The Silk Road and Cultural Exchange goes way back to the ancient times. The Silk Road was established during the Han Dynasty of China. The Silk Road was a network of trade routes it had two routes that were explored by many people whose journey was to central Asia to the Eastern Mediterranean or central Asia to China. Many places have traveled through a famous trade route called the “cultural bridge”. The Silk Road wasn’t just a channel for merchants to sell, share and trade ideas, clothing and recipes. The Silk Road was a transportation from the East and West. Merchants has changed the world more than political or religious leaders. The silk road changed the lives of people who lived in Africa and Eurasia. The silk road was an overland route where merchants carried goods for trade. The silk road also has a sea route so along the coast of many destinations. The silk road began with the han dynasty.
Buddhism was a cultural exchange along the asian silk road. The transmission of Buddhism from India to China (and from there to Korea and Japan) was probably the most momentous of the cultural exchanges that took place along the Silk Road. And that brought India by many
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missionaries and merchants. Buddhism was entrenched in the well-spring of Central Asia by the first century. From that point it traveled to China, and again along the Silk Road. Silk was a huge and important product that everyone wanted, having silk meant you had money. The most thing traded on the silk road were ideas. The Silk road was a primary route for the spread of buddhism. After the Buddha's eightfold path to escaping the cycle of suffering and desire that's inherent (1. Right view 2. Right intention 3. Right speech 4. Right action 5. Right to livelihood 6. Right effort 7. Right mindfulness 8. Right concentration) it began to spread towards India, after that Buddhism became to grow and now is a one of the most religious traditions in the world. Many merchants on the silk road became strong supporters of monasteries, many rich merchants were buying a form of good luck of supernatural insurance.
Monks who live in the monasteries would pray for success of trade missions and the health of their patrons. One of the central materials used in Mahayana Buddhist trials is silk. Many monks wore silk. Another reason why the silk road has changed our lives world-wide was the spread of disease population. Measles and smallpox traveled along it, also bubonic plague which designated from the East to the West in the year of 1346. A well known plague that killed many was the Black Death, it killed nearly half of the European in a four-year period. A majority of Italy died as so two-thirds of Londoners. It wouldn't have occurred if the Silk Road was
made. The encounter for the silk road and cultural exchange are just merchants. The exploration was just the road traveled. Lastly the exchange was just merchants trading goods and other merchandise.
An African rhino horn for some Chinese silk, 6 iron bars for 12 Ferghana horses, or Chinese orange trees for India’s spices. Trade was encouraged by the Silk Road because it was the earliest type of compromise when wars were fought, and supplies were demanded. 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 wants some of China’s beautiful silk.
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.
-Nara’s Buddhist temples were another result of cultural diffusion, Buddhist began in India in 500s B.C.E. about 1,000 years later, it came to Japan from China by way of Korea.
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 phenomenon of cross-cultural exchange is characterized by syncretic languages, religions and traditions occurring in locations due to trade and travel. Both cultural exchange and information exchange were direct results of major Eurasian trade networks. These most prominently included the Mediterranean Sea network, the Indian Ocean trade and the Silk Road. Also, just as the innovation spread resulted in translations of ideas into languages to suit a population, traditions from one culture would be adapted to fit another. This can be seen by looking at the Angkor Wat. This was a temple complex built in Cambodia during the 1100s. This was originally built as a site of Hindu worship, but as India became increasingly Buddhist, it was transferred into a Buddhist center. This is similar to the translation of Islamic Spain scholarly ideas into Italian to appeal to other cultures and be further improved upon by the adoptive countries. These similarities of adaptation to new countries and the usage of major trade networks as vehicles synthesizes the cross-cultural exchange between 1000 and 1450 to the technological of the same period.
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
of power. This was the case with Buddhism to start as it came into China by way of 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 Silk Road was a series of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the West and East by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, and soldiers from China to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time. It was the most important trade route at the time, and was very important to both empires.
(www.discovery.com) By extending the Great Wall they opened China up to great expansion of trade. Trade of ideas, knowledge, and physical goods.
China spread its ideas faster than India, as it has three rivers in the proximity of its area that could transfer ideas, or objects, via waterways or through the Silk Road, which China created for other regions use as well. Their ideas transferred to other regions faster because China had created a common point for the various regions to travel, in return quickening the transfer of their ideas to others along the Silk Road route. On the other hand, India was slower in spreading their ideas and inventions to other regions because of their rocky and mountainous geography that they lived on. This geography prolonged India’s civilization growth and interaction with other regions. Their ideas were slow to reach other regions due to the loss of writing that had occurred in several cities, though a writing system would develop more once India discovered the Silk Road route that China had created years later, bringing their transfer of ideas and inventions to a
Bowman, John. Exploration in the World of the Ancients. New York: Facts on File, 2005.
Buddhism prevailed as a religion indigenous to west India and comprises of varieties of traditions, beliefs and practices based on the teachings of Buddha. There are many reasons why Buddhism became so popular and entered into many civilizations. Buddhism began to be popular throughout Asia alongside India. Buddhism has blossomed in the contemporary world, especially in the West. It is an issue to wonder what Buddhism offers that other religions cannot and has become so significant worldwide. Buddhism has become an idea that is widespread and the teachings of Buddha have made a real difference in many civilizations like India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea and surprisingly Buddhism has come to make a significant difference in American culture.
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.
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