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Silk Road: A History
from Beginning to End
(History of China)
Hourly History.
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Strangely, this volume is classified as history of China. Strange, because while China certainly was at one extreme end of this route, the other ends were West Asia and Europe, and the route itself wsss mostly through Central Asia, with one offshoot leading South to India, into and across Himalaya. So if it's history of anything specific, it's that of what's termed Old World.
Specifically, it's history of Central Asia. Not China.
Not China, which didn't extend then quite so ambitiously as it does now, occupying so much of lands wrested from other nations, by military forces of China forcibly occupying them.
Worth reading despite questionable accounts of history as taught by West.
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"We generally imagine international trade to be a relatively recent development, but the truth is that it stretches back almost to the beginnings of human civilization. From the time of the first cities, it was apparent that certain commodities were only available in certain areas. This led to trade with other cities, other civilizations, and even other continents.
"One of the earliest and most important trade routes was the network which became known as the Silk Road, connecting Asia with the Middle East and Europe. Of course, it wasn’t just silk that was traded on this network; a whole range of commodities were traded in both directions over a period which spanned more than 1,000 years. ... "
In fact, this trade route dealt far more largely with spices, of which European lands were in dire need, and source of supplies was India. Spices were essential for preservation of food, vital during winters of Nordic latitudes when people needed to survive on stored food.
But naming it properly, after the commodity most vital for the trade route, would not merely tear into the romance of the name - after all, what's more frivolous than silk, traded over such long arduous route through deserts either too hot or too cold for survival, taking months, than something as unnecessary to life as silk, however beautiful? - but more importantly, such a name would inevitably bring home the importance and wealth of India that was raided, looted, colonised and destroyed as brutally as invaders could, so that hiding the fact of this havoc wreaked by them was necessary forever since, for prestige of the colonizers who could only survive by cannibalising India?
So give undue importance, then, to China, by not only calling it silk route (- and pretending that silk was Chinese invention, not of India, a questionable assumption if one looks at antiquity of Raamaayana and Mahaabhaarata -) but also categorizing it as history of China!
History it is, but of famous names of yore such as Samarkand and Bukhara, for example - the latter having been thus named due to once upon a time having been a Buddha Vihaara, Buddhist monastery. Such Buddhist monasteries dotted this route, providing succour to traders and travellers along this route.
Until Islamic hordes destroyed it all, just as they destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas in recent decades, and far more in past few centuries, more throughout India than anywhere else.
" ... Civilizations rose and fell, mighty historical figures appeared, briefly dominated, and then sank back into obscurity, but the torrent of trade between east and west continued to flow along these routes.
"And it wasn’t just commodities which were exchanged via the Silk Road. In the period before seafarers learned how to safely make journeys well out of sight of land, it was also the main route by which ideas were exchanged between east and west. The travelers who crossed the Silk Road brought news of different approaches to philosophy, art, culture, and religion, and these too were traded.
"Because of this, the Silk Road had a profound effect on the way in which ancient cultures developed—no longer in isolation but fueled by new ways of thinking from distant lands. This is the story of the Silk Road and the lasting and permanent changes it brought to the development of human civilization.
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"“Travel the highway, though it be roundabout—where shortcuts are dangerous.”
"—Persian proverb"
Highways are dangerous, as proved by colonial era, when a land of wealth and knowledge was looted by barbaric hordes.
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"One of the most ancient human civilizations was that established by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq. The Sumerians built some of the first large cities and made notable scientific advances in things like the smelting of copper, the creation of a complex system of writing and mathematics, and the use of wheeled vehicles."
This was the fraudulent history made up by and in Europe and West Asia for convenience of the region chiefly through deep ingratitude - civilisations were far more ancient in Egypt whence it spread to Europevia Greece and Rome, and even more in India whence it spread Westward.
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"This route became known as the Persian Royal Road, and it is the true progenitor of the routes which became known as the Silk Road. Over time, the Persian Royal Road was extended into Egypt and even across the Indian sub-continent. This was the first global superhighway, and the continuous flow of goods and ideas transformed every society which it impacted. Still, there was another empire far beyond India with which even the Persians did not make contact."
Wasn't Attila the Hun far prior, in which case, wasn't Europe aware of Mongolia?
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"“A man grows most tired while standing still.”
"—Chinese proverb"
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"Under the Han, the western part of China was divided into thirteen centrally controlled administrative areas, the jùn, while the eastern territories became ten semi-autonomous kingdoms. By around 157 BCE, the kings of these regions had all been replaced by loyal members of the Liu family, and the Han effectively controlled all of China. Over the next decades, the power of the ten kingdoms of eastern China was gradually reduced until these were little more than additional administrative regions. In terms of size and power, the Han Empire came to equal the approximately contemporary Roman Empire in the west.
" ... Qin Shi Huang and his successor created a single state ruled from the capital city, Xianyang (the present-day Xi’an metropolitan area in central Shaanxi province).
"The new state had a stable economy, a powerful army, and the emperors introduced new legislation which took central control over the peasants, the largest population group and the main source of labor. Previously, these people had been ruled under a fragmented feudal system where aristocratic families controlled small areas of land. This centralization of power allowed some large-scale construction projects including a greatly improved road network and the construction of a defensive wall on what was then the northern edge of the empire; this would later develop into the Great Wall of China."
" ... Popular revolt in the empire led by rebel leader Liu Bang (known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han) led to the establishment of a new dynasty in 206 BCE. The Han dynasty would last for almost 400 years and would establish what would become known as China’s Golden Age (even today, the ethnic majority in China refer to themselves as “Han Chinese” and the Chinese written script is popularly called “Han characters”).
................................................................................................"Under the Han, the western part of China was divided into thirteen centrally controlled administrative areas, the jùn, while the eastern territories became ten semi-autonomous kingdoms. By around 157 BCE, the kings of these regions had all been replaced by loyal members of the Liu family, and the Han effectively controlled all of China. Over the next decades, the power of the ten kingdoms of eastern China was gradually reduced until these were little more than additional administrative regions. In terms of size and power, the Han Empire came to equal the approximately contemporary Roman Empire in the west.
"Emperor Gaozu established the capital of the Han in the city of Chang’an (modern-day Xi’an). This was a vital strategic location because the city marked the nexus of a number of important trade routes. By the beginning of the first millennium, Chang’an was the largest, most powerful, and most influential city in Asia with a population of over a quarter of a million people. However, it was during the long rule of the seventh Han emperor, Emperor Wu who reigned from 141-87 BCE, that the greatest expansion and consolidation of the Han Empire took place.
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"Under the aggressive rule of Emperor Wu, the Han Empire expanded to present-day Kyrgyzstan in the west, to Korea in the east, and to Vietnam in the south. Despite this expansion, the nomadic horsemen of the Xiongnu on the northern and western borders of the Han Empire continued to pose problems, regularly launching raids on Han controlled territory. In 138 BCE, Emperor Wu sent an imperial envoy, Zhang Qian, to the west to establish diplomatic relations with the Yuezhi people for help in defeating the Xiongnu.
From Wikipedia:-
"On his journey, Zhang Qian was captured and enslaved by the Xiongnu for more than ten years. When he finally managed to escape, he was unsuccessful in persuading the Yuezhi to join the Han in their war against the Xiongnu, but what he did do was far more important to the empire in the long term: he discovered that there were large and well-established civilizations in the west, and he spent almost one year writing detailed reports on these strange new people and relaying them back to the emperor. On his return trip, Zhang Qian was again captured by the Xiongnu and held prisoner, but after two years of captivity, he was able to escape in the chaos caused by infighting when the Xiongnu king died. When he finally arrived back in Chang’an in 125 BCE, only he and one other member of the original 100-man expedition were still alive."
................................................................................................From Wikipedia:-
"The Xiongnu (Chinese: 匈奴; pinyin: Xiōngnú,[6] [ɕjʊ́ŋ.nǔ]) were a tribal confederation[7] of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Chinese sources report that Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 BC, founded the Xiongnu Empire.[8]
"After their previous rivals, the Yuezhi, migrated west into Central Asia during the 2nd century BC, the Xiongnu became a dominant power on the steppes of East Asia, centred on the Mongolian Plateau. The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of South Siberia, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang. Their relations with adjacent Chinese dynasties to the south-east were complex—alternating between various periods of peace, war, and subjugation. ... "
So, Mongolians, then?
"One of the most exciting discoveries that Zhang Qian brought back was that of a people he called Dayuan. These people had horses which were far larger and more powerful than those in China. These horses, Zhang Qian told his emperor, could be used to create cavalry units so powerful that they would be able to defeat the marauding Xiongnu."
"Attempts to identify the Xiongnu with later groups of the western Eurasian Steppe were controversial for a period of time, as Scythians and Sarmatians were concurrently to the west, archaeogenetics confirmed that interaction and connection with the Huns. The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses, because only a few words, mainly titles and personal names, were preserved in the Chinese sources. The name Xiongnu may be cognate with that of the Huns and/or the Huna,[9][10][11] although this is disputed.[12][13] Other linguistic links—all of them also controversial—proposed by scholars include Iranian,[14][15][16] Mongolic,[17] Turkic,[18][19] Uralic,[20] Yeniseian,[12][21][22][23] or multi-ethnic.[24]"
................................................................................................From Wikipedia:-
"The Yuezhi (Chinese: 月氏; pinyin: Yuèzhī, Ròuzhī or Rùzhī; Wade–Giles: Yüeh4-chih1, Jou4-chih1 or Ju4-chih1;) were an ancient people first described in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat at the hands of the Xiongnu in 176 BC, the Yuezhi split into two groups migrating in different directions: the Greater Yuezhi (Dà Yuèzhī 大月氏) and Lesser Yuezhi (Xiǎo Yuèzhī 小月氏). This would start a complex domino effect that would radiate in all directions and, in the process, set the course of history for much of Asia for centuries to come.[12] The Greater Yuezhi initially migrated northwest into the Ili Valley (on the modern borders of China and Kazakhstan), where they reportedly displaced elements of the Sakas. They were driven from the Ili Valley by the Wusun and migrated southward to Sogdia and later settled in Bactria. The Greater Yuezhi have consequently often been identified with peoples mentioned in classical European sources as having overrun the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, like the Tókharioi"
................................................................................................"One of the most exciting discoveries that Zhang Qian brought back was that of a people he called Dayuan. These people had horses which were far larger and more powerful than those in China. These horses, Zhang Qian told his emperor, could be used to create cavalry units so powerful that they would be able to defeat the marauding Xiongnu."
"Dayuan" sounds far too much like Dayaavaan to be accidental, and it might be the epithet for Indian was taken for name by the Chinese visitor.
" ... For the first time, the Han became aware that there were advanced civilizations far to the west with whom it might be possible to establish trade for desirable commodities such as large horses if safe routes could be created. This desire on the part of the Han dynasty to establish trade with cultures far to the west marks the true beginning of the project which would become the mighty Silk Road."
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"“The map of the world is drawn by travelers and nomads.”
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"“The map of the world is drawn by travelers and nomads.”
"—Jasna Horvat"
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"Alexander created new cities wherever he went. Often, he used retired or wounded members of his army to become the first occupants of these cities. In 329 BCE, he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate (literally, “Alexandria the Furthest”) in present-day Tajikistan. In 323 BCE, Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in the city of Babylon at the age of just 32. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential people in human history. After his death, his empire disintegrated in the chaos of infighting about his successor. Still, many of the cities he had founded continued long after his demise.
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"Alexander created new cities wherever he went. Often, he used retired or wounded members of his army to become the first occupants of these cities. In 329 BCE, he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate (literally, “Alexandria the Furthest”) in present-day Tajikistan. In 323 BCE, Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in the city of Babylon at the age of just 32. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential people in human history. After his death, his empire disintegrated in the chaos of infighting about his successor. Still, many of the cities he had founded continued long after his demise.
"By 200 BCE, Alexandria Eschate had become part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world. Centered in the north of present-day Afghanistan, this kingdom was regarded as one of the most affluent in Central Asia. The king of Bactria was said to rule over 1,000 cities, and the kingdom became a hub for trade. It is believed by some historians (though disputed by others) that people from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom may have traveled east in search of new trading opportunities and may even have reached China. The Greek historian Strabo wrote that this kingdom “extended their empire even as far as the Seres.” Some historians contend that Seres is the Greek name for China, though this has never been conclusively established."
Surely the trade and the trade route across Central Asia was far more ancient that a mere two millennia?
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"It has even been claimed that some artwork from the Qin dynasty shows Greek influence. The famous Terracotta Army, created for the mausoleum of the first Qin emperor, Qin Shi Huang, is said by some to show indications of Greek abilities in sculpture, indicating that artisans from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom may have reached China as early as 210 BCE, though this is not widely accepted.
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"It has even been claimed that some artwork from the Qin dynasty shows Greek influence. The famous Terracotta Army, created for the mausoleum of the first Qin emperor, Qin Shi Huang, is said by some to show indications of Greek abilities in sculpture, indicating that artisans from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom may have reached China as early as 210 BCE, though this is not widely accepted.
"What we can be certain about is that in around 136 BCE, Zhang Qian, imperial envoy of the Han emperor, arrived in the Fergana Valley and the city of Alexandria Eschate. The name he gave to this kingdom, Dayuan, seems to have been an attempt to render the name into Chinese—da means “great” and yuan appears to be an attempt to phonetically render the difficult word “Ionians” into Chinese.
"Although we cannot be certain that Greek traders and artisans had already reached China by that time, it is certain that the markets of Alexandria Eschate already contained Chinese items. One of the reports from Zhang Qian to the emperor notes: “I saw bamboo canes from Qiong and cloth made in the province of Shu (areas of southwestern China). When I asked the people how they had got such articles, they replied, ‘Our merchants go buy them in the markets of Shendu (India).’”
"This lack of respect angered the Han emperor, but as long as the supply of Heavenly Horses continued, he seemed willing to overlook the rudeness of the Dayuan. It was clear that the people of the Fergana Valley felt safe simply because they were so distant from the military power of China. In the Shiji, the history of the Han Empire published in 94 BCE and also called the Records of the Grand Historian, it was noted that the people of the west thought that “the Han embassies that have come to us are made up of only a few hundred men, and yet they are always short of food and over half the men die on the journey. Under such circumstances how could the Han possibly send a large army against us? What have we to worry about? Furthermore, the horses of Ershi are one of the most valuable treasures of the state!”
Obviously Shendu is Sindhu.
Strangely enough, while West identified India and named the land after the river Sindhu, because that was then the only route to the land from West, south so they named it India after the river, so did China, which had other routes into India!
"A relatively short time after Zhang Qian arrived in Alexandria Eschate, the first traders from the Fergana Valley began to make the long trek to the Han capital, Chang’an. It is believed that by around 130 BCE, the first routes between China and the west had been established, and this is generally taken to mark the beginning of the Silk Road."
................................................................................................" ... There was no one route or road—the early traders used whatever tracks were available to make the most direct journey from the Fergana Valley to China. However, the potential for trade between east and west faced early problems.
"The envoys from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom were the furthest western culture who had ever visited China, and many seemed unable or unwilling to comprehend and follow the complex rituals that were expected of visitors to the Han court. These westerners quickly earned a reputation for arrogance, though their presence and behavior were tolerated because they brought with them the valuable horses which had become known as “Heavenly Horses.”
"Traders and envoys from the Han court to the west also complained that they were not treated well, especially in comparison to visitors to the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom from the Xiongnu. The early Chinese historian Sima Qian wrote that while envoys from the Xiongnu were provided with supplies and horses, the Dayuan believed that “the Han armies were too far away to worry about, refused to supply the envoys with food and provisions, making things very difficult for them. The Han envoys were soon reduced to a state of destitution and distress and, their tempers mounting, fell to quarrelling and even attacking each other.”
................................................................................................"This lack of respect angered the Han emperor, but as long as the supply of Heavenly Horses continued, he seemed willing to overlook the rudeness of the Dayuan. It was clear that the people of the Fergana Valley felt safe simply because they were so distant from the military power of China. In the Shiji, the history of the Han Empire published in 94 BCE and also called the Records of the Grand Historian, it was noted that the people of the west thought that “the Han embassies that have come to us are made up of only a few hundred men, and yet they are always short of food and over half the men die on the journey. Under such circumstances how could the Han possibly send a large army against us? What have we to worry about? Furthermore, the horses of Ershi are one of the most valuable treasures of the state!”
"The sheer number of horses moving east eventually became a concern to the Greco-Bactrians and, in around 104 BCE, they decided that it would be unwise to export any more. The reaction of Emperor Wu was immediate; he sent a military expedition to the Fergana Valley to conquer the area. This first expedition was a failure, but two years later, a Chinese army of more than 60,000 men arrived and quickly conquered the lands controlled by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. This war has become known as the War of the Heavenly Horses. Afterward, a puppet king was installed who could be relied upon to remain loyal to the Han and the flow of Heavenly Horses to the east continued without pause.
"With cavalry mounted on the powerful western horses, the Han were able to subdue and then finally defeat the Xiongnu. The imposition of Han control led to the first Pax Sinica (Chinese Peace), and this allowed the standard of living in China to rise and for its cities to grow. Prosperity supported by political stability led to increased demand in China for exotic goods from the west.
"The Pax Sinica also meant that route from east to west, between China and the western cultures, was safe. In addition to the flow of luxury goods from west to east, it quickly began to see"
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"“Great discoveries, whether of silk or of gravity, are always windfalls.”
"“Great discoveries, whether of silk or of gravity, are always windfalls.”
"—Jeffrey Eugenides"
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"As a result, woven silk became one of the main commodities traded from the Han dynasty to the west. The Roman civilization, growing in power and influence at the period when the Silk Road began to see an increasing volume of trade, was one of the first to become fascinated by silk, though it also became very popular in ancient Greece and Egypt. By around 50 BCE, silk had become the most valuable commodity in Rome, valued by its equivalent weight in gold.
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"According to ancient Chinese historians, silk was first produced in China around 2700 BCE. Recent archeological discoveries in Henan Province suggest that silk may have been produced in China as early as 3500 BCE, during the Chinese Neolithic period. The production of silk is a complex process using the protein fiber of the silkworm, produced to make its cocoon. From the very beginning, silk was regarded as a high-value commodity, and the method of its production was kept a closely guarded secret in China; imperial decrees mandated the death sentence for any Chinese who was found to have revealed the secrets of silk production to anyone outside the circle of those who knew or, even worse, to a foreigner.
"During the Han dynasty, silk also became used as a pseudo-currency. Peasants could pay their taxes in silk, and some civil servants received part of their salary in the form of silk. Prices of commodities were expressed as their equivalent in lengths of silk; as gold became used as a measure of value in the west, silk was used in the same way in the east. Yet for thousands of years, the manufacture and use of silk were unknown outside China."
But India has had silk, used by wealthy and royals, since before Raamaayana, long prior to Mahaabhaarata.
................................................................................................"As a result, woven silk became one of the main commodities traded from the Han dynasty to the west. The Roman civilization, growing in power and influence at the period when the Silk Road began to see an increasing volume of trade, was one of the first to become fascinated by silk, though it also became very popular in ancient Greece and Egypt. By around 50 BCE, silk had become the most valuable commodity in Rome, valued by its equivalent weight in gold.
"Many Romans, however, were uneasy about the use of silk for clothing. They saw the creation of semi-transparent silk dresses for women as immoral and the wearing of silk clothes by men as a sign of effeminacy and degeneracy. Roman scribe and politician Seneca the Younger was outraged and wrote of the new habit of wearing silk: “I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one’s decency, can be called clothes. . . . The adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife’s body.”"
"The trade between China and the west also proved beneficial to others. Another empire vied with Rome to be the most powerful in the west. The Parthians established an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean in the west to India in the east. Between 130 and 88 BCE, the Parthians waged several wars, mainly against their enemy the Seleucid Empire which would finally be defeated at the Battle of Ecbatana in 129 BCE. Under the leadership of Mithridates II, the Parthian Empire expanded to cover all of Mesopotamia. This meant that it controlled the trade routes between east and west which passed through this area. The Parthians thus became the main intermediaries in the silk trade.
"The Romans were fascinated by silk and in particular by how it was made. Most people at the time believed that silk was grown as some kind of vegetable product, and the real secret of its manufacture remained a closely guarded secret in China. By around 50 CE, silk accounted for approximately 90% of all imports from Asia to Rome. In return for silk, the Romans traded large quantities of luxury carpets, jewels, amber, metalwork, fabric dyes, medicines, and finely crafted objects made from glass. All these items were sent to China via the Silk Road, which was expanding to become one of the most important trade routes in the ancient world.
"Some astute traders became very wealthy on the trade heading in both directions. One Aegean island, Kos, became extremely wealthy due to the silk trade. Silk cloth would be imported to the island and then used to create fine clothes for men and women. Demand for these was so great in the Roman Empire that the whole island benefitted."
................................................................................................"The trade between China and the west also proved beneficial to others. Another empire vied with Rome to be the most powerful in the west. The Parthians established an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean in the west to India in the east. Between 130 and 88 BCE, the Parthians waged several wars, mainly against their enemy the Seleucid Empire which would finally be defeated at the Battle of Ecbatana in 129 BCE. Under the leadership of Mithridates II, the Parthian Empire expanded to cover all of Mesopotamia. This meant that it controlled the trade routes between east and west which passed through this area. The Parthians thus became the main intermediaries in the silk trade.
"The Parthians wisely decided to maintain the roads and cities they captured from the Seleucid Empire and were able to keep the trade routes open. Despite more than one attempt by Rome to conquer Parthia, they failed and the lucrative trade kept flowing.
"Of course, it wasn’t just silk that was traded on these routes, though silk was the most important and profitable commodity at certain times. Other items brought to the west via the Silk Road included spices, paper, gunpowder, tea, medicines, porcelain, and ivory. Likewise, it wasn’t just horses that were traded from west to east; other goods included slaves, glassware, woolen items, weapons, dogs, and grapes and grapevines."
Spices, medicine, ivory - and knowledge, via manuscripts, from India.
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"The vast differential in the types of goods available in the east and west and the demand for these at each end of the Silk Road meant that there was an almost constant flow of traders moving in each direction. Eventually, however, the demand for silk in the west was abruptly ended by a piece of high-level subterfuge.
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"The vast differential in the types of goods available in the east and west and the demand for these at each end of the Silk Road meant that there was an almost constant flow of traders moving in each direction. Eventually, however, the demand for silk in the west was abruptly ended by a piece of high-level subterfuge.
"The Roman Empire itself finally fell in 476 CE, but it didn’t completely disappear. The eastern half of the territory previously controlled by Rome became the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire shared many common cultural elements (and language) with the Roman Empire. It also shared Rome’s love of silk both for clothing and for rich decoration to be used in its churches.
"The knowledge that silk was somehow taken from silkworms became known around 50 CE, but it wasn’t until around 550 CE that the Byzantine Emperor Justinian decided that he was no longer willing to pay the high prices for Chinese silk. He employed two monks who were sent to China with the express purpose of finding out precisely how silk was made and of returning with this knowledge. They were successful, and silk manufacturing was set up in Constantinople. The production and sale of Byzantine silk were tightly controlled by the emperor, and silk became one of the most important products of the empire for almost 1,000 years.
"With the arrival of the Byzantine silk industry, the need for silk imported from China declined rapidly and from the establishment of the Byzantine competition, silk was traded less and less on the Silk Road. Other commodities rapidly took its place, and these routes remained as important and busy as ever."
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"Travelers leaving the Jiayuguan Pass had a choice of two routes across the deserts: they could travel to the south or to the north. The southern route took them across the Pamir Mountains (called the “Roof of the World” because these are amongst the highest mountains in the world), through the oasis in the city of Dunhuang and on to Miran, Khotan, and Yarkland before finally arriving in Kashgar, another oasis city near the present-day border with Afghanistan and one of the westernmost of all Chinese controlled cities. Those who chose the northern route from the Jiayuguan Pass would pass through the cities of Hami, Turfran, and Kuqa before they too arrived in Kashgar.
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"“To follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost.”
"—Colin Thubron"
................................................................................................"Despite its name, the Silk Road was never a single road; it was a series of interconnected and sometimes parallel routes that changed over time. These routes crossed Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Far East. The actual routes followed depended on political as well as environmental factors. During the period when Roman traders were bringing large quantities of raw silk west, the routes shifted to the north, across the Caucasus Mountains and over the Caspian Sea, in order to avoid crossing the territory of Rome’s enemy, the Parthian Empire. Later, these routes traversed the rivers that cross the Central Asian steppes, but climate change led to these rivers flooding or drying up and routes had to be changed accordingly.
"Although the specific routes used varied over time, the general course of the Silk Road remained unchanged. Trade caravans would leave the Han capital, Chang’an, and travel west, across the Yellow River to the Jiayuguan Pass near the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu province where they would leave territory controlled by the Han dynasty (later, this would become one of the main gates in the Great Wall of China). After this, they would begin one of the most challenging parts of the journey, crossing more than 1,000 miles of desert as they traversed the Gobi and the Taklamakan Deserts.
"The large number of travelers crossing these deserts led to the emergence of oasis cities, settlements which grew near sources of water and became places where trade caravans could rest and replenish supplies. These included the city of Dunhuang in Gansu province, located where the western edge of the Gobi Desert meets the eastern fringe of the Taklamakan Desert. This city, like many others in the region, grew to prominence simply because it serviced the needs of the large numbers of traders using the Silk Road.
................................................................................................"Travelers leaving the Jiayuguan Pass had a choice of two routes across the deserts: they could travel to the south or to the north. The southern route took them across the Pamir Mountains (called the “Roof of the World” because these are amongst the highest mountains in the world), through the oasis in the city of Dunhuang and on to Miran, Khotan, and Yarkland before finally arriving in Kashgar, another oasis city near the present-day border with Afghanistan and one of the westernmost of all Chinese controlled cities. Those who chose the northern route from the Jiayuguan Pass would pass through the cities of Hami, Turfran, and Kuqa before they too arrived in Kashgar.
"From Kashgar, the traders would once again have a choice: they could follow a southern route through the Wakhan Corridor to the city of Balkh in present-day Afghanistan and then on to Merv, another oasis city and a former outpost of the Persian Empire which is in present-day Iran. The northern route took caravans through the city of Samarkand and then on to Merv.
"From Merv, caravans would cross Persia and the Tigris-Euphrates Valley before arriving at Antioch or Constantinople on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Goods were then shipped on to Rome or Greece either overland through present-day Turkey or by ship while goods destined for Egypt were always transported on their last leg by sea."
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"Most caravans on the Silk Road used camels as their main form of transport. Camels had first been domesticated by nomadic desert people over 1,000 years before the Silk Road was established. Camels were able to survive the harsh desert conditions much better than horses or mules and could carry enormous loads; a healthy camel was able to transport a load of anything up to 500 pounds over terrain that would have killed almost any other animal. Without camels, it would not have been possible to use the Silk Road for the large-scale transport of goods."
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"Most caravans on the Silk Road used camels as their main form of transport. Camels had first been domesticated by nomadic desert people over 1,000 years before the Silk Road was established. Camels were able to survive the harsh desert conditions much better than horses or mules and could carry enormous loads; a healthy camel was able to transport a load of anything up to 500 pounds over terrain that would have killed almost any other animal. Without camels, it would not have been possible to use the Silk Road for the large-scale transport of goods."
A book about Himalaya mentions mules being used through Himalaya valleys and passes, including and chiefly trade routes. So at some point camels must have been accompanied or exchanged with camels.
"Traders tended to band together in large camel caravans to provide protection from bandits; caravans of more than 1,000 camels were not uncommon during the height of trade on the Silk Road. To service these caravans, large numbers of caravanserais, inns where traders could rest in safety and re-supply, grew along the main routes. By the tenth century, there was an extensive network of these inns along the main routes of the Silk Road across China, India, Iran, the Caucasus Mountains, and on through Turkey. Most followed a similar layout. All buildings would be placed within a walled courtyard with only a single gate, large enough to allow a laden camel to enter, as the only access. Inside were stalls for the animals, water, fodder, and shops where travelers could buy (and sometimes sell) goods and supplies. Rooms for traders and their servants and secure storage areas for goods were often placed on the first floor where balconies overlooked the open courtyard.
"These caravanserais would typically be placed every 30-40 km along the main routes, an easy day’s travel for most trade caravans. This meant that caravans would not have to spend the night unprotected on the open road. Many of these caravanserais survive to the present day and have become tourist attractions in otherwise remote areas. Without the safe haven and supplies provided by these inns, the Silk Road could not have flourished as a main trade route.
................................................................................................
"From end to end, the Silk Road covered somewhere in the region of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles), depending on the route followed. Understandably, it was very unusual for a trader to attempt the whole journey. Rather than regarding the Silk Road as a single route, it makes more sense to consider it as a chain of shorter routes, each linking major trade centers. Cities such as Merv, Samarkand, and Mosul became not just places for travelers to rest but markets where goods were bought and sold. Merv, for example, became one of the main emporia on the Silk Road between the eighth to the thirteenth centuries, providing a vast marketplace as well as manufactories, inns, moneychangers, and artisans. Merv also became a major administrative and religious center with mosques, madrasas (colleges), palaces, and other official buildings.
................................................................................................
"From end to end, the Silk Road covered somewhere in the region of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles), depending on the route followed. Understandably, it was very unusual for a trader to attempt the whole journey. Rather than regarding the Silk Road as a single route, it makes more sense to consider it as a chain of shorter routes, each linking major trade centers. Cities such as Merv, Samarkand, and Mosul became not just places for travelers to rest but markets where goods were bought and sold. Merv, for example, became one of the main emporia on the Silk Road between the eighth to the thirteenth centuries, providing a vast marketplace as well as manufactories, inns, moneychangers, and artisans. Merv also became a major administrative and religious center with mosques, madrasas (colleges), palaces, and other official buildings.
"Instead of moving goods from one end of the Silk Road to the other, it was much more common for traders to undertake just one part of the chain of routes, buying at one of the large markets goods that had been brought there by other traders and then taking these on the next leg of the journey until they could be sold for a profit at the next large trading center. Then, they would do the same thing in the opposite direction. In this way, traders became very familiar with the hazards of a particular stretch of the Silk Road rather than attempting to learn the whole route.
"By the tenth century, the Silk Road had become one of the most important trade thoroughfares in the world."
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"“A whole bunch of big technological shocks occurred when Asian innovations—paper, gunpowder, the stirrup, the moldboard plow and so on—came to Europe via the Silk Road.”
................................................................................................
"“A whole bunch of big technological shocks occurred when Asian innovations—paper, gunpowder, the stirrup, the moldboard plow and so on—came to Europe via the Silk Road.”
"—Charles C. Mann"
................................................................................................
"Traders and travelers did not just carry goods on the Silk Road, but they inevitably also brought different ideas and philosophies which they exchanged with other traders. One of the manifestations of this exchange of ideas was the dissemination of religions to east and west. There is good evidence that Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, and Manicheism were all spread directly by travelers on the Silk Road.
................................................................................................
"Traders and travelers did not just carry goods on the Silk Road, but they inevitably also brought different ideas and philosophies which they exchanged with other traders. One of the manifestations of this exchange of ideas was the dissemination of religions to east and west. There is good evidence that Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, and Manicheism were all spread directly by travelers on the Silk Road.
"Cultural interaction was a basic and essential part of using the Silk Road. Traders had, as a minimum, to learn the language of the areas in which they were traveling in order for them to be able to trade, but most also made an effort to learn about the customs and religion of new areas in order to avoid the possibility of inadvertently offending a potential host or trading partner. This acquisition of knowledge about other cultures led not just to the spread of religions but also on a much more practical level to the sharing of technologies and approaches to various things.
"For example, the Chinese ability to make paper and the beginning of the technology of the printing press were spread from China to the west by the Silk Road. The world’s first mass-produced book, the Nung Shu, a book of advice on agriculture and farming, was written by a Ching-te magistrate named Wang Chen around 1300 CE. Previously, all written material had been placed on fragile, hand-written scrolls. We know that copies of the Nung Shu made their way to Europe via the Silk Road, and when inventor Johannes Gutenberg produced the first viable commercial printing press in 1450, there is no doubt that he was influenced by ideas coming from China.
................................................................................................
"Likewise, the use of gunpowder weapons which were to transform warfare in Europe originated in China, and gunpowder was one of the earliest commodities to be traded on the Silk Road. It is less easy to find ideas that moved from west to east, though there is little doubt that advances in the technology of irrigation which occurred in China during the Han dynasty can be traced to ideas first developed in Mesopotamia and which most likely reached the east via the Silk Road. New crops that changed Chinese agriculture also made their way east via the Silk Road, including grapes, carrots, walnuts, beans, spinach, cucumbers, and pomegranates.
................................................................................................
"Likewise, the use of gunpowder weapons which were to transform warfare in Europe originated in China, and gunpowder was one of the earliest commodities to be traded on the Silk Road. It is less easy to find ideas that moved from west to east, though there is little doubt that advances in the technology of irrigation which occurred in China during the Han dynasty can be traced to ideas first developed in Mesopotamia and which most likely reached the east via the Silk Road. New crops that changed Chinese agriculture also made their way east via the Silk Road, including grapes, carrots, walnuts, beans, spinach, cucumbers, and pomegranates.
"Though the spread of new technologies, crops, and scientific ideas was important, the most significant impact the Silk Road had on the development of cultures in east and west was almost certainly through the spread of religions. As early as 200 CE, Buddhism originating in India had reached inland China. Within 100 years, Chinese Buddhist monks were making pilgrimages to India via the Silk Road to study sacred texts. The translation into Chinese and printing of Buddhist texts led to the rapid spread of this religion not just in China but also to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam."
Trade route provided the secondary means, perhaps, as far as Buddhism goes, but if that were primary, China would have been Hindu long before Buddha was born; and there's no evidence thereof.
Authors here are, for perhaps political reasons, attempting to equate religions, falsely and fraudulently. Reality is that an emperor of China had, soon after Nirvana (passing over into Infinite) of Buddha, a vision when resting in afternoon, a vision of a humongous golden God risen in West, and woke up and sent gor his minister, who informed him thst indeed, he'd heard of such a God having recently loved in India. The emperor then sent an emissary to India, upon whose return he was informed more, and decided to convert himself and his empire to Buddhism.
"Zoroastrianism was at one time the main religion of the Persian Empire. Travelers brought it to China in the first century CE, and for almost 1,000 years, Zoroastrianism became an important element of religion in China, particularly amongst wealthy and influential families. Manicheism was a combination of Zoroastrianism thinking linked to precepts of Judaism, Christianity, and philosophy from ancient Greece. From around the second century, Manicheism became popular amongst the ordinary people of China. Until it was finally prohibited by the emperors of the Tang dynasty, it had a profound effect on a large proportion of the population of China.
This is the reason that this conversion did not wipe out previous religions anywhere, unlike later abrahmic creeds that converted via force, killings and fear, attempting and most often succeeding in wiping out traces of previous creeds, unless - as throughout Europe - such previous creeds and their signs, idols, festivals et al, were absorbed into the convrrsionidt new creed and given new names, interpretation et al.
In that last category belong, not only the various female Deities of pre-church era, placed in Grottoes and worshipped by most people, who were turned into Virginia mother by the Church, but also Saturnalia, that people wouldn't stop celebrating on the then longest night of the year.
................................................................................................"Zoroastrianism was at one time the main religion of the Persian Empire. Travelers brought it to China in the first century CE, and for almost 1,000 years, Zoroastrianism became an important element of religion in China, particularly amongst wealthy and influential families. Manicheism was a combination of Zoroastrianism thinking linked to precepts of Judaism, Christianity, and philosophy from ancient Greece. From around the second century, Manicheism became popular amongst the ordinary people of China. Until it was finally prohibited by the emperors of the Tang dynasty, it had a profound effect on a large proportion of the population of China.
"During the Tang dynasty, another western religion was encouraged in China: Nestorianism. This is a form of Christianity which originated in present-day Syria, though it differs fundamentally in some respects from traditional European Christianity. For around 150 years during the Tang dynasty, Nestorianism became an important element of religion in China though it declined rapidly under the subsequent Ming dynasty. From around the seventh century, Muslim traders from Arab countries began to spread the Muslim faith in China. During the Tang dynasty, at least two Chinese provinces, Guangdong and Quanzhou, became predominantly Muslim and the philosophy of Islam had a profound effect on all subsequent Chinese religions."
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"The book is divided into four parts: the first covers travel on the Silk Road, the second describes the time spent by Marco Polo and his companions in China, the third relates to India, Sri Lanka, Japan, and other parts of Southeast Asia, and the fourth describes the regions of the far north including present-day Russia. Polo’s account of his journey proved to be influential and inspirational. Many people who had not before considered travel were inspired to do so, though few ventured as far as Marco Polo. Subsequent maps were heavily influenced by this book, and when Christopher Columbus set out for America in the late fifteenth century, he carried with him a heavily annotated copy of Marco Polo’s book.
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"“I have not told the half of what I saw.”
"—Marco Polo"
................................................................................................"Travel writers are an intrinsic part of modern culture. In the thirteenth century, things were very different. The vast majority of people had little knowledge of the world beyond a few miles of where they lived, and even merchants and traders mostly restricted their travels to the local area. The idea of undertaking a journey to another continent was beyond the imagination of most of the population, and when one man did this and then wrote a chronicle of what happened to him, it became an immediate sensation in Europe.
"Marco Polo has become completely associated with China and the Silk Road in the popular imagination. Polo was the son of a prominent Venetian family of merchants and traders; the Polo family was based for an extended period in the city of Constantinople where they were directly involved in the trade entering that city from the Silk Road. In 1271, 17-year-old Marco with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo set off for Asia. They finally returned to Venice 24 years later after traveling over 24,000 kilometers (15,000 miles) and having amassed jewels and treasure.
"In 1296, Marco Polo was captured by the Genoese, with whom the Venetians were at war. He was held as a prisoner for three years and, during that time, he dictated an account of his travels in China and on the Silk Road to a fellow prisoner, Rustichello da Pisa. Da Pisa added his own stories about China as well as anecdotes from others, and the completed manuscript, The Book of the Marvels of the World, was published in the late thirteenth century and became an immediate success, rare in the period before printed manuscripts. In English, the book became known as The Travels of Marco Polo, and this first travelogue ever published inspired many people with its vivid descriptions of travels on the Silk Road, China, and beyond.
................................................................................................"The book is divided into four parts: the first covers travel on the Silk Road, the second describes the time spent by Marco Polo and his companions in China, the third relates to India, Sri Lanka, Japan, and other parts of Southeast Asia, and the fourth describes the regions of the far north including present-day Russia. Polo’s account of his journey proved to be influential and inspirational. Many people who had not before considered travel were inspired to do so, though few ventured as far as Marco Polo. Subsequent maps were heavily influenced by this book, and when Christopher Columbus set out for America in the late fifteenth century, he carried with him a heavily annotated copy of Marco Polo’s book.
"Given its significance, it may be surprising to discover that many people came to believe that parts of the book were pure invention. It was noted as early as the seventeenth century that Marco Polo seemed to have failed to notice, for example, the Great Wall of China and prominent Chinese customs such as the drinking of tea, the use of chopsticks as eating utensils, and the practice of foot binding. These things would all have been very evident to a visitor from Europe, and it does seem surprising that they don’t even get a mention in The Travels of Marco Polo. This led to speculation that Marco Polo did not travel as widely as he claimed and even that he never actually reached China at all and based his account on stories he picked up from other travelers.
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"More recent investigations of this book seem to support the idea that it was based on first-hand knowledge. For example, the book avoids many of the exaggerations about China which were common in Europe at the time it was published. In the 1200s, for example, it was widely believed that the Yangtze River flowed through a land populated by pygmies and that the country was populated by monsters such as “wild men whose legs had no joints” and creatures whose females looked like humans but whose males were dogs. Polo did not repeat any of these invented stories, and his book does seem to be a genuine effort to report only what he had seen and experienced himself.
................................................................................................
"More recent investigations of this book seem to support the idea that it was based on first-hand knowledge. For example, the book avoids many of the exaggerations about China which were common in Europe at the time it was published. In the 1200s, for example, it was widely believed that the Yangtze River flowed through a land populated by pygmies and that the country was populated by monsters such as “wild men whose legs had no joints” and creatures whose females looked like humans but whose males were dogs. Polo did not repeat any of these invented stories, and his book does seem to be a genuine effort to report only what he had seen and experienced himself.
"For example, Marco Polo reported in the book that there he saw a number of Christian churches in the Chinese city of Zhenjiang. This was not something that would have been widely known in Europe at the time and would have seemed to most readers to be extremely unlikely. This is confirmed by a contemporary Chinese text which notes a pilgrim from Samarkand had founded six Nestorian Christian churches in the city in the early 1200s. As recently as 2012, a detailed study of Polo’s book concluded that it was very unlikely that he could have gained such detailed knowledge of, for example, the appearance, value, and use of Chinese currency without actually spending time there."
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"“Heaven has appointed me to rule all the nations, for hitherto there has been no order upon the steppes.”
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"“Heaven has appointed me to rule all the nations, for hitherto there has been no order upon the steppes.”
"—Genghis Khan"
This conviction was inherited by every grandson of his, too, including Babar who was kicked out of every possible spot in Central Asia that he could have liked, until his subordinates suggested that he think of India instead, which he hated so much till the end that not only he wreaked havoc destroying temples throughout India, but he left instructions to be buried elsewhere, and preferably back in his hometown in Central Asia. This was eventually done in twentieth century.
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"The stealing of the secret of silk by the Byzantine Empire led to a sudden and precipitous drop in the trade of silk via the Silk Road, but the continuing demand for other commodities, especially tea and spices from the east, meant that these trade routes remained as busy as ever. Constantinople became one of the main western hubs for the Silk Road which survived major changes along its route.
................................................................................................
"The stealing of the secret of silk by the Byzantine Empire led to a sudden and precipitous drop in the trade of silk via the Silk Road, but the continuing demand for other commodities, especially tea and spices from the east, meant that these trade routes remained as busy as ever. Constantinople became one of the main western hubs for the Silk Road which survived major changes along its route.
"One of the most significant changes was the emergence of a new leader who would come to dominate most of the land through which the Silk Road ran. Temujin grew up as a goat herder in a nomadic Mongol tribe, though he is better known to history by the honorific title bestowed upon him by his people: Genghis Khan (“Strong King”). By 1220, he had not only united all the Mongol tribes with himself as their leader, but he had also defeated virtually every other power in the region. Although the Mongols were nomadic people with little interest in art or religion, they saw the value of trade, and the routes which comprised the Silk Road were protected and preserved and taxes on traders were kept low.
"For the first time, the whole Silk Road was controlled by a single political entity, and the Pax Mongolica (Mongol Peace) brought a long period of stability to the region. The presence of a unified administration meant that the Silk Road became even more important during this period, with additional inns springing up to support travelers and the largest ever volume of goods using these routes. The Silk Road became so safe compared to earlier ages that it was said that “a maiden bearing a nugget of gold on her head could wander safely throughout the realm.” When Marco Polo passed this way in the late 1200s, Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan, ruled over virtually the whole Silk Road."
He was one of the lesser evils amongst those grandsons, refusing the counsel of his Mongolian ministers to take over Chinese lands for grazing for Mongolian horses and letting a million Chinese farmers die due to the deprivation.
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"However, although it flourished under Mongol control, the Silk Road also faced growing competition from maritime routes. Advances in shipbuilding and the science of navigation meant that, by the eighth century, a network of sea routes (sometimes called the Spice Routes) took spices from the Spice Islands (the Moluccas Islands in present-day Indonesia) back to ports which supplied European cities. These maritime routes grew over time to become another network of trade routes, stretching from Japan, passing the coast of China, and leading on through Southeast Asia and India to reach the Middle East and on to the Mediterranean. Cities such as Zanzibar, Muscat, and Goa became very wealthy as major ports on these routes. These maritime routes weren’t entirely new; the first such routes had been established by the Sumerians between Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the west coast of India, and they grew to rival the Silk Road in terms of volume of trade, especially as political and military upheavals caused interruption and instability which affected the overland routes.
................................................................................................
"However, although it flourished under Mongol control, the Silk Road also faced growing competition from maritime routes. Advances in shipbuilding and the science of navigation meant that, by the eighth century, a network of sea routes (sometimes called the Spice Routes) took spices from the Spice Islands (the Moluccas Islands in present-day Indonesia) back to ports which supplied European cities. These maritime routes grew over time to become another network of trade routes, stretching from Japan, passing the coast of China, and leading on through Southeast Asia and India to reach the Middle East and on to the Mediterranean. Cities such as Zanzibar, Muscat, and Goa became very wealthy as major ports on these routes. These maritime routes weren’t entirely new; the first such routes had been established by the Sumerians between Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the west coast of India, and they grew to rival the Silk Road in terms of volume of trade, especially as political and military upheavals caused interruption and instability which affected the overland routes.
"The Pax Mongolica and the stability it brought to the Silk Road lasted until well into the fourteenth century. Then, a combination of religious differences (some Mongol leaders converted to Islam, many did not), assassination, squabbles over the succession, and growing suspicion on the part of the Chinese about the aims of the Mongols brought fundamental changes. The Chinese began to expel Mongols from their lands, and this indirectly led to the creation of the Ming dynasty. The Mongol Empire disintegrated into a number of competing and often hostile smaller Khanates and suddenly, the stability that the Silk Road had enjoyed for so long began to erode."
And yet, having rejected and ejected Mongolians, China nevertheless usurped rights in names of the treaties made or forced by Mongolian rulers, and occupied other lands forcibly claiming right, for example Tibet.
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"Not everything carried by the Silk Road was beneficial. Towards the end of the second century, a virulent plague arrived in the Roman Empire which killed around ten percent of its population. This was thought to have arrived with silk traders from the east. Another devastating plague affected Constantinople, which had become the main western hub for the Silk Road in 542. Then, in 1331, a new, virulent and devastating form of plague began to afflict areas of China. This disease was carried west by traders on the Silk Road and, though it was not known at the time, by plague-infested ticks and fleas which were carried on the manes of horses and the hair of camels that traveled the Silk Road. This devastating disease, which has become known as the Black Death, arrived in Europe via the Silk Road. Its effects were unprecedented; it is thought that this disease killed around 25 million people in China and anything from 30 to 50 percent of the total population of Europe.
................................................................................................
"Not everything carried by the Silk Road was beneficial. Towards the end of the second century, a virulent plague arrived in the Roman Empire which killed around ten percent of its population. This was thought to have arrived with silk traders from the east. Another devastating plague affected Constantinople, which had become the main western hub for the Silk Road in 542. Then, in 1331, a new, virulent and devastating form of plague began to afflict areas of China. This disease was carried west by traders on the Silk Road and, though it was not known at the time, by plague-infested ticks and fleas which were carried on the manes of horses and the hair of camels that traveled the Silk Road. This devastating disease, which has become known as the Black Death, arrived in Europe via the Silk Road. Its effects were unprecedented; it is thought that this disease killed around 25 million people in China and anything from 30 to 50 percent of the total population of Europe.
"The deaths caused by the Black Death hastened the final collapse of the already tottering Byzantine Empire. By the mid-1400s, the once-mighty city of Constantinople was little more than a number of small villages in a sea of ruins. In 1453, the city was finally conquered by the Ottoman Empire who had little interest in maintaining the flow of trade through the Silk Road.
"The discovery of a direct sea route from Asia to Europe in the fifteenth century reduced the importance of the overland routes of the Silk Road even further—previously, maritime routes had required goods to be trans-shipped by overland routes from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. Transporting goods directly by sea was quicker, cheaper, and safer than using the Silk Road.
................................................................................................
"The combination of political instability which made parts of the Silk Road dangerous combined with the availability of a cheaper alternative in the form of sea trade produced a double blow from which trade on the Silk Road never recovered. This was exacerbated even further when the Ming dynasty became the ruling dynasty of China, replacing the previous, Mongol-supported Yuan dynasty. The Ming and subsequent Qing dynasties in China proved to be much more isolationist than their predecessors, substantially reducing trade and other interactions with the west."
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"The combination of political instability which made parts of the Silk Road dangerous combined with the availability of a cheaper alternative in the form of sea trade produced a double blow from which trade on the Silk Road never recovered. This was exacerbated even further when the Ming dynasty became the ruling dynasty of China, replacing the previous, Mongol-supported Yuan dynasty. The Ming and subsequent Qing dynasties in China proved to be much more isolationist than their predecessors, substantially reducing trade and other interactions with the west."
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"It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the story of the Silk Road became popular with historians in the west. Archaeologists, historians, and those with a taste for adventure began to retrace the route of the Silk Road, discovering many important archaeological sites. These people came mainly from France, England, Germany, and Russia, and one of them, a German scientist and geographer named Ferdinand von Richthofen (uncle of the World War I flying ace Manfred, the “Red Baron”), published in 1877 a book which would have a dramatic impact on the study of these routes called China: Ergebnisse eigener reisen und darauf gegründeter studien. In this book and for the first time, the name Seidenstrasse (Silk Road) was used."
" ... In 1885, British soldier and explorer Sir Francis Younghusband undertook a hazardous 1,000-mile trip across the Gobi Desert where he charted many of the ancient routes of the Silk Road. Beginning in 1894, Swedish geographer Sven Hedin mounted several expeditions to the Kunlun Mountains and the Taklamakan Desert, during which he studied many of the old oasis towns of the Silk Road including cities Mashhad, Ashgabat, Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, and Kashgar."
" ... In the 1990s, a rail route, the New Eurasian Land Bridge, was created which runs through China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia. This too follows some of the old routes of the Silk Road."
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
Background
The Han Dynasty
The War of the Heavenly Horses
Silk
The Routes
A Route for New Ideas
Marco Polo
The Decline of the Silk Road
Legacy
Conclusion
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REVIEW
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Introduction
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"We generally imagine international trade to be a relatively recent development, but the truth is that it stretches back almost to the beginnings of human civilization. From the time of the first cities, it was apparent that certain commodities were only available in certain areas. This led to trade with other cities, other civilizations, and even other continents.
"One of the earliest and most important trade routes was the network which became known as the Silk Road, connecting Asia with the Middle East and Europe. Of course, it wasn’t just silk that was traded on this network; a whole range of commodities were traded in both directions over a period which spanned more than 1,000 years. ... "
In fact, this trade route dealt far more largely with spices, of which European lands were in dire need, and source of supplies was India. Spices were essential for preservation of food, vital during winters of Nordic latitudes when people needed to survive on stored food.
But naming it properly, after the commodity most vital for the trade route, would not merely tear into the romance of the name - after all, what's more frivolous than silk, traded over such long arduous route through deserts either too hot or too cold for survival, taking months, than something as unnecessary to life as silk, however beautiful? - but more importantly, such a name would inevitably bring home the importance and wealth of India that was raided, looted, colonised and destroyed as brutally as invaders could, so that hiding the fact of this havoc wreaked by them was necessary forever since, for prestige of the colonizers who could only survive by cannibalising India?
So give undue importance, then, to China, by not only calling it silk route (- and pretending that silk was Chinese invention, not of India, a questionable assumption if one looks at antiquity of Raamaayana and Mahaabhaarata -) but also categorizing it as history of China!
History it is, but of famous names of yore such as Samarkand and Bukhara, for example - the latter having been thus named due to once upon a time having been a Buddha Vihaara, Buddhist monastery. Such Buddhist monasteries dotted this route, providing succour to traders and travellers along this route.
Until Islamic hordes destroyed it all, just as they destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas in recent decades, and far more in past few centuries, more throughout India than anywhere else.
" ... Civilizations rose and fell, mighty historical figures appeared, briefly dominated, and then sank back into obscurity, but the torrent of trade between east and west continued to flow along these routes.
"And it wasn’t just commodities which were exchanged via the Silk Road. In the period before seafarers learned how to safely make journeys well out of sight of land, it was also the main route by which ideas were exchanged between east and west. The travelers who crossed the Silk Road brought news of different approaches to philosophy, art, culture, and religion, and these too were traded.
"Because of this, the Silk Road had a profound effect on the way in which ancient cultures developed—no longer in isolation but fueled by new ways of thinking from distant lands. This is the story of the Silk Road and the lasting and permanent changes it brought to the development of human civilization.
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Chapter 1. Background
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"“Travel the highway, though it be roundabout—where shortcuts are dangerous.”
"—Persian proverb"
Highways are dangerous, as proved by colonial era, when a land of wealth and knowledge was looted by barbaric hordes.
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"One of the most ancient human civilizations was that established by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq. The Sumerians built some of the first large cities and made notable scientific advances in things like the smelting of copper, the creation of a complex system of writing and mathematics, and the use of wheeled vehicles."
This was the fraudulent history made up by and in Europe and West Asia for convenience of the region chiefly through deep ingratitude - civilisations were far more ancient in Egypt whence it spread to Europevia Greece and Rome, and even more in India whence it spread Westward.
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"The technical advances that the Sumerians made, especially in agriculture, allowed the development of an entirely new type of society. Previously, human cultures had been small bands of hunter-gatherers where every person was directly or indirectly involved in procuring food. The more complex society of the Sumerians, supported by agricultural surpluses, allowed the creation of new roles which were not involved in food production. People became specialists in metalworking, pottery, and other crafts."
All of which existed throughout India in far more antitiquity.
"However, the Sumerians were faced with a fundamental problem: although Mesopotamia was a good place to grow food, it was short in essential resources, especially timber, ore from which to make metal, and even stone. For the first time, an entirely new class emerged: traders, who made a livelihood out of a lack of nearby natural resources and by buying and selling goods to other members of society. The scarcity of resources in Mesopotamia forced these traders to look beyond their immediate areas for commodities to trade. These Sumerian traders were the first members of a human society whose lives depended on the ability to reach and communicate with other cultures. They were also amongst the first people to regularly travel beyond the immediate area in which they lived.
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"The Akkadian Empire lasted for a relatively short period. By 2000 BCE, it had largely disappeared. It was replaced by a succession of other empires in the region, including the Assyrian and the Babylonian Empires, all of which maintained trade routes with other areas. Though these trade routes were extensive and relatively far-reaching, they did not extend beyond the Middle East."
"The fourth ruler of the empire, Darius the Great, consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and created a network of roads that spanned the whole territory of the empire. One of the main roads created by Darius and a main trade route for the Achaemenid Empire was a route which ran from Susa in northern Persia (present-day Iran) to the Mediterranean Sea in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). This road was provided with large numbers of way stations where travelers could rest safely and featured postal stations where fresh horses were provided for couriers to rapidly deliver messages throughout the empire. The Roman historian Herodotus, impressed by the speed, reliability, and efficiency of the Persian postal service, wrote much later that “there is nothing in the world that travels faster than these Persian couriers. Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor darkness of night prevents these couriers from completing their designated stages with utmost speed.”
"This route became known as the Persian Royal Road, and it is the true progenitor of the routes which became known as the Silk Road. Over time, the Persian Royal Road was extended into Egypt and even across the Indian sub-continent. This was the first global superhighway, and the continuous flow of goods and ideas transformed every society which it impacted. Still, there was another empire far beyond India with which even the Persians did not make contact."
Wasn't Attila the Hun far prior, in which case, wasn't Europe aware of Mongolia? ................................................................................................
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Chapter 2. The Han Dynasty
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"“A man grows most tired while standing still.”
"—Chinese proverb"
................................................................................................
" ... Qin Shi Huang and his successor created a single state ruled from the capital city, Xianyang (the present-day Xi’an metropolitan area in central Shaanxi province).
"The new state had a stable economy, a powerful army, and the emperors introduced new legislation which took central control over the peasants, the largest population group and the main source of labor. Previously, these people had been ruled under a fragmented feudal system where aristocratic families controlled small areas of land. This centralization of power allowed some large-scale construction projects including a greatly improved road network and the construction of a defensive wall on what was then the northern edge of the empire; this would later develop into the Great Wall of China."
" ... Popular revolt in the empire led by rebel leader Liu Bang (known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han) led to the establishment of a new dynasty in 206 BCE. The Han dynasty would last for almost 400 years and would establish what would become known as China’s Golden Age (even today, the ethnic majority in China refer to themselves as “Han Chinese” and the Chinese written script is popularly called “Han characters”).
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"Under the Han, the western part of China was divided into thirteen centrally controlled administrative areas, the jùn, while the eastern territories became ten semi-autonomous kingdoms. By around 157 BCE, the kings of these regions had all been replaced by loyal members of the Liu family, and the Han effectively controlled all of China. Over the next decades, the power of the ten kingdoms of eastern China was gradually reduced until these were little more than additional administrative regions. In terms of size and power, the Han Empire came to equal the approximately contemporary Roman Empire in the west.
"Emperor Gaozu established the capital of the Han in the city of Chang’an (modern-day Xi’an). This was a vital strategic location because the city marked the nexus of a number of important trade routes. By the beginning of the first millennium, Chang’an was the largest, most powerful, and most influential city in Asia with a population of over a quarter of a million people. However, it was during the long rule of the seventh Han emperor, Emperor Wu who reigned from 141-87 BCE, that the greatest expansion and consolidation of the Han Empire took place.
................................................................................................"Under the aggressive rule of Emperor Wu, the Han Empire expanded to present-day Kyrgyzstan in the west, to Korea in the east, and to Vietnam in the south. Despite this expansion, the nomadic horsemen of the Xiongnu on the northern and western borders of the Han Empire continued to pose problems, regularly launching raids on Han controlled territory. In 138 BCE, Emperor Wu sent an imperial envoy, Zhang Qian, to the west to establish diplomatic relations with the Yuezhi people for help in defeating the Xiongnu.
"On his journey, Zhang Qian was captured and enslaved by the Xiongnu for more than ten years. When he finally managed to escape, he was unsuccessful in persuading the Yuezhi to join the Han in their war against the Xiongnu, but what he did do was far more important to the empire in the long term: he discovered that there were large and well-established civilizations in the west, and he spent almost one year writing detailed reports on these strange new people and relaying them back to the emperor. On his return trip, Zhang Qian was again captured by the Xiongnu and held prisoner, but after two years of captivity, he was able to escape in the chaos caused by infighting when the Xiongnu king died. When he finally arrived back in Chang’an in 125 BCE, only he and one other member of the original 100-man expedition were still alive."
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From Wikipedia:-
"The Xiongnu (Chinese: 匈奴; pinyin: Xiōngnú,[6] [ɕjʊ́ŋ.nǔ]) were a tribal confederation[7] of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Chinese sources report that Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 BC, founded the Xiongnu Empire.[8]
"After their previous rivals, the Yuezhi, migrated west into Central Asia during the 2nd century BC, the Xiongnu became a dominant power on the steppes of East Asia, centred on the Mongolian Plateau. The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of South Siberia, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang. Their relations with adjacent Chinese dynasties to the south-east were complex—alternating between various periods of peace, war, and subjugation. ... "
So, Mongolians, then?
"Attempts to identify the Xiongnu with later groups of the western Eurasian Steppe were controversial for a period of time, as Scythians and Sarmatians were concurrently to the west, archaeogenetics confirmed that interaction and connection with the Huns. The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses, because only a few words, mainly titles and personal names, were preserved in the Chinese sources. The name Xiongnu may be cognate with that of the Huns and/or the Huna,[9][10][11] although this is disputed.[12][13] Other linguistic links—all of them also controversial—proposed by scholars include Iranian,[14][15][16] Mongolic,[17] Turkic,[18][19] Uralic,[20] Yeniseian,[12][21][22][23] or multi-ethnic.[24]"
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From Wikipedia:-
"The Yuezhi (Chinese: 月氏; pinyin: Yuèzhī, Ròuzhī or Rùzhī; Wade–Giles: Yüeh4-chih1, Jou4-chih1 or Ju4-chih1;) were an ancient people first described in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat at the hands of the Xiongnu in 176 BC, the Yuezhi split into two groups migrating in different directions: the Greater Yuezhi (Dà Yuèzhī 大月氏) and Lesser Yuezhi (Xiǎo Yuèzhī 小月氏). This would start a complex domino effect that would radiate in all directions and, in the process, set the course of history for much of Asia for centuries to come.[12] The Greater Yuezhi initially migrated northwest into the Ili Valley (on the modern borders of China and Kazakhstan), where they reportedly displaced elements of the Sakas. They were driven from the Ili Valley by the Wusun and migrated southward to Sogdia and later settled in Bactria. The Greater Yuezhi have consequently often been identified with peoples mentioned in classical European sources as having overrun the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, like the Tókharioi"
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"One of the most exciting discoveries that Zhang Qian brought back was that of a people he called Dayuan. These people had horses which were far larger and more powerful than those in China. These horses, Zhang Qian told his emperor, could be used to create cavalry units so powerful that they would be able to defeat the marauding Xiongnu."
"Dayuan" sounds far too much like Dayaavaan to be accidental, and it might be the epithet for Indian was taken for name by the Chinese visitor.
" ... For the first time, the Han became aware that there were advanced civilizations far to the west with whom it might be possible to establish trade for desirable commodities such as large horses if safe routes could be created. This desire on the part of the Han dynasty to establish trade with cultures far to the west marks the true beginning of the project which would become the mighty Silk Road."
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Chapter 3. The War of the Heavenly Horses
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"“The map of the world is drawn by travelers and nomads.”
"—Jasna Horvat"
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"Alexander created new cities wherever he went. Often, he used retired or wounded members of his army to become the first occupants of these cities. In 329 BCE, he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate (literally, “Alexandria the Furthest”) in present-day Tajikistan. In 323 BCE, Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in the city of Babylon at the age of just 32. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential people in human history. After his death, his empire disintegrated in the chaos of infighting about his successor. Still, many of the cities he had founded continued long after his demise.
"By 200 BCE, Alexandria Eschate had become part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world. Centered in the north of present-day Afghanistan, this kingdom was regarded as one of the most affluent in Central Asia. The king of Bactria was said to rule over 1,000 cities, and the kingdom became a hub for trade. It is believed by some historians (though disputed by others) that people from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom may have traveled east in search of new trading opportunities and may even have reached China. The Greek historian Strabo wrote that this kingdom “extended their empire even as far as the Seres.” Some historians contend that Seres is the Greek name for China, though this has never been conclusively established."
Surely the trade and the trade route across Central Asia was far more ancient that a mere two millennia?
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"It has even been claimed that some artwork from the Qin dynasty shows Greek influence. The famous Terracotta Army, created for the mausoleum of the first Qin emperor, Qin Shi Huang, is said by some to show indications of Greek abilities in sculpture, indicating that artisans from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom may have reached China as early as 210 BCE, though this is not widely accepted.
"What we can be certain about is that in around 136 BCE, Zhang Qian, imperial envoy of the Han emperor, arrived in the Fergana Valley and the city of Alexandria Eschate. The name he gave to this kingdom, Dayuan, seems to have been an attempt to render the name into Chinese—da means “great” and yuan appears to be an attempt to phonetically render the difficult word “Ionians” into Chinese.
"Although we cannot be certain that Greek traders and artisans had already reached China by that time, it is certain that the markets of Alexandria Eschate already contained Chinese items. One of the reports from Zhang Qian to the emperor notes: “I saw bamboo canes from Qiong and cloth made in the province of Shu (areas of southwestern China). When I asked the people how they had got such articles, they replied, ‘Our merchants go buy them in the markets of Shendu (India).’”
Obviously Shendu is Sindhu.
Strangely enough, while West identified India and named the land after the river Sindhu, because that was then the only route to the land from West, south so they named it India after the river, so did China, which had other routes into India!
"A relatively short time after Zhang Qian arrived in Alexandria Eschate, the first traders from the Fergana Valley began to make the long trek to the Han capital, Chang’an. It is believed that by around 130 BCE, the first routes between China and the west had been established, and this is generally taken to mark the beginning of the Silk Road."
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" ... There was no one route or road—the early traders used whatever tracks were available to make the most direct journey from the Fergana Valley to China. However, the potential for trade between east and west faced early problems.
"The envoys from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom were the furthest western culture who had ever visited China, and many seemed unable or unwilling to comprehend and follow the complex rituals that were expected of visitors to the Han court. These westerners quickly earned a reputation for arrogance, though their presence and behavior were tolerated because they brought with them the valuable horses which had become known as “Heavenly Horses.”
"Traders and envoys from the Han court to the west also complained that they were not treated well, especially in comparison to visitors to the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom from the Xiongnu. The early Chinese historian Sima Qian wrote that while envoys from the Xiongnu were provided with supplies and horses, the Dayuan believed that “the Han armies were too far away to worry about, refused to supply the envoys with food and provisions, making things very difficult for them. The Han envoys were soon reduced to a state of destitution and distress and, their tempers mounting, fell to quarrelling and even attacking each other.”
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"This lack of respect angered the Han emperor, but as long as the supply of Heavenly Horses continued, he seemed willing to overlook the rudeness of the Dayuan. It was clear that the people of the Fergana Valley felt safe simply because they were so distant from the military power of China. In the Shiji, the history of the Han Empire published in 94 BCE and also called the Records of the Grand Historian, it was noted that the people of the west thought that “the Han embassies that have come to us are made up of only a few hundred men, and yet they are always short of food and over half the men die on the journey. Under such circumstances how could the Han possibly send a large army against us? What have we to worry about? Furthermore, the horses of Ershi are one of the most valuable treasures of the state!”
"The sheer number of horses moving east eventually became a concern to the Greco-Bactrians and, in around 104 BCE, they decided that it would be unwise to export any more. The reaction of Emperor Wu was immediate; he sent a military expedition to the Fergana Valley to conquer the area. This first expedition was a failure, but two years later, a Chinese army of more than 60,000 men arrived and quickly conquered the lands controlled by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. This war has become known as the War of the Heavenly Horses. Afterward, a puppet king was installed who could be relied upon to remain loyal to the Han and the flow of Heavenly Horses to the east continued without pause.
"With cavalry mounted on the powerful western horses, the Han were able to subdue and then finally defeat the Xiongnu. The imposition of Han control led to the first Pax Sinica (Chinese Peace), and this allowed the standard of living in China to rise and for its cities to grow. Prosperity supported by political stability led to increased demand in China for exotic goods from the west.
"The Pax Sinica also meant that route from east to west, between China and the western cultures, was safe. In addition to the flow of luxury goods from west to east, it quickly began to see"
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Chapter 4. Silk
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"“Great discoveries, whether of silk or of gravity, are always windfalls.”
"—Jeffrey Eugenides"
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"According to ancient Chinese historians, silk was first produced in China around 2700 BCE. Recent archeological discoveries in Henan Province suggest that silk may have been produced in China as early as 3500 BCE, during the Chinese Neolithic period. The production of silk is a complex process using the protein fiber of the silkworm, produced to make its cocoon. From the very beginning, silk was regarded as a high-value commodity, and the method of its production was kept a closely guarded secret in China; imperial decrees mandated the death sentence for any Chinese who was found to have revealed the secrets of silk production to anyone outside the circle of those who knew or, even worse, to a foreigner.
"During the Han dynasty, silk also became used as a pseudo-currency. Peasants could pay their taxes in silk, and some civil servants received part of their salary in the form of silk. Prices of commodities were expressed as their equivalent in lengths of silk; as gold became used as a measure of value in the west, silk was used in the same way in the east. Yet for thousands of years, the manufacture and use of silk were unknown outside China."
But India has had silk, used by wealthy and royals, since before Raamaayana, long prior to Mahaabhaarata.
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"As a result, woven silk became one of the main commodities traded from the Han dynasty to the west. The Roman civilization, growing in power and influence at the period when the Silk Road began to see an increasing volume of trade, was one of the first to become fascinated by silk, though it also became very popular in ancient Greece and Egypt. By around 50 BCE, silk had become the most valuable commodity in Rome, valued by its equivalent weight in gold.
"Many Romans, however, were uneasy about the use of silk for clothing. They saw the creation of semi-transparent silk dresses for women as immoral and the wearing of silk clothes by men as a sign of effeminacy and degeneracy. Roman scribe and politician Seneca the Younger was outraged and wrote of the new habit of wearing silk: “I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one’s decency, can be called clothes. . . . The adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife’s body.”"
"The Romans were fascinated by silk and in particular by how it was made. Most people at the time believed that silk was grown as some kind of vegetable product, and the real secret of its manufacture remained a closely guarded secret in China. By around 50 CE, silk accounted for approximately 90% of all imports from Asia to Rome. In return for silk, the Romans traded large quantities of luxury carpets, jewels, amber, metalwork, fabric dyes, medicines, and finely crafted objects made from glass. All these items were sent to China via the Silk Road, which was expanding to become one of the most important trade routes in the ancient world.
"Some astute traders became very wealthy on the trade heading in both directions. One Aegean island, Kos, became extremely wealthy due to the silk trade. Silk cloth would be imported to the island and then used to create fine clothes for men and women. Demand for these was so great in the Roman Empire that the whole island benefitted."
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"The trade between China and the west also proved beneficial to others. Another empire vied with Rome to be the most powerful in the west. The Parthians established an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean in the west to India in the east. Between 130 and 88 BCE, the Parthians waged several wars, mainly against their enemy the Seleucid Empire which would finally be defeated at the Battle of Ecbatana in 129 BCE. Under the leadership of Mithridates II, the Parthian Empire expanded to cover all of Mesopotamia. This meant that it controlled the trade routes between east and west which passed through this area. The Parthians thus became the main intermediaries in the silk trade.
"The Parthians wisely decided to maintain the roads and cities they captured from the Seleucid Empire and were able to keep the trade routes open. Despite more than one attempt by Rome to conquer Parthia, they failed and the lucrative trade kept flowing.
"Of course, it wasn’t just silk that was traded on these routes, though silk was the most important and profitable commodity at certain times. Other items brought to the west via the Silk Road included spices, paper, gunpowder, tea, medicines, porcelain, and ivory. Likewise, it wasn’t just horses that were traded from west to east; other goods included slaves, glassware, woolen items, weapons, dogs, and grapes and grapevines."
Spices, medicine, ivory - and knowledge, via manuscripts, from India.
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"The vast differential in the types of goods available in the east and west and the demand for these at each end of the Silk Road meant that there was an almost constant flow of traders moving in each direction. Eventually, however, the demand for silk in the west was abruptly ended by a piece of high-level subterfuge.
"The Roman Empire itself finally fell in 476 CE, but it didn’t completely disappear. The eastern half of the territory previously controlled by Rome became the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire shared many common cultural elements (and language) with the Roman Empire. It also shared Rome’s love of silk both for clothing and for rich decoration to be used in its churches.
"The knowledge that silk was somehow taken from silkworms became known around 50 CE, but it wasn’t until around 550 CE that the Byzantine Emperor Justinian decided that he was no longer willing to pay the high prices for Chinese silk. He employed two monks who were sent to China with the express purpose of finding out precisely how silk was made and of returning with this knowledge. They were successful, and silk manufacturing was set up in Constantinople. The production and sale of Byzantine silk were tightly controlled by the emperor, and silk became one of the most important products of the empire for almost 1,000 years.
"With the arrival of the Byzantine silk industry, the need for silk imported from China declined rapidly and from the establishment of the Byzantine competition, silk was traded less and less on the Silk Road. Other commodities rapidly took its place, and these routes remained as important and busy as ever."
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Chapter 5. The Routes
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"“To follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost.”
"—Colin Thubron"
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"Despite its name, the Silk Road was never a single road; it was a series of interconnected and sometimes parallel routes that changed over time. These routes crossed Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Far East. The actual routes followed depended on political as well as environmental factors. During the period when Roman traders were bringing large quantities of raw silk west, the routes shifted to the north, across the Caucasus Mountains and over the Caspian Sea, in order to avoid crossing the territory of Rome’s enemy, the Parthian Empire. Later, these routes traversed the rivers that cross the Central Asian steppes, but climate change led to these rivers flooding or drying up and routes had to be changed accordingly.
"Although the specific routes used varied over time, the general course of the Silk Road remained unchanged. Trade caravans would leave the Han capital, Chang’an, and travel west, across the Yellow River to the Jiayuguan Pass near the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu province where they would leave territory controlled by the Han dynasty (later, this would become one of the main gates in the Great Wall of China). After this, they would begin one of the most challenging parts of the journey, crossing more than 1,000 miles of desert as they traversed the Gobi and the Taklamakan Deserts.
"The large number of travelers crossing these deserts led to the emergence of oasis cities, settlements which grew near sources of water and became places where trade caravans could rest and replenish supplies. These included the city of Dunhuang in Gansu province, located where the western edge of the Gobi Desert meets the eastern fringe of the Taklamakan Desert. This city, like many others in the region, grew to prominence simply because it serviced the needs of the large numbers of traders using the Silk Road.
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"Travelers leaving the Jiayuguan Pass had a choice of two routes across the deserts: they could travel to the south or to the north. The southern route took them across the Pamir Mountains (called the “Roof of the World” because these are amongst the highest mountains in the world), through the oasis in the city of Dunhuang and on to Miran, Khotan, and Yarkland before finally arriving in Kashgar, another oasis city near the present-day border with Afghanistan and one of the westernmost of all Chinese controlled cities. Those who chose the northern route from the Jiayuguan Pass would pass through the cities of Hami, Turfran, and Kuqa before they too arrived in Kashgar.
"From Kashgar, the traders would once again have a choice: they could follow a southern route through the Wakhan Corridor to the city of Balkh in present-day Afghanistan and then on to Merv, another oasis city and a former outpost of the Persian Empire which is in present-day Iran. The northern route took caravans through the city of Samarkand and then on to Merv.
"From Merv, caravans would cross Persia and the Tigris-Euphrates Valley before arriving at Antioch or Constantinople on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Goods were then shipped on to Rome or Greece either overland through present-day Turkey or by ship while goods destined for Egypt were always transported on their last leg by sea."
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"Most caravans on the Silk Road used camels as their main form of transport. Camels had first been domesticated by nomadic desert people over 1,000 years before the Silk Road was established. Camels were able to survive the harsh desert conditions much better than horses or mules and could carry enormous loads; a healthy camel was able to transport a load of anything up to 500 pounds over terrain that would have killed almost any other animal. Without camels, it would not have been possible to use the Silk Road for the large-scale transport of goods."
A book about Himalaya mentions mules being used through Himalaya valleys and passes, including and chiefly trade routes. So at some point camels must have been accompanied or exchanged with camels.
"Traders tended to band together in large camel caravans to provide protection from bandits; caravans of more than 1,000 camels were not uncommon during the height of trade on the Silk Road. To service these caravans, large numbers of caravanserais, inns where traders could rest in safety and re-supply, grew along the main routes. By the tenth century, there was an extensive network of these inns along the main routes of the Silk Road across China, India, Iran, the Caucasus Mountains, and on through Turkey. Most followed a similar layout. All buildings would be placed within a walled courtyard with only a single gate, large enough to allow a laden camel to enter, as the only access. Inside were stalls for the animals, water, fodder, and shops where travelers could buy (and sometimes sell) goods and supplies. Rooms for traders and their servants and secure storage areas for goods were often placed on the first floor where balconies overlooked the open courtyard.
"These caravanserais would typically be placed every 30-40 km along the main routes, an easy day’s travel for most trade caravans. This meant that caravans would not have to spend the night unprotected on the open road. Many of these caravanserais survive to the present day and have become tourist attractions in otherwise remote areas. Without the safe haven and supplies provided by these inns, the Silk Road could not have flourished as a main trade route.
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"From end to end, the Silk Road covered somewhere in the region of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles), depending on the route followed. Understandably, it was very unusual for a trader to attempt the whole journey. Rather than regarding the Silk Road as a single route, it makes more sense to consider it as a chain of shorter routes, each linking major trade centers. Cities such as Merv, Samarkand, and Mosul became not just places for travelers to rest but markets where goods were bought and sold. Merv, for example, became one of the main emporia on the Silk Road between the eighth to the thirteenth centuries, providing a vast marketplace as well as manufactories, inns, moneychangers, and artisans. Merv also became a major administrative and religious center with mosques, madrasas (colleges), palaces, and other official buildings.
"Instead of moving goods from one end of the Silk Road to the other, it was much more common for traders to undertake just one part of the chain of routes, buying at one of the large markets goods that had been brought there by other traders and then taking these on the next leg of the journey until they could be sold for a profit at the next large trading center. Then, they would do the same thing in the opposite direction. In this way, traders became very familiar with the hazards of a particular stretch of the Silk Road rather than attempting to learn the whole route.
"By the tenth century, the Silk Road had become one of the most important trade thoroughfares in the world."
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Chapter 6. A Route for New Ideas
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"“A whole bunch of big technological shocks occurred when Asian innovations—paper, gunpowder, the stirrup, the moldboard plow and so on—came to Europe via the Silk Road.”
"—Charles C. Mann"
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"Traders and travelers did not just carry goods on the Silk Road, but they inevitably also brought different ideas and philosophies which they exchanged with other traders. One of the manifestations of this exchange of ideas was the dissemination of religions to east and west. There is good evidence that Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, and Manicheism were all spread directly by travelers on the Silk Road.
"Cultural interaction was a basic and essential part of using the Silk Road. Traders had, as a minimum, to learn the language of the areas in which they were traveling in order for them to be able to trade, but most also made an effort to learn about the customs and religion of new areas in order to avoid the possibility of inadvertently offending a potential host or trading partner. This acquisition of knowledge about other cultures led not just to the spread of religions but also on a much more practical level to the sharing of technologies and approaches to various things.
"For example, the Chinese ability to make paper and the beginning of the technology of the printing press were spread from China to the west by the Silk Road. The world’s first mass-produced book, the Nung Shu, a book of advice on agriculture and farming, was written by a Ching-te magistrate named Wang Chen around 1300 CE. Previously, all written material had been placed on fragile, hand-written scrolls. We know that copies of the Nung Shu made their way to Europe via the Silk Road, and when inventor Johannes Gutenberg produced the first viable commercial printing press in 1450, there is no doubt that he was influenced by ideas coming from China.
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"Likewise, the use of gunpowder weapons which were to transform warfare in Europe originated in China, and gunpowder was one of the earliest commodities to be traded on the Silk Road. It is less easy to find ideas that moved from west to east, though there is little doubt that advances in the technology of irrigation which occurred in China during the Han dynasty can be traced to ideas first developed in Mesopotamia and which most likely reached the east via the Silk Road. New crops that changed Chinese agriculture also made their way east via the Silk Road, including grapes, carrots, walnuts, beans, spinach, cucumbers, and pomegranates.
"Though the spread of new technologies, crops, and scientific ideas was important, the most significant impact the Silk Road had on the development of cultures in east and west was almost certainly through the spread of religions. As early as 200 CE, Buddhism originating in India had reached inland China. Within 100 years, Chinese Buddhist monks were making pilgrimages to India via the Silk Road to study sacred texts. The translation into Chinese and printing of Buddhist texts led to the rapid spread of this religion not just in China but also to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam."
Trade route provided the secondary means, perhaps, as far as Buddhism goes, but if that were primary, China would have been Hindu long before Buddha was born; and there's no evidence thereof.
Authors here are, for perhaps political reasons, attempting to equate religions, falsely and fraudulently. Reality is that an emperor of China had, soon after Nirvana (passing over into Infinite) of Buddha, a vision when resting in afternoon, a vision of a humongous golden God risen in West, and woke up and sent gor his minister, who informed him thst indeed, he'd heard of such a God having recently loved in India. The emperor then sent an emissary to India, upon whose return he was informed more, and decided to convert himself and his empire to Buddhism.
This is the reason that this conversion did not wipe out previous religions anywhere, unlike later abrahmic creeds that converted via force, killings and fear, attempting and most often succeeding in wiping out traces of previous creeds, unless - as throughout Europe - such previous creeds and their signs, idols, festivals et al, were absorbed into the convrrsionidt new creed and given new names, interpretation et al.
In that last category belong, not only the various female Deities of pre-church era, placed in Grottoes and worshipped by most people, who were turned into Virginia mother by the Church, but also Saturnalia, that people wouldn't stop celebrating on the then longest night of the year.
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"Zoroastrianism was at one time the main religion of the Persian Empire. Travelers brought it to China in the first century CE, and for almost 1,000 years, Zoroastrianism became an important element of religion in China, particularly amongst wealthy and influential families. Manicheism was a combination of Zoroastrianism thinking linked to precepts of Judaism, Christianity, and philosophy from ancient Greece. From around the second century, Manicheism became popular amongst the ordinary people of China. Until it was finally prohibited by the emperors of the Tang dynasty, it had a profound effect on a large proportion of the population of China.
"During the Tang dynasty, another western religion was encouraged in China: Nestorianism. This is a form of Christianity which originated in present-day Syria, though it differs fundamentally in some respects from traditional European Christianity. For around 150 years during the Tang dynasty, Nestorianism became an important element of religion in China though it declined rapidly under the subsequent Ming dynasty. From around the seventh century, Muslim traders from Arab countries began to spread the Muslim faith in China. During the Tang dynasty, at least two Chinese provinces, Guangdong and Quanzhou, became predominantly Muslim and the philosophy of Islam had a profound effect on all subsequent Chinese religions."
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Chapter 7. Marco Polo
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"“I have not told the half of what I saw.”
"—Marco Polo"
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"Travel writers are an intrinsic part of modern culture. In the thirteenth century, things were very different. The vast majority of people had little knowledge of the world beyond a few miles of where they lived, and even merchants and traders mostly restricted their travels to the local area. The idea of undertaking a journey to another continent was beyond the imagination of most of the population, and when one man did this and then wrote a chronicle of what happened to him, it became an immediate sensation in Europe.
"Marco Polo has become completely associated with China and the Silk Road in the popular imagination. Polo was the son of a prominent Venetian family of merchants and traders; the Polo family was based for an extended period in the city of Constantinople where they were directly involved in the trade entering that city from the Silk Road. In 1271, 17-year-old Marco with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo set off for Asia. They finally returned to Venice 24 years later after traveling over 24,000 kilometers (15,000 miles) and having amassed jewels and treasure.
"In 1296, Marco Polo was captured by the Genoese, with whom the Venetians were at war. He was held as a prisoner for three years and, during that time, he dictated an account of his travels in China and on the Silk Road to a fellow prisoner, Rustichello da Pisa. Da Pisa added his own stories about China as well as anecdotes from others, and the completed manuscript, The Book of the Marvels of the World, was published in the late thirteenth century and became an immediate success, rare in the period before printed manuscripts. In English, the book became known as The Travels of Marco Polo, and this first travelogue ever published inspired many people with its vivid descriptions of travels on the Silk Road, China, and beyond.
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"The book is divided into four parts: the first covers travel on the Silk Road, the second describes the time spent by Marco Polo and his companions in China, the third relates to India, Sri Lanka, Japan, and other parts of Southeast Asia, and the fourth describes the regions of the far north including present-day Russia. Polo’s account of his journey proved to be influential and inspirational. Many people who had not before considered travel were inspired to do so, though few ventured as far as Marco Polo. Subsequent maps were heavily influenced by this book, and when Christopher Columbus set out for America in the late fifteenth century, he carried with him a heavily annotated copy of Marco Polo’s book.
"Given its significance, it may be surprising to discover that many people came to believe that parts of the book were pure invention. It was noted as early as the seventeenth century that Marco Polo seemed to have failed to notice, for example, the Great Wall of China and prominent Chinese customs such as the drinking of tea, the use of chopsticks as eating utensils, and the practice of foot binding. These things would all have been very evident to a visitor from Europe, and it does seem surprising that they don’t even get a mention in The Travels of Marco Polo. This led to speculation that Marco Polo did not travel as widely as he claimed and even that he never actually reached China at all and based his account on stories he picked up from other travelers.
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"More recent investigations of this book seem to support the idea that it was based on first-hand knowledge. For example, the book avoids many of the exaggerations about China which were common in Europe at the time it was published. In the 1200s, for example, it was widely believed that the Yangtze River flowed through a land populated by pygmies and that the country was populated by monsters such as “wild men whose legs had no joints” and creatures whose females looked like humans but whose males were dogs. Polo did not repeat any of these invented stories, and his book does seem to be a genuine effort to report only what he had seen and experienced himself.
"For example, Marco Polo reported in the book that there he saw a number of Christian churches in the Chinese city of Zhenjiang. This was not something that would have been widely known in Europe at the time and would have seemed to most readers to be extremely unlikely. This is confirmed by a contemporary Chinese text which notes a pilgrim from Samarkand had founded six Nestorian Christian churches in the city in the early 1200s. As recently as 2012, a detailed study of Polo’s book concluded that it was very unlikely that he could have gained such detailed knowledge of, for example, the appearance, value, and use of Chinese currency without actually spending time there."
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Chapter 8. The Decline of the Silk Road
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"“Heaven has appointed me to rule all the nations, for hitherto there has been no order upon the steppes.”
"—Genghis Khan"
This conviction was inherited by every grandson of his, too, including Babar who was kicked out of every possible spot in Central Asia that he could have liked, until his subordinates suggested that he think of India instead, which he hated so much till the end that not only he wreaked havoc destroying temples throughout India, but he left instructions to be buried elsewhere, and preferably back in his hometown in Central Asia. This was eventually done in twentieth century.
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"The stealing of the secret of silk by the Byzantine Empire led to a sudden and precipitous drop in the trade of silk via the Silk Road, but the continuing demand for other commodities, especially tea and spices from the east, meant that these trade routes remained as busy as ever. Constantinople became one of the main western hubs for the Silk Road which survived major changes along its route.
"One of the most significant changes was the emergence of a new leader who would come to dominate most of the land through which the Silk Road ran. Temujin grew up as a goat herder in a nomadic Mongol tribe, though he is better known to history by the honorific title bestowed upon him by his people: Genghis Khan (“Strong King”). By 1220, he had not only united all the Mongol tribes with himself as their leader, but he had also defeated virtually every other power in the region. Although the Mongols were nomadic people with little interest in art or religion, they saw the value of trade, and the routes which comprised the Silk Road were protected and preserved and taxes on traders were kept low.
"For the first time, the whole Silk Road was controlled by a single political entity, and the Pax Mongolica (Mongol Peace) brought a long period of stability to the region. The presence of a unified administration meant that the Silk Road became even more important during this period, with additional inns springing up to support travelers and the largest ever volume of goods using these routes. The Silk Road became so safe compared to earlier ages that it was said that “a maiden bearing a nugget of gold on her head could wander safely throughout the realm.” When Marco Polo passed this way in the late 1200s, Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan, ruled over virtually the whole Silk Road."
He was one of the lesser evils amongst those grandsons, refusing the counsel of his Mongolian ministers to take over Chinese lands for grazing for Mongolian horses and letting a million Chinese farmers die due to the deprivation.
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"However, although it flourished under Mongol control, the Silk Road also faced growing competition from maritime routes. Advances in shipbuilding and the science of navigation meant that, by the eighth century, a network of sea routes (sometimes called the Spice Routes) took spices from the Spice Islands (the Moluccas Islands in present-day Indonesia) back to ports which supplied European cities. These maritime routes grew over time to become another network of trade routes, stretching from Japan, passing the coast of China, and leading on through Southeast Asia and India to reach the Middle East and on to the Mediterranean. Cities such as Zanzibar, Muscat, and Goa became very wealthy as major ports on these routes. These maritime routes weren’t entirely new; the first such routes had been established by the Sumerians between Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the west coast of India, and they grew to rival the Silk Road in terms of volume of trade, especially as political and military upheavals caused interruption and instability which affected the overland routes.
"The Pax Mongolica and the stability it brought to the Silk Road lasted until well into the fourteenth century. Then, a combination of religious differences (some Mongol leaders converted to Islam, many did not), assassination, squabbles over the succession, and growing suspicion on the part of the Chinese about the aims of the Mongols brought fundamental changes. The Chinese began to expel Mongols from their lands, and this indirectly led to the creation of the Ming dynasty. The Mongol Empire disintegrated into a number of competing and often hostile smaller Khanates and suddenly, the stability that the Silk Road had enjoyed for so long began to erode."
And yet, having rejected and ejected Mongolians, China nevertheless usurped rights in names of the treaties made or forced by Mongolian rulers, and occupied other lands forcibly claiming right, for example Tibet.
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"Not everything carried by the Silk Road was beneficial. Towards the end of the second century, a virulent plague arrived in the Roman Empire which killed around ten percent of its population. This was thought to have arrived with silk traders from the east. Another devastating plague affected Constantinople, which had become the main western hub for the Silk Road in 542. Then, in 1331, a new, virulent and devastating form of plague began to afflict areas of China. This disease was carried west by traders on the Silk Road and, though it was not known at the time, by plague-infested ticks and fleas which were carried on the manes of horses and the hair of camels that traveled the Silk Road. This devastating disease, which has become known as the Black Death, arrived in Europe via the Silk Road. Its effects were unprecedented; it is thought that this disease killed around 25 million people in China and anything from 30 to 50 percent of the total population of Europe.
"The deaths caused by the Black Death hastened the final collapse of the already tottering Byzantine Empire. By the mid-1400s, the once-mighty city of Constantinople was little more than a number of small villages in a sea of ruins. In 1453, the city was finally conquered by the Ottoman Empire who had little interest in maintaining the flow of trade through the Silk Road.
"The discovery of a direct sea route from Asia to Europe in the fifteenth century reduced the importance of the overland routes of the Silk Road even further—previously, maritime routes had required goods to be trans-shipped by overland routes from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. Transporting goods directly by sea was quicker, cheaper, and safer than using the Silk Road.
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Chapter 9. Legacy
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"It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the story of the Silk Road became popular with historians in the west. Archaeologists, historians, and those with a taste for adventure began to retrace the route of the Silk Road, discovering many important archaeological sites. These people came mainly from France, England, Germany, and Russia, and one of them, a German scientist and geographer named Ferdinand von Richthofen (uncle of the World War I flying ace Manfred, the “Red Baron”), published in 1877 a book which would have a dramatic impact on the study of these routes called China: Ergebnisse eigener reisen und darauf gegründeter studien. In this book and for the first time, the name Seidenstrasse (Silk Road) was used."
" ... In 1885, British soldier and explorer Sir Francis Younghusband undertook a hazardous 1,000-mile trip across the Gobi Desert where he charted many of the ancient routes of the Silk Road. Beginning in 1894, Swedish geographer Sven Hedin mounted several expeditions to the Kunlun Mountains and the Taklamakan Desert, during which he studied many of the old oasis towns of the Silk Road including cities Mashhad, Ashgabat, Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, and Kashgar."
" ... In the 1990s, a rail route, the New Eurasian Land Bridge, was created which runs through China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia. This too follows some of the old routes of the Silk Road."
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Conclusion
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" ... Silk Road has become a symbol for the romance of travel. Few people can hear the name without imagining camel trains on trackless deserts, exotic oasis cities with teeming markets, and a blend of the cultures of east and west. The Silk Road, both in reality and as a powerful symbol, has become an essential part of the shared history of east and west."
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
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Silk Road: A History
from Beginning to End
(History of China)
Hourly History
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September 27, 2022 - September 27, 2022.
Purchased September 27, 2022.
ASIN:- B084227X5T
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5010440132
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