East Meets West: The Silk Road

History often seems to be all about the rise and fall of governments and shifts in political and military power. However, many of the most important developments of history-the ones with a lasting impact on human life and culture-come out of the peaceful exchange of goods and ideas along trade routes. One such important historical trade route is the romantically named Silk Road, which linked the East to the West and played a significant role in the transfer of knowledge from China to Europe.

What Is the Silk Road?

The "Silk Road" is a name historians use to describe the first trade route that connected China with the Mediterranean region in ancient and medieval times. It would probably be more accurate to use the term "Silk Roads" because the Silk Road was a 4,000-mile network of routes that passed through the entire Asian continent. The routes began in the ancient Chinese capital of Changan, split as they moved west to go around the Taklimakan Desert in Central Asia, and then came together again in the Near East. They ended at cities like Antioch and Tyre on the Mediterranean Sea.

Since most of the Silk Road passed through desert or mountains, travel was difficult and dangerous. Travelers journeyed in caravans and made their way from one desert oasis to the next. Goods traveled along with the people from Central Asia across the Mediterranean Sea into Europe. Side routes ran into the Indian subcontinent.

Over hundreds of years, trade and travel along the Silk Road grew and declined based on the conditions in the numerous regions through which it passed.

Who Paved the Way?

The Silk Road was probably first used as early as 300 BC, but the earliest recorded traveler was Chinese general Zhang Qian in the second century BC. At that time, trade of silk and other luxuries between central China and its borders was common, but the nomadic tribes who lived on the northern and western frontiers often raided trading parties. In 138 BC, Han dynasty emperor Wudi sent Zhang to the western nomads to attempt to create an alliance with them against the northerners. Although that mission was unsuccessful, Zhang traveled as far west as modern-day Afghanistan and returned to China with information about trade routes and new products.

The Chinese were especially interested in Zhang's descriptions of the fine horses that were raised in Central Asia because of their military value. With Chinese silk, a valuable luxury, to be traded in exchange, the Chinese government launched western trading parties with military escorts for security. Since they could now travel in relative safety, private merchants often tagged along. They traded not only silk but also Chinese herbs, paper, spices, tea, and jade carvings for raw jade, gold, silver, wool, glass, ivory, grapes, and bamboo. All sorts of exotic animals were also exchanged between eastern and western Asia. As the Han dynasty began to decline in the early third century AD, so did state-sponsored trade along the Silk Road, although it never died out completely.

Because the routes passed through such difficult terrain, early traders were unable to travel the entire length. Instead, they would travel a certain distance, trade their wares at a trading post or oasis, and then return home. In turn, traders at the oasis would travel farther on to the next oasis to trade their new items. Little by little, goods from the East and the West made their way to the other end of the trade routes. In that way, the West eventually learned of such Chinese inventions as paper.

Heavy Traffic on Cultural Highways

Once China was reunited under the Tang dynasty in AD 618, trade along the Silk Road began to grow again. The Tang not only encouraged trade but also protected and extended the routes. They imported new styles of clothing, such games as polo, new musical instruments, exotic plants, and spices.

Under the Tang dynasty, merchants, craftsmen, missionaries, religious pilgrims, entertainers, diplomats, entrepreneurs, artists, and adventurers traveled the Silk Road. Towns began to grow up around the main oases, and the Tang capital of Changan, located at the eastern end of the Silk Road, became a culturally diverse, bustling city. A census taken in 754 indicates the presence of Turks, Persians, Indians, and 20,000 other non-Chinese residents. In Changan, music, literature, poetry, calligraphy, painting, and dance from many cultures thrived.

Beliefs also traveled the Silk Road. During the latter period of the Han dynasty, Buddhist temples, shrines, and sculptures were built along the Chinese portions of the Silk Road. Buddhism continued to spread as monks came to teach in China and students of Buddhism traveled to India to learn more about the faith. During the Tang dynasty, Islam spread from the Near East into Persia and Central Asia, with outposts in China and India. Christianity also arrived in China by 635.

As the Tang dynasty weakened in the late ninth century, so did trade along the Silk Road. The Song dynasty, which followed, controlled a much smaller amount of territory and therefore never controlled the trade routes either.

Silk Road trade rebounded during the time of the Mongols following the conquests of Genghis Khan in the early 13th century. Although the invading Mongols initially destroyed many oases and trading centers along the routes, the relative peace that followed the establishment of the extensive Mongol Empire meant that the Silk Road was once again comparatively safe for travel.

Genghis' grandson Kublai Khan brought China under his control by 1279. The security of trade routes was extremely important to the Mongols. Trade between segments of the Silk Road grew as a result, and travelers could make their way from one end all the way to the other. The most famous European to make the journey was Marco Polo, who traveled to the court of Kublai. In addition to goods and people, new ideas, art, and literature traveled the Silk Road during Kublai's reign.

The End of the Road

By the late 1400s, the Silk Road was no longer the only avenue connecting the East and the West. Europeans and Asians both began making greater use of maritime routes, which were faster and therefore less expensive. Meanwhile, the Ming dynasty, which regained control of China in 1368, established a policy of isolationism that meant less contact with the West. Some trade via the Silk Road persisted, but it never was as active as it once had been.

Sources:

2003 The Ancient World, By Steve Scheffer