on to find out everything you need to know about the history of the Silk Road, and why it's so important.