TheSilk Road[a] was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.[1] Spanning over 6,400 km (4,000 mi), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between theEastern andWestern worlds.[2][3][4] The name "Silk Road" was coined in the late 19th century, but some 20th- and 21st-century historians instead prefer the termSilk Routes, on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connectingCentral,East,South,Southeast, andWest Asia as well asEast Africa andSouthern Europe.[1]
The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of silktextiles that wereprimarily produced in China. The network began with the expansion of theHan dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) intoCentral Asia around 114 BCE, through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoyZhang Qian, which brought the regionunder unified control. The Chinese took great interest in the security of their trade products, and extended theGreat Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.[5] By the first century CE, Chinese silk was widely sought-after in Rome, Egypt, and Greece.[1] Other lucrative commodities from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, andporcelain; among Western exports were horses, camels, honey, wine, and gold. Aside from generating substantial wealth for emerging mercantile classes, the proliferation of goods such aspaper andgunpowder greatly affected the trajectory of political history in several theatres in Eurasia and beyond.
The Silk Road was utilized over a period that saw immense political variation across the continent, exemplified by major events such as theBlack Death and theMongol conquests. The network was highly decentralized, and security was sparse: travelers faced constant threats of banditry and nomadic raiders, and long expanses of inhospitable terrain. Few individuals traveled the entire length of the Silk Road, instead relying on a succession of middlemen based at various stopping points along the way. In addition to goods, the network facilitated an unprecedented exchange of religious (especially Buddhist), philosophical, and scientific thought, much of which wassyncretised by societies along the way.[6] Likewise, a wide variety of people used the routes. Diseases such asplague also spread along the Silk Road, possibly contributing to the Black Death.[7]
The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade insilk,first developed in China,[9][10] and a major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive transcontinental network.[11][12] It derives from the German termSeidenstraße (literally "Silk Road") and was first popularized in 1877 byFerdinand von Richthofen, who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872.[12][13][14] However, the term itself had been in use in decades prior to that.[15] The alternative translation "Silk Route" is also used occasionally. Although the term was coined in the 19th century, it did not gain widespread acceptance in academia or popularity among the public until the 20th century. The first book entitledThe Silk Road was by Swedish geographerSven Hedin in 1938.[16]
The use of the term 'Silk Road' is not without its detractors. For instance,Warwick Ball contends that the maritimespice trade withIndia and Arabia was far more consequential forthe economy of theRoman Empire than thesilk trade with China, which at sea was conducted mostly through India and on land was handled by numerous intermediaries such as theSogdians.[17] Going as far as to call the whole thing a "myth" of modern academia, Ball argues that there was no coherent overland trade system and no free movement of goodsfrom East Asia to the West until the period of theMongol Empire. He notes that traditional authors discussing east–west trade such asMarco Polo andEdward Gibbon never labelled any route a "silk" one in particular.[18]William Dalrymple points out that in pre-modern times, maritime travel cost only a fifth of overland transport,[19] and argues for the pre-13th century primacy of an India-dominated "Golden Road" extending from Rome to Japan.[20][21]
The southern stretches of the Silk Road, fromKhotan (Xinjiang) to Eastern China, were first used forjade and not silk, as long as 5000BCE, and are still in use for this purpose. The term "Jade Road" would have been more appropriate than "Silk Road" had it not been for the far larger and geographically wider nature of the silk trade; the term is in current use in China.[22]
The Silk Road consisted of several routes. As it extended westwards from the ancient commercial centres of China, the overland, intercontinental Silk Road divided into northern andsouthern routes bypassing theTaklamakan Desert andLop Nur. Merchants along these routes were involved in "relay trade" in which goods changed "hands many times before reaching their final destinations".[23]
Main routes of the Silk Road on a relief map, with city and country names labeled
The northern route started atChang'an (now calledXi'an), an ancient capital of China that was moved further east during theLater Han toLuoyang. The route was defined around the 1st century BCE whenHan Wudi put an end to harassment by nomadic tribes.[24]
The northern route travelled northwest through the Chinese province ofGansu fromShaanxi Province and split into three further routes, two of them following the mountain ranges to the north and south of theTaklamakan Desert to rejoin atKashgar, and the other going north of theTian Shan mountains throughTurpan,Talgar, and Almaty (in what is now southeastKazakhstan). The routes split again west of Kashgar, with a southern branch heading down the Alai Valley towardsTermez (in modern Uzbekistan) andBalkh (Afghanistan), while the other travelled throughKokand in theFergana Valley (in present-day eastern Uzbekistan) and then west across theKarakum Desert. Both routes joined the main southern route before reaching ancientMerv, Turkmenistan. Another branch of the northern route turned northwest past theAral Sea and north of theCaspian Sea, then and on to the Black Sea.
A route for caravans, the northern Silk Road brought to China many goods such as "dates, saffron powder and pistachio nuts from Persia;frankincense, aloes andmyrrh fromSomalia;sandalwood from India; glass bottles from Egypt, and other expensive and desirable goods from other parts of the world."[25] In exchange, the caravans sent back bolts of silkbrocade,lacquer-ware, andporcelain.
Southern route
The southern route or Karakoram route was mainly a single route fromChina through theKarakoram mountains, where it persists in modern times as theKarakoram Highway, a paved road that connectsPakistan andChina.[citation needed] It then set off westwards, but with southward spurs so travelers could complete the journey by sea from various points. Crossing the high mountains, it passed through northernPakistan, over theHindu Kush mountains, and intoAfghanistan, rejoining the northern route near Merv,Turkmenistan. From Merv, it followed a nearly straight line west through mountainous northernIran,Mesopotamia, and the northern tip of theSyrian Desert to theLevant, whereMediterranean trading ships plied regular routes toItaly, while land routes went either north throughAnatolia or south toNorth Africa. Another branch road travelled fromHerat throughSusa toCharax Spasinu at the head of thePersian Gulf and across toPetra and on toAlexandria and other eastern Mediterranean ports from where ships carried the cargoes toRome.[citation needed]
The southwestern route is believed to be theGanges/Brahmaputra Delta, which has been the subject of international interest for over two millennia. Strabo, the 1st-century Roman writer, mentions the deltaic lands: "Regarding merchants who now sail from Egypt ... as far as the Ganges, they are only private citizens." His comments are interesting as Roman beads and other materials are being found atWari-Bateshwar ruins, the ancient city with roots from much earlier, before theBronze Age, presently being slowly excavated beside the Old Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. Ptolemy's map of theGanges Delta, a remarkably accurate effort, showed that his informants knew all about the course of the Brahmaputra River, crossing through theHimalayas then bending westward to its source inTibet. It is doubtless that this delta was a major international trading center, almost certainly from much earlier than the Common Era.Gemstones and other merchandise fromThailand andJava were traded in the delta and through it. Chinese archaeological writer Bin Yang and some earlier writers and archaeologists, such as Janice Stargardt, strongly suggest this route of international trade asSichuan–Yunnan–Burma–Bangladesh route. According to Bin Yang, especially from the 12th century, the route was used to ship bullion from Yunnan (gold and silver are among the minerals in which Yunnan is rich), through northern Burma, into modernBangladesh, making use of the ancient route, known as the 'Ledo' route. The emerging evidence of the ancient cities of Bangladesh, in particular Wari-Bateshwar ruins,Mahasthangarh,Bhitagarh,Bikrampur, Egarasindhur, andSonargaon, are believed to be the international trade centers in this route.[26][27][28]
The term "Maritime Silk Road" is a modern name, acquired from its similarity to the overland Silk Road. Like the overland routes, the ancient maritime routes through Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean had no particular name for the majority of its very long history.[31] Despite the modern name, the Maritime Silk Road involved exchanges in a wide variety of goods over a very wide region, not just silk or Asian exports.[34][43] It differed significantly in several aspects from the overland Silk Road, and thus should not be viewed as a mere extension of it. Traders traveling through the Maritime Silk Road could span the entire distance of the maritime routes, instead of through regional relays as with the overland route. Ships could carry far larger amounts of goods, creating greater economic impact with each exchange. Goods carried by the ships also differed from goods carried by caravans. Traders on the maritime route faced different perils like weather andpiracy, but they were not affected by political instability and could simply avoid areas in conflict.[34]
History
Precursors
Chinese and Central Asian contacts (2nd millennium BCE)
Central Eurasia has been known from ancient times for its horse riding and horse breeding communities, and the overlandSteppe Route across the northern steppes of Central Eurasia was in use long before that of the Silk Road.[10] Archeological sites, such as theBerel burial ground inKazakhstan, confirmed that the nomadicArimaspians were not only breeding horses for trade but also produced great craftsmen able to propagate exquisite art pieces along the Silk Road.[45][46] From the 2nd millennium BCE,nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region ofYarkand andKhotan to China. Significantly, these mines were not very far from thelapis lazuli andspinel ("Balas Ruby") mines inBadakhshan, and, although separated by the formidablePamir Mountains, routes across them were apparently in use from very early times.[citation needed]
Genetic study of theTarim mummies, found in theTarim Basin, in the area ofLoulan located along the Silk Road 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Yingpan, dating to as early as 1600 BCE, suggest very ancient contacts between East and West. These mummified remains may have been of people who spokeIndo-European languages, which remained in use in the Tarim Basin, in the modern dayXinjiang region, until replaced by Turkic influences from theXiongnu culture to the north and by Chinese influences from the easternHan dynasty, who spoke aSino-Tibetan language.[citation needed]
Some remnants of what was probably Chinese silk dating from 1070 BCE have been found inAncient Egypt. The Great Oasis cities of Central Asia played a crucial role in the effective functioning of the Silk Road trade.[47] The originating source seems sufficiently reliable, but silk degrades very rapidly, so it cannot be verified whether it was cultivated silk (which almost certainly came from China) or a type ofwild silk, which might have come from the Mediterranean or Middle East.[48]
Following contacts betweenMetropolitan China and nomadic western border territories in the 8th century BCE, gold was introduced from Central Asia, and Chinese jade carvers began to make imitation designs of the steppes, adopting theScythian-styleanimal art of the steppes (depictions of animals locked in combat). This style is particularly reflected in the rectangular belt plaques made of gold and bronze, with other versions in jade andsteatite.[citation needed] An elite burial nearStuttgart, Germany, dated to the 6th century BCE, was excavated and found to have not onlyGreek bronzes but also Chinese silks.[49] Similar animal-shaped pieces of art and wrestler motifs on belts have been found inScythian grave sites stretching from theBlack Sea region all the way toWarring States era archaeological sites inInner Mongolia (at Aluchaideng) andShaanxi (atKeshengzhuang [de]) in China.[49]
The expansion of Scythian cultures, stretching from theHungarian plain and theCarpathian Mountains to the ChineseGansu Corridor, and linking the Middle East with Northern India and thePunjab, undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road. Scythians accompanied theAssyrianEsarhaddon on his invasion of Egypt, and their distinctive triangular arrowheads have been found as far south asAswan. These nomadic peoples were dependent upon neighbouring settled populations for a number of important technologies, and in addition to raiding vulnerable settlements for these commodities, they also encouraged long-distance merchants as a source of income through the enforced payment of tariffs.Sogdians played a major role in facilitating trade between China and Central Asia along the Silk Roads as late as the 10th century, their language serving as alingua franca for Asian trade as far back as the 4th century.[50][51]
The Silk Road was initiated and spread by China's Han dynasty through exploration andconquests in Central Asia. With the Mediterranean linked to theFergana Valley, the next step was to open a route across theTarim Basin and theHexi Corridor toChina Proper. This extension came around 130 BCE, with the embassies of the Han dynasty to Central Asia following the reports of the ambassadorZhang Qian[53] (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with theYuezhi against theXiongnu). Zhang Qian visited directly the kingdom ofDayuan inFerghana, the territories of the Yuezhi inTransoxiana, theBactrian country ofDaxia with its remnants ofGreco-Bactrian rule, andKangju. He also made reports on neighbouring countries that he did not visit, such as Anxi (Parthia), Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), Shendu (Indian subcontinent) and theWusun.[54] Zhang Qian's report suggested the economic reason for Chinese expansion and wall-building westward, and trail-blazed the Silk Road, making it one of the most famous trade routes in history and in the world.[55]
After winning theWar of the Heavenly Horses and theHan–Xiongnu War, Chinese armies established themselves in Central Asia, initiating the Silk Route as a major avenue of international trade.[56] Some say that the ChineseEmperor Wu became interested in developing commercial relationships with the sophisticated urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria, and theParthian Empire: "The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan"GreatIonians") and the possessions of Bactria (Ta-Hsia) and Parthian Empire (Anxi) are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China" (Hou Hanshu,Later Han History). Others[57] say that Emperor Wu was mainly interested infighting the Xiongnu and that major trade began only after the Chinese pacified theHexi Corridor.
The Chinese were also strongly attracted by the tall and powerful horses (named "heavenly horses") in the possession of the Dayuan (literally the "Great Ionians," theGreek kingdoms of Central Asia), which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic Xiongnu.[58][59][60][61] They defeated the Dayuan in theHan-Dayuan war. The Chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies, around ten every year, to these countries and as far asSeleucid Syria.
Thus more embassies were dispatched to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai [who later joined theAlans ], Lijian [Syria under the Greek Seleucids], Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), andTianzhu [northwestern India] ... As a rule, rather more than ten such missions went forward in the course of a year, and at the least five or six. (Hou Hanshu, Later Han History).
These connections marked the beginning of the Silk Road trade network that extended to the Roman Empire.[62]
The Chinese campaigned in Central Asia on several occasions, and direct encounters between Han troops and Roman legionaries (probably captured or recruited as mercenaries by the Xiong Nu) are recorded, particularly in the 36 BCE battle ofSogdiana (Joseph Needham, Sidney Shapiro). It has been suggested that the Chinesecrossbow was transmitted to the Roman world on such occasions, although the Greekgastraphetes provides an alternative origin. R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy suggest that in 36 BCE,
[A] Han expedition into Central Asia, west ofJaxartes River, apparently encountered and defeated a contingent of Roman legionaries. The Romans may have been part ofAntony's army invadingParthia. Sogdiana (modernBukhara), east of the Oxus River, on thePolytimetus River, was apparently the most easterly penetration ever made by Roman forces in Asia. The margin of Chinese victory appears to have been their crossbows, whose bolts and darts seem easily to have penetrated Roman shields and armour.[63]
TheHan dynasty army regularly policed the trade route against nomadic bandit forces generally identified asXiongnu. Han generalBan Chao led an army of 70,000mounted infantry andlight cavalry troops in the 1st century CE to secure thetrade routes, reaching far west to the Tarim Basin. Ban Chao expanded his conquests across thePamirs to the shores of theCaspian Sea and the borders ofParthia.[64] It was from here that the Han general dispatched envoyGan Ying toDaqin (Rome).[65] The Silk Road essentially came into being from the 1st century BCE, following these efforts by China to consolidate a road to the Western world andIndia, both through direct settlements in the area of the Tarim Basin and diplomatic relations with the countries of the Dayuan, Parthians and Bactrians further west. The Silk Roads were a "complex network of trade routes" that gave people the chance to exchange goods and culture.[66]
Central Asia during Roman times, with the first Silk Road
Soon after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE, regular communications and trade between China, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe blossomed on an unprecedented scale. The Roman Empire inherited eastern trade routes that were part of the Silk Road from the earlier Hellenistic powers and the Arabs. With control of these trade routes, citizens of the Roman Empire received new luxuries and greater prosperity for the Empire as a whole.[73] The Roman-style glassware discovered in the archeological sites ofGyeongju, the capital of theSilla kingdom (Korea) showed that Roman artifacts were traded as far as the Korean peninsula.[74] The Greco-Roman trade with India started byEudoxus of Cyzicus in 130 BCE continued to increase, and according toStrabo (II.5.12), by the time ofAugustus, up to 120 ships were setting sail every year fromMyos Hormos in Roman Egypt to India.[75] The Roman Empire connected with the Central Asian Silk Road through their ports inBarygaza (present-dayBharuch) andBarbarikon (near present-dayKarachi) and continued along the western coast of India.[76] An ancient "travel guide" to this Indian Ocean trade route was the GreekPeriplus of the Erythraean Sea written in 60 CE.
The travelling party ofMaës Titianus penetrated farthest east along the Silk Road from the Mediterranean world, probably with the aim of regularising contacts and reducing the role of middlemen, during one of the lulls in Rome's intermittent wars with Parthia, which repeatedly obstructed movement along the Silk Road. Intercontinental trade and communication became regular, organised, and protected by the "Great Powers." Intensetrade with the Roman Empire soon followed, confirmed by the Roman craze for Chinese silk (supplied through the Parthians), even though the Romans thought silk was obtained from trees. This belief was affirmed bySeneca the Younger in hisPhaedra and byVirgil in hisGeorgics. Notably,Pliny the Elder knew better. Speaking of thebombyx or silk moth, he wrote in hisNatural Histories "They weave webs, like spiders, that become a luxurious clothing material for women, called silk."[77] The Romans traded spices, glassware, perfumes, and silk.[73]
Roman artisans began to replace yarn with valuable plain silk cloths from China and theSilla Kingdom inGyeongju, Korea.[78][74] Chinese wealth grew as they delivered silk and other luxury goods to the Roman Empire, whose wealthy women admired their beauty.[79] The Roman Senate issued, in vain, several edicts to prohibit the wearing of silk, on economic and moral grounds: the import of Chinese silk caused a huge outflow of gold, and silk clothes were considered decadent and immoral.
I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one's decency, can be called clothes. ... Wretched flocks of maids labour so that 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.[80]
The unification of Central Asia and Northern India within theKushan Empire between the first and third centuries reinforced the role of the powerful merchants from Bactria andTaxila.[81] They fostered multi-cultural interaction as indicated by their 2nd century treasure hoards filled with products from the Greco-Roman world, China, and India, such as in thearcheological site of Begram.
The Silk Road trade did not sell only textiles, jewels, metal and cosmetic, but also slaves, connecting the Silk Road slave trade to theBukhara slave trade as well as theBlack Sea slave trade, particularly slave girls.[82]
Map showing Byzantium along with the other major silk road powers during China'sSouthern dynasties period of fragmentation.
Byzantine Greek historianProcopius stated that twoNestorian Christian monks eventually uncovered the way silk was made. From this revelation, monks were sent by the Byzantine EmperorJustinian (ruled 527–565) as spies on the Silk Road fromConstantinople to China and back tosteal the silkworm eggs, resulting in silk production in the Mediterranean, particularly inThrace in northern Greece,[83] and giving theByzantine Empire a monopoly on silk production in medieval Europe. In 568, the Byzantine rulerJustin II was greeted by aSogdian embassy representingIstämi, ruler of theFirst Turkic Khaganate, who formed an alliance with the Byzantines againstKhosrow I of theSasanian Empire that allowed the Byzantines to bypass the Sasanian merchants and trade directly with the Sogdians for purchasing Chinese silk.[84][85][86] Although the Byzantines had already procured silkworm eggs from China by this point, the quality of Chinese silk was still far greater than anything produced in the West, a fact that is perhaps emphasized by the discovery of coins minted by Justin II found in a Chinese tomb ofShanxi province dated to theSui dynasty (581–618).[87]
Both theOld Book of Tang andNew Book of Tang, covering the history of the ChineseTang dynasty (618–907), record that a new state calledFu-lin (拂菻; i.e. Byzantine Empire) was virtually identical to the previousDaqin (大秦; i.e. Roman Empire).[68] SeveralFu-lin embassies were recorded for the Tang period, starting in 643 with an alleged embassy byConstans II (transliterated asBo duo li, 波多力, from his nickname "Kōnstantinos Pogonatos") to the court ofEmperor Taizong of Tang.[68] TheHistory of Song describes the final embassy and its arrival in 1081, apparently sent byMichael VII Doukas (transliterated asMie li yi ling kai sa, 滅力伊靈改撒, fromhis name and title Michael VII Parapinakēs Caesar) to the court ofEmperor Shenzong of theSong dynasty (960–1279).[68]
Although the Silk Road was initially formulated during the reign ofEmperor Wu of Han (141–87 BCE), it was reopened by theTang Empire in 639 whenHou Junji conquered theWestern Regions, and remained open for almost four decades. It was closed after the Tibetans captured it in 678, but in 699, duringEmpress Wu's period, the Silk Road reopened when the Tang reconquered theFour Garrisons of Anxi originally installed in 640,[98] once again connecting China directly to the West for land-based trade.[99] The Tang captured the vital route through theGilgit Valley from Tibet in 722, lost it to the Tibetans in 737, and regained it under the command of the Goguryeo GeneralGao Xianzhi.[100]
While the Turks were settled in the Ordos region (former territory of theXiongnu), the Tang government took on the military policy of dominating the central steppe. The Tang dynasty (along with Turkic allies) conquered and subdued Central Asia during the 640s and 650s.[101] During Emperor Taizong's reign alone, large campaigns were launched against not only theGöktürks, but also separate campaigns against theTuyuhun, theoasis states, and theXueyantuo. UnderEmperor Taizong, Tang generalLi Jingconquered the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. UnderEmperor Gaozong, Tang generalSu Dingfangconquered the Western Turkic Khaganate, an important ally of the Byzantine empire.[102] After these conquests, the Tang dynasty fully controlled theXiyu, which was the strategic location astride the Silk Road.[103] This led the Tang dynasty to reopen the Silk Road, with this portion named theTang-Tubo Road ("Tang-Tibet Road") in many historical texts.
The Tang dynasty established a secondPax Sinica, and the Silk Road reached its golden age, whereby Persian and Sogdian merchants benefited from the commerce between East and West. At the same time, the Chinese empire welcomed foreign cultures, making it very cosmopolitan in its urban centres. In addition to the land route, the Tang dynasty also developed the maritime Silk Route. Chinese envoys had been sailing through theIndian Ocean toIndia since perhaps the 2nd century BCE,[104] yet, it was during the Tang dynasty that a strong Chinese maritime presence could be found in thePersian Gulf andRed Sea intoPersia,Mesopotamia (sailing up theEuphrates River in modern-dayIraq),Arabia,Egypt,Aksum (Ethiopia), andSomalia in theHorn of Africa.[105]
The Silk Road represents an early phenomenon of political and cultural integration due to inter-regional trade. In its heyday, it sustained an international culture that strung together groups as diverse as theMagyars,Armenians, and Chinese. The Silk Road reached its peak in the west during the time of theByzantine Empire; in the Nile-Oxus section, from theSassanid Empire period to theIl Khanate period; and in thesinitic zone from theThree Kingdoms period to theYuan dynasty period. Trade between East and West also developed across theIndian Ocean, between Alexandria in Egypt andGuangzhou in China. Persian Sassanid coins emerged as a means of currency, just as valuable as silk yarn and textiles.[106]
Under its strong integrating dynamics on the one hand and the impacts of change it transmitted on the other, tribal societies previously living in isolation along the Silk Road, and pastoralists who were of barbarian cultural development, were drawn to the riches and opportunities of the civilisations connected by the routes, taking on the trades of marauders or mercenaries.[citation needed] "Many barbarian tribes became skilled warriors able to conquer rich cities and fertile lands and to forge strong military empires."[107]
Map of Eurasia and Africa showing trade networks, c. 870
TheSogdians dominated the east–west trade after the 4th century up to the 8th century. They were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia.[81] A.V. Dybo noted that "according to historians, the main driving force of the Great Silk Road were not just Sogdians, but the carriers of a mixed Sogdian-Türkic culture that often came from mixed families."[108]
The Silk Road gave rise to the clusters of military states of nomadic origins in North China, ushered theNestorian,Manichaean,Buddhist, and laterIslamic religions into Central Asia and China.[citation needed]
At the end of its glory, the routes brought about the largest continental empire ever, the Mongol Empire, with its political centres strung along the Silk Road (Beijing) in North China,Karakorum in central Mongolia,Sarmakhand inTransoxiana,Tabriz in Northern Iran, realising the political unification of zones previously loosely and intermittently connected by material and cultural goods.[citation needed]
During the early 13th centuryKhwarezmia was invaded by the Mongol Empire. The Mongol rulerGenghis Khan had the once vibrant cities of Bukhara andSamarkand burned to the ground after besieging them.[114] However, in 1370 Samarkand saw a revival as the capital of the newTimurid Empire. The Turko-Mongol rulerTimur forcefully moved artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand, making it one of the most important trade centers and culturalentrepôts of the Islamic world.[115]
TheMongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 1207 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-established the Silk Road (viaKarakorum andKhanbaliq). It also brought an end to the dominance of the Islamic Caliphate over world trade. Because the Mongols came to control the trade routes, trade circulated throughout the region, though they never abandoned their nomadic lifestyle.
The Mongol rulers wanted to establish their capital on the Central Asian steppe, so to accomplish this goal, after every conquest they enlisted local people (traders, scholars, artisans) to help them construct and manage their empire.[116] The Mongols developed overland and maritime routes throughout the Eurasian continent, Black Sea and the Mediterranean in the west, and the Indian Ocean in the south. In the second half of the thirteenth century Mongol-sponsored business partnerships flourished in the Indian Ocean connecting Mongol Middle East and Mongol China[117]
In the 13th century, efforts were made at forming aFranco-Mongol alliance, with an exchange of ambassadors and (failed) attempts at military collaboration in theHoly Land during the laterCrusades. Eventually, the Mongols in theIlkhanate, after they had destroyed theAbbasid andAyyubid dynasties, converted to Islam and signed the 1323Treaty of Aleppo with the surviving Muslim power, the EgyptianMamluks.[citation needed]
Some studies indicate that theBlack Death, which devastated Europe starting in the late 1340s, may have reached Europe from Central Asia (or China) along the trade routes of the Mongol Empire.[120] One theory holds that Genoese traders coming from the entrepôt ofTrebizond in northernTurkey carried the disease to Western Europe; like many other outbreaks of plague, there is strong evidence that it originated in marmots in Central Asia and was carried westwards to the Black Sea by Silk Road traders.[121]
Decline (15th century – present)
The fragmentation of the Mongol Empire loosened the political, cultural, and economic unity of the Silk Road.Turkmeni marching lords seized land around the western part of the Silk Road from the decaying Byzantine Empire. After the fall of the Mongol Empire, the great political powers along the Silk Road became economically and culturally separated. Accompanying the crystallisation of regional states was the decline of nomad power, partly due to the devastation of the Black Death and partly due to the encroachment of sedentary civilisations equipped withgunpowder.[122]
Significant isArmenians' role in making Europe–Asia trade possible by being located in the crossing roads between these two. Armenia had a monopoly on almost all trade roads in this area and a colossal network. From 1700 to 1765, the total export of Persian silk was entirely conducted by Armenians. They were also exporting raisins, coffee beans, figs, Turkish yarn, camel hair, various precious stones, rice, etc., from Turkey and Iran.[123]
The silk trade continued to flourish until it was disrupted by the collapse of theSafavid Empire in the 1720s.[125]
Expansion of religions
TheNestorian Stele, created in 781, describes the introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China
Richard Foltz,Xinru Liu, and others have described how trading activities along the Silk Road over many centuries facilitated the transmission not just of goods but also ideas and culture, notably in the area of religions.Zoroastrianism,Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Islam all spread across Eurasia through trade networks that were tied to specific religious communities and their institutions.[126] Notably, established Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road offered a haven, as well as a new religion for foreigners.[127]
The spread of religions and cultural traditions along the Silk Roads, according toJerry H. Bentley, also led tosyncretism. One example was the encounter with the Chinese andXiongnu nomads. These unlikely events of cross-cultural contact allowed both cultures to adapt to each other as an alternative. The Xiongnu adopted Chinese agricultural techniques, dress style, and lifestyle, while the Chinese adopted Xiongnu military techniques, some dress style, music, and dance.[128] Perhaps most surprising of the cultural exchanges between China and the Xiongnu, Chinese soldiers sometimes defected and converted to the Xiongnu way of life, and stayed in the steppes for fear of punishment.[129]
Nomadic mobility played a key role in facilitating inter-regional contacts and cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Roads.[130][131]
The transmission of Christianity was primarily known as Nestorianism on the Silk Road. In 781, an inscribed stele shows Nestorian Christian missionaries arriving on the Silk Road. Christianity had spread both east and west, simultaneously bringing Syriac language and evolving the forms of worship.[132]
The transmission of Buddhism to China via the Silk Road began in the 1st century CE, according to a semi-legendary account of an ambassador sent to the West by the Chinese EmperorMing (58–75). During this period Buddhism began to spread throughout Southeast, East, and Central Asia.[134]Mahayana,Theravada, andVajrayana are the three primary forms of Buddhism that spread across Asia via the Silk Road.[135]
The Buddhist movement was the first large-scale missionary movement in the history of world religions. Chinese missionaries were able to assimilate Buddhism, to an extent, to native Chinese Daoists, which brought the two beliefs together.[136] Buddha's community of followers, theSangha, consisted of male and female monks and laity. These people moved through India and beyond to spread the ideas of Buddha.[137] As the number of members within the Sangha increased, it became costly so that only the larger cities were able to afford having the Buddha and his disciples visit.[138] It is believed that under the control of theKushans, Buddhism was spread to China and other parts of Asia from the middle of the first century to the middle of the third century.[139] Extensive contacts started in the 2nd century, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan empire into the Chinese territory of theTarim Basin, due to the missionary efforts of a great number of Buddhist monks to Chinese lands. The first missionaries and translators of Buddhists scriptures into Chinese were either Parthian, Kushan,Sogdian, orKuchean.[140]
One result of the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road was displacement and conflict. The Greek Seleucids were exiled to Iran and Central Asia because of a new Iranian dynasty called the Parthians at the beginning of the 2nd century BCE, and as a result, the Parthians became the new middlemen for trade in a period when the Romans were major customers for silk. Parthian scholars were involved in one of the first-ever Buddhist text translations into the Chinese language. Its main trade centre on the Silk Road, the city ofMerv, in due course and with the coming of age of Buddhism in China, became a major Buddhist centre by the middle of the 2nd century.[141] Knowledge among people on the silk roads also increased when Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty (268–239 BCE) converted to Buddhism and raised the religion to official status in his northern Indian empire.[142]
From the 4th century CE onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel on the Silk Road to India to get improved access to the original Buddhist scriptures, withFa-hsien's pilgrimage to India (395–414), and laterXuanzang (629–644) andHyecho, who traveled from Korea to India.[143] The travels of the priest Xuanzang were fictionalized in the 16th century in a fantasy adventure novel calledJourney to the West, which told of trials with demons and the aid given by various disciples on the journey.
There were many different schools of Buddhism travelling on the Silk Road. The Dharmaguptakas and the Sarvastivadins were two of the major Nikaya schools. These were both eventually displaced by the Mahayana, also known as "Great Vehicle." This movement of Buddhism first gained influence in theKhotan region.[142] The Mahayana, which was more of a "pan-Buddhist movement" than a school of Buddhism, appears to have begun in northwestern India or Central Asia. It formed during the 1st century BCE and was small at first, and the origins of this "Greater Vehicle" are not fully clear. Some Mahayana scripts were found in northern Pakistan, but the main texts are still believed to have been composed in Central Asia along the Silk Road. These different schools and movements of Buddhism were a result of the diverse and complex influences and beliefs on the Silk Road.[144] With the rise of Mahayana Buddhism, the initial direction of Buddhist development changed. This form of Buddhism highlighted, as stated by Xinru Liu, "the elusiveness of physical reality, including material wealth". It also stressed getting rid of material desire to a certain point; this was often difficult for followers to understand.[73]
During the 5th and 6th centuries CE,merchants played a large role in the spread of religion, in particular Buddhism. Merchants found the moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism an appealing alternative to previous religions. As a result, merchants supported Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road, and in return, the Buddhists gave the merchants somewhere to stay as they traveled from city to city. As a result, merchants spread Buddhism to foreign encounters as they traveled.[145] Merchants also helped to establishdiaspora within the communities they encountered, and over time their cultures became based on Buddhism. As a result, these communities became centers of literacy and culture with well-organized marketplaces, lodging, and storage.[146] The voluntary conversion of Chinese ruling elites helped the spread of Buddhism in East Asia and led Buddhism to become widespread in Chinese society.[147] The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.
Fragment of a wall painting depictingBuddha from astupa inMiran along the Silk Road (200–400 CE)
A statue depicting Buddha giving a sermon, fromSarnath, 3,000 km (1,864 mi) southwest of Urumqi, Xinjiang, 8th century
Judaism on the Silk Road
Adherents to theJewish faith first began to travel eastward fromMesopotamia following thePersian conquest ofBabylon in 559 by the armies ofCyrus the Great.Judean slaves freed after the Persian conquest of Babylon dispersed throughout the Persian Empire. Some Judeans could have traveled as far east asBactria andSogdia, though there is no clear evidence for this early settlement of Judeans.[151] After settlement, it is likely that most Judeans took up trades in commerce.[151] Trading along the silk trade networks by Judean merchants increased as the trade networks expanded. By the classical age, when trade goods traveled from as far east as China to as far west asRome, Judean merchants in Central Asia would have been in an advantageous position to participate in trade along the Silk Road.[151] A group of Judean merchants originating from Gaul known as theRadanites were one group of Judean merchants that had thriving trade networks from China to Rome.[151] This trade was facilitated by a positive relationship the Radanites were able to foster with theKhazarTurks. The Khazar Turks served as a good spot in between China and Rome, and the Khazar Turks saw a relationship with the Radanites as a good commercial opportunity.[151]
According to Richard Foltz "there is more evidence for Iranian influence on the formation ofJewish [religious] ideas than the reverse." Concepts of aparadise (heaven) for the good and a place of suffering (hell) for the wicked, and a form of world-endingapocalypse came fromIranian religious ideas, and this is supported by a lack of such ideas from pre-exile Judean sources.[151] The origin ofthe devil is also said to come from the IranianAngra Mainyu, an evil figure inPersian mythology.[151]
Iconographical evolution of the Wind God. Left: Greek Wind God fromHadda, 2nd century. Middle: Wind God fromKizil,Tarim Basin, 7th century. Right: Japanese Wind GodFujin, 17th century.
Many artistic influences were transmitted via the Silk Road, particularly through Central Asia, whereHellenistic,Iranian,Indian andChinese influences could intermix.Greco-Buddhist art represents one of the most vivid examples of this interaction. Silk was also a representation of art, serving as a religious symbol. Most importantly, silk was used as currency for trade along the silk road.[73]
These artistic influences can be seen in the development of Buddhism where, for instance, Buddha was first depicted as human in the Kushan period. Many scholars have attributed this to Greek influence. The mixture of Greek and Indian elements can be found in later Buddhist art in China and throughout countries on the Silk Road.[152]
The production of art consisted of many different items that were traded along the Silk Roads from the East to the West. One common product, thelapis lazuli, was a blue stone with golden specks, which was used as paint after it was ground into powder.[153]
To commemorate the Silk Road becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site, theChina National Silk Museum announced a "Silk Road Week" to take place 19–25 June 2020.[155] Bishkek and Almaty each have a major east–west street named after the Silk Road (Kyrgyz:Жибек жолу,Jibek Jolu in Bishkek, andKazakh:Жібек жолы,Jibek Joly in Almaty).
^Gan, Fuxi (2009).Ancient Glass Research Along the Silk Road. Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Ancient Glass Research along the Silk Road, World Scientific ed.). World Scientific. p. 41.ISBN978-9-812-83356-3.Archived from the original on 27 February 2018.
^Elisseeff, Vadime (2001).The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce. UNESCO.ISBN978-9-231-03652-1.
^abEliseeff (2009) [First published 1998]. "Approaches Old and New to the Silk Roads".The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce. Berghahn Books. pp. 1–2.ISBN978-92-3-103652-1,1-57181-221-0,1-57181-222-9.
^Waugh, Daniel. (2007). "Richthofen's "Silk Roads": Toward the Archaeology of a Concept."The Silk Road. Volume 5, Number 1, Summer 2007, p. 4.
^Christian, David (2000). "Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History".Journal of World History.11 (1):1–26.ISSN1045-6007.JSTOR20078816.
^Ulric Killion,A Modern Chinese Journey to the West: Economic Globalisation And Dualism, (Nova Science Publishers: 2006), p.66
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^Bellwood, Peter; Hung, H.; Lizuka, Yoshiyuki (2011). "Taiwan Jade in the Philippines: 3,000 Years of Trade and Long-distance Interaction". In Benitez-Johannot, P. (ed.).Paths of Origins: The Austronesian Heritage in the Collections of the National Museum of the Philippines, the Museum Nasional Indonesia, and the Netherlands Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde. ArtPostAsia.ISBN978-971-94292-0-3.
^Mahdi, Waruno (1999). "The Dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean". In Blench, Roger; Spriggs, Matthew (eds.).Archaeology and Language III: Artefacts languages, and texts. One World Archaeology. Vol. 34. Routledge. pp. 144–179.ISBN978-0415100540.
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^abChristopoulos, Lucas (August 2012), "Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD)", in Victor H. Mair (ed),Sino-Platonic Papers, No. 230, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, p. 31 footnote #56,ISSN2157-9687.
^Hanks, Reuel R. (2010).Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 3.
^Mark J. Dresden (2003). "Sogdian Language and Literature", in Ehsan Yarshater,The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol III: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 1219,ISBN978-0-521-24699-6.
^Christopoulos, Lucas (2012). "Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD)". In Mair, Victor H. (ed.).Sino-Platonic Papers. Vol. 230. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. pp. 15–16.ISSN2157-9687.
^Hogan, C. M. (19 November 2007). Burnham, A. (ed.)."Silk Road, North China".The Megalithic Portal.Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved13 July 2011.
^R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy,The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present, Fourth Edition (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993), 133, apparently relying on Homer H. Dubs, "A Roman City in Ancient China", inGreece and Rome, Second Series, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Oct., 1957), pp. 139–148
^Frances Wood,The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia, University of California Press, 2004,ISBN978-0-520-24340-8, p. 46
^Jerry Bentley,Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 32.
^An, Jiayao. (2002), "When Glass Was Treasured in China", in Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds),Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road, 79–94, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers,ISBN978-2-503-52178-7, p. 83.
^de Crespigny, Rafe. (2007).A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, p. 600,ISBN978-90-04-15605-0.
^Yü, Ying-shih (1986). "Han Foreign Relations". In Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds.).The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220. 377–462. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 460–461.ISBN978-0-521-24327-8.
^An, Jiayao (2002). "When Glass Was Treasured in China". In Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds).Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road. 79–94. Turnhout: Brepols.ISBN978-2-503-52178-7. pp. 83–84.
^Seneca the Younger (c. 3 BCE – 65 CE),Declamations Vol. I
^ab"Sogdian Trade".Encyclopædia Iranica.Archived from the original on 17 November 2011. Retrieved4 November 2011.
^Mayers, K. (2016). The First English Explorer: The Life of Anthony Jenkinson (1529–1611) and His Adventures on the Route to the Orient. Storbritannien: Matador. p. 122-123
^"Silk Road"Archived 6 September 2013 at theWayback Machine, LIVIUS Articles of Ancient History. 28 October 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
^Howard, Michael C. (2012),Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies, the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel, McFarland & Company, p. 133.
^Mark J. Dresden (1981), "Introductory Note", in Guitty Azarpay,Sogdian Painting: the Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, p. 9,ISBN978-0-520-03765-6.
^Liu, Xinru, "The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia", in Michael Adas (ed),Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History, American Historical Association, Philadelphia:Temple University Press, 2001, p. 168.
^Bretschneider, Emil (1888),Medieval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources: Fragments Towards the Knowledge of the Geography and History of Central and Western Asia from the 13th to the 17th Century, Vol. 1, Abingdon: Routledge, reprinted 2000, p. 144.
^Moule, A. C.,Christians in China before 1500, 94 & 103; also Pelliot, Paul inT'oung-pao 15(1914), pp. 630–636.
^Peter Jackson (2005), The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410, Pearson Education, p. 169,ISBN978-0-582-36896-5.
^Morris Rossabi (2014).From Yuan to Modern China and Mongolia: The Writings of Morris Rossabi. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 385–86,ISBN978-90-04-28529-3.
^Morris Rossabi (2014).From Yuan to Modern China and Mongolia: The Writings of Morris Rossabi. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 386–421,ISBN978-90-04-28529-3.
^Nishijima, Sadao (1986). "The Economic and Social History of Former Han". In Twitchett, Denis; Loewe, Michael (eds.).Cambridge History of China. Vol. I: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 545–607.ISBN978-0-521-24327-8.
^Skaff, Jonathan Karem (2009). Nicola Di Cosmo (ed.).Military Culture in Imperial China. Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-03109-8.
^Tikhvinskiĭ, Sergeĭ Leonidovich and Leonard Sergeevich Perelomov (1981).China and her neighbours, from ancient times to the Middle Ages: a collection of essays. Progress Publishers. p. 124.
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^Bowman, John S. (2000).Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.
^abHanks, Reuel R. (2010),Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 4.
^Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Walthall, Anne; Palais, James B. (2006),East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Boston: Houghton Mifflin,ISBN978-0-618-13384-0, p. 100.
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^For information on the Sogdians, anEastern Iranian people, and their inhabitation ofTurfan as an ethnic minority community during the phases ofTang Chinese (7th–8th century) andUyghur rule (9th–13th century), see Hansen, Valerie (2012),The Silk Road: A New History, Oxford University Press, p. 98,ISBN978-0-19-993921-3.
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![A blue-eyed Central Asian monk teaching an East-Asian monk, Bezeklik, Turfan, eastern Tarim Basin, China, 9th century; the monk on the right is possibly Tocharian,[148] although more likely Sogdian.[149][150]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCentral_Asian_Buddhist_Monks.jpeg)
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