Origins
Originally, the Chinese trade silk internally, within the empire. Caravans from the empire's interior would carry silk to the western edges of the region. Often small Central Asian tribes would attack these caravans hoping to capture the traders' valuable commodities. As a result, the Han Dynasty extended its military defenses further into Central Asia from 135 to 90 BC in order to protect these caravans.
Chan Ch'ien, the first known Chinese traveler to make contact with the Central Asian tribes, later came up with the idea to expand the silk trade to include these lesser tribes and therefore forge alliances with these Central Asian nomads. Because of this idea, the Silk Road was born.
The route grew with the rise of the Roman Empire because the Chinese initially gave silk to the Roman-Asian governments as gifts.
The 7000 mile route spanned China, Central Asia, Northern India, and the Parthian and Roman Empires. It connected the Yellow River Valley to the Mediterranean Sea and passed through places such as Chinese cities Kansu and Sinkiang and present-day countries Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Northwestern Indians who lived near the Ganges River played prominent roles as middlemen in the China-Mediterranean silk trade because as early as the third century AD, they understood that silk was a lucrative product of the Chinese Empire. The trading relationship between the Chinese and the Indians grew stronger with increased Han expansion into Central Asia. The Chinese would trade their silk with the Indians for precious stones and metals such as jade, gold, and silver, and the Indians would trade the silk with the Roman Empire. Silk proved to be an expensive import for the Roman Empire since its trade across Indian and Central Asia was heavily controlled by the Parthian Empire.
Great Silk Road
During the 6-14th century, there were thousands of large and small
routes that crossed Asian Continent leading to the West. Caravans
followed these routes and each was filled with exotic clothes, eastern
goods and spices. These routes raised the Great Silk Road.
Along Great Silk Road towns, cities and caravanserai were created.
Hence the various centers for national crafts, art schools, madrasahs,
palaces and mausoleums. Traders, missionaries and refuges were
travelling together bringing along new religions, customs, products like
glass, porcelain, soap and gunpowder and most important a different
culture. They were the ones who created herbariums, collected methods of
curing diseases and studied the stars. In many ways, for more than
thousands of years Great Silk Road linked many countries and its people
by means of peaceful activities such as trade, culture and spiritual
exchanges that is unique to all mankind. The Great Silk Road routes
started from a town called Lanchjou and stretched to cities of Tor and
Sodom, both Mediterranean ports which acted as a junction between the
East and West. This old East-West trading trail transplanted culture,
customs and religious from one center to the next and vice-versa. Again,
the Great Silk Road will be re-opened to tourists, magnificent
architectural monuments, unique works of calligraphy, silks, rugs and
pottery produced by ancient craftsmen in our fascinating tours.
Fascinating History of Silk Road
History of Silk Road is fascinating and full of
military conquest, fearless explorers, religious pilgrims and great
thinkers, along with the humble tradesmen who risked life and limb for
profit as they led their loaded caravans across dangerous deserts,
mountains and steppes.
In the history of Great Silk Road there are such figures as Alexander
the Great, Marco Polo, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane were all familiar with
Silk Road which was established by 100DC. It lasted until 15th century
when newly-discovered sea routes to Asia opened up.
Great Silk Road: Luxury Trade
The story of silk trade is very cognitive. Silk was, of course, why the
great route was established in the first place. According to the
Chinese, silk was discovered one day when a queen accidently dropped a
silkworm cocoon into her hot cup of tea, and as she plucked it out,
unravelled a shiny, silken thread.
Woven into fabric and sent west, silk soon became the most demended and
expensive textile in Rome. Some historians claim the Romans' profligated
thier spendings on silk which played its rall in fall of their empire,
while their rivals to the east grew rich on the silk trade. Many around
the Mediterranean, priests and potentates, including Cleopatra, dressed
themselves in silk, especially that kind which had been colored in
purple made of mollusc shells.
More Than Silk
There are many other luxury goods besides silk that were transported
along Silk Road. Heading west were porcelain, furs, spices, gems and
other exotic products of Asia. Chinese inventions like gunpowder and
paper first travelled to Europe along Silk Road with many other
products. Being shipped east were cosmetics, silver, gold, amber, ivory,
carpets, perfume and ceramics from Europe, Central Asia, Arabia and Africa.
A Road of Ideas
As merchants and other travellers traversed Silk Road, they also carried
culture, art, philosophies and beliefs with them. Buddhism came to
China on The Silk Road and Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and
Confucianism all had their itinerant proselytiser. Goods and ideas were
exchanged in cities with exotic names like Antioch, Babylon, Erzerum,
Hamadn, Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva,
Kashgar and Xian, as well as in dozens of others whose names are now
lost in time. However, many remain and travellers again have the chance
to visit these sites, relive the legends and capture some of the magic.
While the Chinese silk trade played a minor role in the Chinese economy, it did increase the number of foreign merchants present in China under the Han Dynasty, exposing both the Chinese and visitors to their country to different cultures and religions. In fact, Buddhism spread from India to China because of trade along the Silk Route, similar to the way Islam spread along trans-Saharan routes in medieval West Africa. .
The Silk Road's Decline
By 760 AD, during the T'ang Dynasty, trade along the Silk Road had declined. It revived tremendously under the Sung Dynasty in the eleventh and twelfth centuries when China became largely dependent on its silk trade. In addition, trade to Central and Western Asia as well as Europe recovered for a period of time from 1276-1368 under the Yuan Dynasty when the Mongols controlled China. The Chinese traded silk for medicines, perfumes, and slaves in addition to precious stones. As overland trade became increasingly dangerous, and overseas trade became more popular, trade along the Silk Road declined. While the Chinese did maintain a silk-fur trade with the Russians north of the original Silk Route, by the end of the fourteenth century, trade and travel along the road had decreased.
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