Silk Route
Candlefocus EditorThe Silk Road got its name from the lucrative trading of Chinese silk that occurred along its lengthy journey. As camel caravans made their grueling trek through the treacherous terrain of Central Asia, they often carried with them loads of luxurious silk fabrics, Indian spices, Chinese porcelain, and a variety of other goods.
The Silk Route first began as a series of royal roads linking the Chinese court in Gansu to the Tajik city of Samarkand, in Central Asia. These roads were extended and expanded by the Han dynasty after it gained control of much of Central Asia in the 2nd century BC. By the 4th century BC, the Silk Route was in use. Merchants used the route to transport goods from China to medieval Europe, traveling through northern India and Central Asia, before finally reaching western Asia and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Silk Route also carried new forms of information, technology, and culture between East and West. Some of the most significant items exchanged along the Silk Route were inventions, like gunpowder and the compass, as well as new Buddhist beliefs, Chinese astrology and Chinese paper money.
In the late Middle Ages, the Silk Route fell out of use due to the increased political instability, invasions, and the emergence of more navigable maritime routes. But it continues to be one of the most famous and fabled trade routes in history. Its legacy is still evident today, not just in the artifacts that were exchanged but also in the cultural and linguistic exchanges and the lasting diplomatic relations between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
The legacy of the Silk Route lies in the goods, ideas and culture that transferred across civilizations, and the routes that made it all possible. It encouraged the mixing of goods and ideas, enabling new goods to become available, new discoveries to be made, and new markets to form. Goods, flavors, spices, tea, paper and technology transferred from East to West and vice versa, greatly enhancing communication and trade between the two regions for centuries. Moreover, the Silk Route is credited with the spread of religious beliefs, including Buddhism throughout Asia and Christianity to China. Finally, it is also thought that the spread of the Bubonic Plague from Asia to Europe was due in part to merchants trading via the Silk Route.
All in all, the Silk Route was an essential and groundbreaking trade focus of the ancient world, opening up communication between civilizations and leaving an enduring legacy on all of the cultures and peoples it touched.