In 1877 Fredinand von Rchthofen a well-known German geographer named the road the Silk Road, because silk was the major trade product, which traveled on this road. Silk Road was all about neighbors exchanging goods, silk, culture, ideas, knowledge, and beliefs. Silk Road is the most extraordinary exchanging course of antiquated Chinese development. The exchange of silk grew under the Han Dynasty in the first and second hundreds of years. Initially, the Chinese exchange silk inside, within the realm. Parades from the domains inside would convey silk to the western edges of the locale. Regularly little Central Asian tribes would assault these bands wanting to catch the traders' important commodities. Therefore, “the Han Dynasty developed its military guards further into Central Asia from 135 to 90 BC in order to ensure these parades.” (en.unesco.org) “At around 300 B.C the Silk Road came into existence.” (silk-road.com) The trade in the routes went from the modern day China and modern day Europe, and on the way it passed through other countries like India, Afghanistan, and Kazakhstan. There were many different kinds of trade routes, but one of the most important items traded along the Silk Road was Silk. Silk was very …show more content…
expensive as it was used as a diplomatic gift. It was discovered by the chines around 2700 B.C.E and kept the production and making of Silk a secret. But then a Han princess smuggled silkworms and mulberry seedlings that the silkworms fed on, as well as expert workmen into Yutian. Despite the determinations of the Chinese emperor to keep it a carefully secured secret, the secret eventually spread outside China, first it spread to India and Japan, then to the Persian Empire and “lastly to the west in the 6th century AD. “(en.unesco.org) Silk is made from the silkworm when it spins a cocoon; the ancient Chinese bred had special moths to produce the best quality silk they wanted. “The steps where that a moth lays 500 or so eggs and then dies, baby worms hatch from the eggs are fed mulberry leaves for one month until they are fat, the worms spin cocoons, the cocoons are steamed to kill the growing moth inside, the cocoons are rinsed in hot water to loosen the threads, women would unwind the cocoons and then combine six or so fibers into silk threads, the threads are woven into cloth, lastly the cloth is then pounded to make it softer.” (silk-road.com) Northwestern Indians who lived close to the Ganges River assumed prominent parts as mediators in the China-Mediterranean silk exchange in light of the fact that as right on time as the third century AD, they comprehended that silk was a lucrative product of the Chinese Empire.
The exchanging relationship between the Chinese and the Indians became stronger with expanded Han venture into Central Asia. The Chinese would exchange their silk with the Indians for valuable stones and metals, for example, jade, gold, and silver, and the Indians would exchange the silk with the Roman Empire. The Parthian Empire vigorously controlled silk, witch ended up being a costly import for the Roman Empire, since its exchange crosswise over Indian and Central
Asia. While the Chinese silk exchange played a minor part in the Chinese economy, it did expand the quantity of foreign merchants present in China under the Han Dynasty, uncovering both the Chinese and guests to their nation to distinctive societies and religions. In fact, Buddhism spread from India to China in view of exchange along the Silk Route, like the way Islam spread along courses in medieval West Africa. The exchange along the Silk Road had declined during the Tang Dynasty. It resuscitated colossally under the Sung Dynasty in the eleventh and twelfth hundreds of years when China became a great extent reliant on its silk exchange. Also, “trade to Central and Western Asia and in addition Europe recuperated for a period of time from 1276-1368 under the Yuan Dynasty when the Mongols controlled China.” (silk-road.com) The Chinese exchanged silk for medicines, perfumes, and slaves in addition to precious stones. As overland exchange got to be progressively hazardous, and abroad exchange got to be more prominent, exchange along the Silk Road declined. While the Chinese did keep up a silk-hide exchange with the Russians north of the first Silk Route, before the end of the fourteenth century, exchange and go along the street had diminished.
Some of the items included porcelain and silk, which is more of a want than a need. Charles D’Avenant also mentions that along with receiving luxury good, Europeans were only sending silver and gold back to Asia, which would become buried and never returned. The global flow of silver’s influence on trade between European nations can be seen in D’Avenant’s account of the English being “supplanted in the spice- trade by the Dutch”, in his reference to importing from the East Indies commodities that can then be sold elsewhere across Europe, in his disappointment that gold and silver gets buried permanently in Asia. To the people of Europe, Asian silks and dyed cloth is pleasing to everyone and useful to wear at home. That meant that it should not be recommended to quit the trade between Europe and China because it benefited both countries. In his essay, Xu Dunqiu Ming wrote about how before, buyers would give vegetables and animals in order to purchase a product from a merchant (Doc. 4). But, silver allowed trading and bartering to be simpler because instead of having to trade item for other goods and services, a person can just give a certain amount of silver coins. The historical context of this essay
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), it 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.
Before the Modern Era, international communication was not prevalent. Many factions were present between distant regions in the world, and regional trade flourished between lands that were close in proximity. Lands in the Americas or South America did not experience a strong connection to lands further east due to these gaps in communication. However, due to the emergence of silver, regional economies all combined to form one global economy. In this global economy, different, distant regions interacted through a common trade. Silver production, common from the 1500s to 1750, helped global interactions flourish. Different regions, specifically China and the Philippines, Spain and its colonies, and England collectively experienced shifts in their societies and economies through a combined need to interpose themselves in this global flow of silver, that was then expanded upon through different methods of gaining silver.
China such as white silk, gold, perfume, and even porcelain. They traded all of these
In the colonization period, the urge to conquer foreign territories was strong, and many lands in the Western Hemisphere were conquered. With the colonization of these areas, a mercantilist relationship was formed between the conquered civilization and the maternal country. A major part of this was the restriction of exportation of native resources only to the mother country as well as the banning of trading with colonies of other countries. In turn, there was an increasing in the number of smuggling activities during the time. According to a British sailor named William Taggart in 1760, the illegal smuggling of goods into these areas had a positive impact because it brought prosperity to the people in Monte Christi, as there were only one hundred poor families. Likewise, Dominica governor John Orde praised the trading because it created prices much lower than with its maternal country. However, British admiral David Tyrell, Roger Elletson, Dominica governor John Orde, and a 1790 Bahaman newspaper report all had similar views on the harmful effects and corruptness present in smuggling. Despite this, physician George Lipscomb and British Lieutenant Governor Thomas Bruce had neutral opinions on the matter, and only stated what they witnessed in the process.
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.
The Silk road was not one road, in fact it was several different roads with many routes. To begin with, the Silk road was any route that ran from China to mideast Rome. Therefore, it was roughly 4,000 miles long. On the route you could encounter deserts, mountains, rivers, and terrible snow storms. Hence, no merchant traveled the whole route. Each merchant stayed in their own region. Bandits, corrupt officials and wars were also dangers you face on the Silk road.
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
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...
At the time of the Han Dynasty, general trade began over the Silk Road, which was a network of trails that stretched 4,000 miles from China extending to the Roman Empire. At the time the Chinese were unique in their knowledge of how to raise silkworms and weave silk. Chinese silk was extremely expensive. In fact it was worth its weight as gold in Rome! Europeans also preferred other Asian luxury goods including but not limited to exotic sp...
The first leg of this trade was merchants from Europe bringing refined goods to Africa to trade for slaves. The merchants traded with chiefs and high authority leaders. The chiefs pretty much could and would trade whomever they
Although the Mongols set their primary trading system along the Silk Road, the Mongols also set out trade in Europe. The Mongols had a passport like system used mainly in China, because of the long distant trade through regions many languages were encountered, thus the paisa or passport comes in play. The paisa is said to have an inscription which is said to be the permission from the ruler to travel through the region. The paisa or passport was brought by the Mongols to Europe, and then adopted by the European.
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...
This civilization has been recognized for making advancements in agriculture, metallurgy, and handcrafts. Most impressive, is the Indus Valley Civilization’s urbanization. They developed several large cities featuring organized buildings, water supply systems, and sewer systems. Some of these cities remain as ruins today after being excavated by archaeologists. After the end of the Indus Valley Civilization era, India’s culture continued to grow rich and eventually came into contact with the western world and Far East Asia via the Silk Road. The spices and textiles produced in India proved to be extremely lucrative during this time and were especially regarded as exquisite and exotic, and thus highly desirable, by the western world. This led to the East India
As for India, they had roads built in their territory, but preferred to travel and trade by sea, using the monsoon winds to their advantage to trade with foreign nations and overall expand their economy as well. During the Han dynasty of China, a huge trade route called the silk road was started and changed the worlds trade more than ever. Connecting China with India, Persia, Mesopotamia and the distant Romans, the silk road was one of a kind. The road also transported a variety of diseases across the continent, but I would say it brought more good than