The Silk Road

The Silk Road, so named in the mid-1800s by German traveller Fredinand Freiherr von Richthofen, was a series of trade routes stretching over 4000 miles from China to the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Its name derives from the exquisite silk exported from China during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.). Over the course of the nearly two centuries of trading, merchants on the Silk Road were responsible for the exchange of languages, cultures and religions in addition to tangible goods. 

While there were many interlocking routes along the passage, the Silk Road had three major routes travelers used depending on where they were hoping to trade their wares. The northern route began in Chang’an, the capital of ancient China, and wound it’s way across the mountains in Eastern China to Kashgar. This route then went to modern-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan before splitting and offering passage to Africa or to the Black Sea. The Southern route also began in Chang’an but traversed southern China into Pakistan and Afghanistan. It then continued on through Iran, Anatolia and the Mediterranean. The third route was a sea route through the Ganges Delta, connecting China to countries in south and central Asia. 

As with any successful trade route, the trade across the Silk Road was beneficial to all parties. The Chinese exported silk, porcelain, bronze, medicinal herbs, paper, tea, rice and spices to the West. In return, precious stones and gold came from India, fruits and woolen goods from Europe, tapestries and camels from the Middle East and lions and ivory from Africa. Demand was created on both sides for exotic goods, raising the prices and making the arduous and often dangerous trek profitable for merchants. 

It was not only material items that traversed the Silk Road. Religions, art, and culture found their passage along the thousands of miles of road. Archeologists and anthropologists who study the passage can find evidence of Judiasm, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam spread from one end to the other. Western influences can be found on eastern art with Greco-Buddhist art serving as the primary example. In this art form, not only does Buddha appear as human, he shares certain characteristics with sculptures in Ancient Greece. Eastern influence on western art can also be found, most notably on central Asian coins and in some European churches.

Despite its success, trade on the Silk Road waned in the later part of the 1st century A.D. It experience a revival during the Sung Dynasty in the 11th to 12th centuries A.D. and finally came to a stop in the 1700s with the expansion of sea trade to the Americas. It is difficult to imagine a world in which the Silk Road had not existed. Without this important trade route, both East and West would be poorer in art, religion, culture and materials than they are today.