Рассказ про великий шелковый путь

Товары шелкового пути

Великий шелковый путь – пожалуй, самый известный торговый маршрут в истории человечества, гигантская и поражающая воображение система караванных путей, буквально соединяющая собой Восток и Запад. На протяжении многих веков торговые караваны везли по нему востребованные в Европе товары из стран Востока, (особенно из Китая): шелк, специи и пряности, фарфор, и многое другое. Но не только товары везли по шелковому пути, во времена, когда не было интернета, как и других средств связи, именно великий шелковый путь выполнял собой роль такого себе «интернета древности», так как по нему в обе стороны шла информация. Люди, как на Западе, так и Востоке получали важные сведения о жизни в самых удаленных друг от друга цивилизациях и культурах, осуществлялся культурный обмен, и что самое важное обмен идеями и технологиями.

Роль в истории

Так именно благодаря шелковому пути многие важные изобретения, сделанные в Китае (порох, бумага), стали достоянием в Европе, где буквально совершили перевороты во многих областях. Например, появление пороха в Европе полностью изменило военное дело в средневековье, привело к упадку рыцарства, когда закованного в доспехи рыцаря можно было легко подстрелить метким выстрелом из мушкета.

К слову сам термин «Великий шелковый путь» появился лишь в XIX веке с подачи немецкого историка Ф. Рихтгофена, который назвал так этот торговый маршрут в своей книге «Китай», опубликованной в 1877 году. Сами же купцы, непосредственно пользовавшиеся «шелковым путем» никогда так его не называли. Хотя шелк и был очень важным товаром, так как высоко ценился в Европе, и везти его из Китая на Запад было весьма выгодно, он составлял лишь малую часть в том большом товарном потоке, идущем по шелковому пути.

История развития пути

История великого шелкового пути начинается во II веке до н. е., когда посол китайского императора Чжан Цань посетил страны центральной Азии с дипломатической и торговой миссией. Некоторые историки называют его «китайским Марко Поло», так как он, как и его итальянский коллега, путешествовал, только уже на Запад, но практически с той же целью – узнать другие народы и культуры, и установить с ними деловые контакты. Миссия Чжан Цаня была успешной и вскоре Китай начал оживленную торговлю со странами центральной Азии, тем более что трудолюбивым и изобретательным китайцам было, что предложить на продажу, тот же шелк, давший впоследствии название этому торговому пути.

Страны центральной Азии в свою очередь издревле торговали с финикийскими и греческими купцами, и стали тем связующим звеном, по которому товары из Китая впервые оказались в Европе. В Европе же обнаружился большой спрос на все тот же шелк, а также китайский фарфор, который было выгодно перепродавать, все это привело к дальнейшему развитию шелкового пути, по которому в обе стороны начали ходить оживленные торговые караваны.

На протяжении веков великий шелковый путь знал, как периоды расцвета, так и упадка. Периоды упадка обычно были связаны с войнами цивилизаций, лежащих на пути. Например, один из таких периодов упадка был во время монгольских завоеваний Чингисхана, когда монголы завоевали сперва Китай, потом страны центральной Азии и двинулись на Русь. Войны и разорения не очень способствуют мирной торговле, и в такие неспокойные времена движение по шелковому пути словно замирало, а в путь шли только отчаянные смельчаки, ведь дорога была полна опасностей. Но когда военные времена сменялись мирными, торговля по шелковому пути снова расцветала.

К сожалению все имеет начало и конец. Конец шелкового пути наступил в XV веке и связан он не с какими-то военными действиями, а с развитием мореплавания и наступлением эпохи великих географических открытий. Именно в XV веке португальский мореплаватель Васко Де Гамма впервые проложил морской путь в Индию. А оттуда было уже не так далеко и до Китая. Один корабль мог взять столько же грузов, как и караван, состоявший из нескольких сотен верблюдов, к тому же этот же корабль мог доплыть в два раза быстрее до Китая/Индии, чем было идти по суше. Таким вот образом научно-технический прогресс сделал великий шелковый путь неактуальным, невыгодным, привел к его упадку и последующему исчезновению.

Страны и города на шелковом пути

Великий шелковый путь это на самом деле целая сеть разных путей, и существовало несколько вариантов маршрута.

Так выглядит приблизительная схематическая карта маршрутов шелкового пути.

Самый известный путь шел из западной части Китая через территорию современного Казахстана. Был и альтернативный маршрут, проходящий по территории современной Киргизии. Среди больших городов центральной Азии на пути лежали такие торговые центры как Самарканд, Бухара и Мерв. Дальше путь шел вдоль Каспийского моря к Средиземному морю, где «эстафету» перенимали уже европейские купцы (особенно итальянские), распространявшие «заморские товары из Китая» по Европе.

Стоит заметить, что ввиду огромных расстояний (длина шелкового пути – более 7 тыс. километров) никто не проходил его от начала и до конца. Фактически это была сеть торговцев и караванов, на разных участках пути эстафета перенималась разными торговцами. Единственным человеком, прошедшим по шелковому пути от начала до конца был великий венецианский путешественник Марко Поло, и это путешествие заняло у него полжизни. Зато Марко Поло стал одним из первых европейцев, непосредственно побывавших в Китае. О своих странствиях Марко Поло написал замечательную «Книгу о разнообразии мира», и заметим, что основная часть путешествий непоседливого венецианца пролегала по великому шелковому пути.

Марко Поло.

Товары шелкового пути

Благодаря торговле, идущей по великому шелковому пути, многие народы обогатились не только редкими товарами, но и ценными знаниями, обмен идеями и технологиями, культурный обмен – вот главная ценность шелкового пути и его огромное значение для истории. Впрочем, товары тут тоже имели не малое значение. Прежде всего, шелк, изобретенный в Китае еще в V тысячелетии до н. е., он стал впоследствии одним из главных товаров на экспорт, шелк очень ценился и в странах Азии и в Европе, на него был стабильно большой спрос на протяжении веков, к тому же шелк был очень удобным для транспортировки.

Еще одним важным товаром китайского производства был фарфор и изделия из него, знаменитая китайская посуда из фарфора очень ценилась еще среди римских патрициев, позже моду на китайский фарфор переняли и средневековые европейские аристократы.

Помимо шелка и фарфора большую ценность имели и китайские бронзовые украшения, в частности бронзовые зеркала с разнообразным орнаментом, оружия из бронзы.

Высокой ценностью обладала и знаменитая китайская бумага, ее появление в Европе привело к тому, что книги, ранее писавшиеся на пергаменте и бывшие очень дорогими, стали теперь гораздо доступнее. Появление бумаги привели к развитию книжного дела, книгопечатания, и очень поспособствовало европейскому просвещению.

Большим спросом обладали и некоторые продовольственные товары, из Китая по шелковому пути везли в частности чай, рис, разные пряности, глазурь, корицу, имбирь.

Но и страны центральной Азии в свою очередь не оставались в стороне от торговли, из них как в Китай, так и Европу шли разнообразные шерстяные изделия, в первую очередь ковры, также завесы, покрывала, изделия из стекла (особенно большой ценностью обладало Самаркандское стекло). В Китае большим спросом пользовались парфянские гобеленовые ткани, ковры, а также верблюды, так что не только китайцы продавали, но и покупали тоже себе нужные товары.

Говоря о продовольственных товарах, то из Азии в Европу и Китай шли арбузы, дыни, персики, и некоторые другие подобные товары.

Неизвестная цивилизация

Шёлковый путь был основан примерно во II веке до нашей эры. В это время посол из Китая совершал визиты в государства Центральной Азии, выполняя функции дипломата.

В тот исторический период маршрут с запада на восток доходил лишь до Китая из-за гор, скрывавших азиатскую цивилизацию от глаз европейцев. Китайцы не специально открыли маршрут к западной цивилизации, они не собирали группу исследователей-путешественников. Всё произошло случайно.

Император Китая послал к западной границе страны посольство, возглавляемое Чжан Цянем. Правитель азиатского государства желал разрядить накалившуюся обстановку: дело в том, что кочевые племена, проживавшие на окраинах, часто враждовали друг с другом, происходили конфликты. Для решения одной такой ситуации и было отправлено посольство.

Придя к западной границе, Чжан Цянь узнал о том, что одно племя вытеснило другое за пределы страны. Послу пришлось с подчинёнными ему людьми отправиться на поиски кочевников, так как за ушедшее племя он нёс ответственность лично перед императором.

Великий шелковый путь на карте. (klike.net)

Посольство пережило плен, жару пустыни, высоты гор и наконец-то нашло беженцев в районе Средней Азии. За время путешествия больше всего послов удивило, что за пределами Китая были другие развитые цивилизации. Они увидели множество крупных городов, расположенных на территориях государств, которые сейчас входят в состав Средней Азии.

Вернувшись к императору, Чжан Цянь пересказал всё, что довелось увидеть за время своей «Одиссеи». Монарха впечатлило услышанное, и он решил отправить в Среднюю Азию ещё несколько посольств для формирования торговых отношений с богатыми земледельцами и мастерами, проживавшими западнее Китая. Вскоре Китай начал получать мощных лошадей, различные товары. В обмен на это Китай поставлял в Среднюю Азию ценный материал — шёлк.

Позже маршрут расширился. Произошло это, когда послы Ханьской империи обнаружили западный путь, по которому ранее ходили войска
Александра Македонского.

Шёлк — главный предмет роскоши

Само название маршрута «Великий шёлковый путь» напрямую отсылает к очень ценному для европейских государств древних времён материалу под названием шёлк.

Именно шёлк стал своеобразным клеем между западной и восточной цивилизацией. Шёлк использовался в Китае не только при изготовлении одежды, но и в письменности. Великий шёлковый путь, благодаря которому караваны с различными товарами добирались с европейских территорий в Азию, чтобы продать свои товары и привезти домой шёлк, стал первым в человеческой истории трансконтинентальным маршрутом.

Великий шёлковый путь брал своё начало на территории Рима. Оттуда, пройдя через Средиземное море, путники доходили до Гиерополя — сирийского города. Пройдя Месопотамию, Персию и оказавшись в Средней Азии, караваны должны были перебраться через оазисы и тогда попадали в Китай.

По пути в Азию путники успешно торговались с местными. Для совершения столь далёких поездок часто они использовали верблюдов или мощных ослов, способных перевозить множество вещей и продуктов туда и обратно.

Великий шелковый путь. (livejournal.com)

Помимо обмена ценными товарами, благодаря Великому шёлковому пути между восточными и западными цивилизациями происходил настоящий культурный обмен религиозными и философскими учениями.

Историки до сих пор спорят о том, где обрывался Великий шёлковый путь. Одни говорят о том, что после входа западных цивилизаций в Китай дорога продолжалась на востоке до столицы Небесной империи Чанъань. Другие убеждены, что Великий шёлковый путь шёл в ещё более восточном направлении, добираясь до Кореи и Японии. Но логически вторую концепцию обосновать сложно, так как шёлк европейцы покупали на западной границе Китая. Также говорят, что третья трасса Великого шёлкового пути шла через северную часть Средней Азии, соприкасаясь с территориями современного Казахстана.

Содержание статьи

• Развитие Великого шелкового пути.
• Формирование Шелкового пути.
• Факторы эволюции Великого шелкового пути.
• Борьба за контроль над Великим шелковым путем в 8–15 в исламский период.
• Роль Великого Шелкового пути в развитии товарно-денежных отношений.
• Международное разделение труда.
• Торговые города.
• Система денежных расчетов.
• Защита прав собственности купцов.
• Отличие товарно-рыночных отношений эпохи Великого шелкового пути от современной международной торговли.
• Роль Великого шелкового пути в распространении инноваций между цивилизациями Евразии.
• Распространение товаров и технологий.
• Распространение знаний и идей.
• Возрождение трансевразийских транспортных коммуникаций в 20-21 в.

ВЕЛИКИЙ ШЕЛКОВЫЙ ПУТЬ – система караванных торговых путей, соединявших со 2 в. до н.э. до 15 в. страны Евразии – от Западной Европы до Китая.

Термин «Великий шелковый путь» (Great silk road) вошел в историческую науку в конце 19 в., после публикации в 1877 немецким историком К.Рихтгофеном книги Китай. Этот караванный торговый путь был самым протяженным (более 7 тыс. км) в докапиталистическую эпоху. Он играл роль связующего звена между странами разных цивилизаций и социально-экономических систем.

Развитие Великого шелкового пути.

Шелковый путь прошел в своем развитии ряд этапов.

Формирование Шелкового пути.

Хотя единая трансевразийская система караванных коммуникаций сложилась только в конце 2 в. до н.э., отдельные ее сегменты возникли гораздо раньше.

Согласно данным современной археологии, с 3 тыс. до н.э. функционировал «лазуритовый путь», по которому полудрагоценный камень лазурит перевозился из предгорий Памира (из района Бадахшан на территории современного Таджикистана) на очень дальние расстояния на запад и на юг, до стран Ближнего Междуречья (Ур, Лагаш) и Индии (Хараппа, Мохенджо-Даро). С конца 2 тыс. до н.э. начал работать «нефритовый путь» – торговля самоцветами из Центральной Азии (из района Куньлунь на территории современного китайского Синьцзян-Уйгурского района) по восточному пути, в обмен на шелк из Китая.

В середине 1 тыс. до н.э. эти две караванные трассы начали сливаться: бадахшанский лазурит попадает в Китай, а в Персии и в долине Инда получают распространение одежды из китайского шелка. Однако торговля шла через длинную цепочку посредников, так что китайцы и народы Средиземноморья не имели представлений о существовании друг друга.

В формировании Великого шелкового пути как сквозной трансевразийской магистрали решающую роль сыграл древнекитайский чиновник Чжан Цянь. В 138 до н.э. он отправился с опасной дипломатической миссией к кочевникам из племени юэчжей, чтобы убедить их стать союзниками китайской империи Хань в борьбе с кочевниками сюнну, нападавшими на империю с севера. Чжан Цянь стал первым китайцем, который побывал в Средней Азии – в Согдиане и Бактрии (на территориях современного Узбекистана, Таджикистана и Афганистана). Там он узнал, каким огромным спросом пользуются китайские товары, и увидел много вещей, о которых китайцы не имели представления. Вернувшись в Китай в 126 до н.э., он представил императору доклад о выгодах прямой торговли между Китаем и государствами Средней Азии.

Хотя Чжан Цянь не смог добиться от контролировавших Бактрию юэчжей военной помощи в борьбе с сюнну, собранные им сведения были признаны исключительно важными. В 123–119 до н.э. китайские войска самостоятельно нанесли поражение сюнну, обезопасив путь из Китая на запад. Именно с конца 2 в. до н.э. можно говорить о функционировании Великого шелкового пути как сквозного маршрута, соединившего все великие цивилизации Старого Света – Китай, Индию, Ближний Восток и Европу. Эта огромная система караванных путей просуществовала более полутора тысяч лет – много дольше, чем другие дальние сухопутные торговые пути (как, например, путь «из варяг в греки»).

Хотя маршруты Шелкового пути менялись, можно выделить две основные трассы, соединявшие Восток и Запад:

– южная дорога – от севера Китая через Среднюю Азию на Ближний Восток и Северную Индию;

– северная дорога – от севера Китая через Памир и Приаралье к Нижней Волге и к бассейну Черного моря.

Между южной и северной дорогой было несколько соединяющих и промежуточных маршрутов. С течением времени сеть коммуникаций становилась все более густой, включала все больше ответвлений. Основные маршруты сдвигались то на северную, то на южную дорогу.

Факторы эволюции Великого шелкового пути.

Развитие Шелкового пути зависело как от экономических, так и от политических факторов.

В товарообмене между Востоком и Западом товары шли в основном с востока на запад. Покупательская способность европейцев была нестабильной. В Римской империи периода ее расцвета шелковые ткани и другие восточные товары пользовались огромным спросом. Упадок античного общества и натурализация хозяйства стран Западной Европы привели к тому, что товары с Востока стали доходить, как правило, только до Византии. Лишь в период зрелого феодализма, с 11 в., в Западной Европы снова стали активно покупать восточные товары. Поскольку на Великом шелковом пути потребителями товаров были также страны Ближнего Востока и Индии, этот путь не замирал даже в раннее средневековье. После арабских завоеваний восточные товары стали потреблять на всем южном Средиземноморье, вплоть до Испании.

Развитие Великого шелкового пути сильно зависело от геополитического противоборства разных стран за контроль над караванными путями.

Для его успешного функционирования была необходима политическая стабильность на всем протяжении пути, от восточного Средиземноморья до Китая. Этого можно было добиться двояко – либо созданием огромной империи, контролирующей все важнейшие евразийские караванные пути, либо «разделом мира» между крупными региональными державами, способными обеспечить безопасность торговли. Взимание пошлин с купеческих караванов давало высокий доход правителям государств Азии, по которым пролегали караванные маршруты. Поэтому они стремились, с одной стороны, обеспечить купцам безопасность, а, с другой, завоевать контроль над как можно большим участком пути. Междоусобные войны и упадок центральной власти приводили к разорению городов, узловых пунктов на торговых путях, и грабежу караванов. Это вело к разрушению отдельных участков или даже всего Великого шелкового пути.

В истории этого пути были три кратковременных периода, когда он почти полностью контролировался одним государством: Тюркским каганатом в последней трети 6 в., империей Чингисхана во второй четверти 13 в. и империей Тимура (Тамерлана) в последней трети 14 в. Однако из-за высокой протяженности путей объединить их под единым контролем было чрезвычайно трудно. Чаще наблюдался «раздел мира» между несколькими крупными странами.

До 3 в. н.э. почти вся Евразия контролировалась четырьмя региональными империями – Римской (Средиземноморье), Парфянской (Ближний Восток), Кушанской (Индия, Афганистан, Средняя Азия) и Ханьской (Китай). Хотя между ними шла борьба за контроль над ключевыми пунктами торговых путей (например, за Армению между римлянами и парфянами), в целом этому «квартету империй» удавалось обеспечить стабильность караванных маршрутов. Затем эта система рухнула: от Римской империи осталась только Византия, Парфянскую империю сменило государство Сасанидов, Кушанская и Ханьская империя распались на многие враждующие друг с другом государства. Период ухудшения функционирования Великого шелкового пути продлился до 6 в., когда в Евразии снова начали формироваться сильные региональные державы.

Воспользовавшись временным ослаблением земледельческих цивилизаций, разные участки Шелкового пути несколько веков контролировали различные кочевые племена (гунны, авары, огузы и др.). Во второй половине 6 в. самое сильное из них, племя тюрков, попыталось захватить весь Шелковый путь. В 570–600 Тюркский каганат объединил территорию Средней Азии и всех евразийских степей, от Причерноморья до Северного Китая. В результате тюркской экспансии ведущую роль в торговле стали играть согдийские купцы. Однако этот период централизации оказался коротким. На обломках распавшегося Тюркского каганата образовался ряд кочевых государств (Хазарский каганат, Западно-тюркский каганат, Восточно-тюркский каганат, Уйгурский каганат и др.), контролировавших лишь локальные сегменты пути.

На протяжении следующих примерно полутора столетий первенствующую роль в контроле над центральноазиатскими трассами Великого шелкового пути играла китайская империя Тан. Ведя с переменным успехом войны с кочевыми племенами, китайцы поставили под свой контроль почти всю Среднюю Азию, до Самарканда и Бухары. Этот период (7 – первая половина 8 вв.) многие называют периодом наивысшего расцвета трансевразийской торговли.

Борьба за контроль над Великим шелковым путем в 8–15 в исламский период.

В первой половине 8 в. все западные трассы Великого шелкового пути попали под контроль Арабского халифата. Попытка китайцев сохранить контроль над Средней Азией провалилась: в Таласской битве 751 арабы разбили китайскую армию. С этого времени и до конца функционирования Шелкового пути караванную торговлю почти полностью монополизировали мусульманские и еврейские купцы. Китай не смог сохранить контроля даже над восточным участком пути, сперва попавшим под контроль тибетцев (в конце 8 в.), а в 9 в. захваченном кочевниками киданями. Дробление контроля над торговыми путями и частые войны за его передел вели к ослаблению торгового пути.

Последний взлет Великий шелковый путь пережил в 13–14 вв. Покорив в 1210–1250-е страны от Китая до Руси и Ирана, монголы смогли на полтора столетия обеспечить единый режим контроля на практически всем протяжении евразийских торговых путей. Хотя после смерти Чингисхана его империя быстро распалась, государства чингисидов образовали «квартет империй». Шелковый путь снова контролировали четыре империи – империя Юань в Китае, среднеазиатская империя (Джагатайский улус), иранская империя Хулагидов и Золотая Орда в Прикаспии и Причерноморье. Эти государства оспаривали друг у друга отдельные участки торговых путей (так, Закавказье стало ареной постоянной борьбы ханов Золотой Орды с иль-ханами Ирана). В целом же правители обычно стремились обеспечивать безопасность купцам независимо от их веры и национальности.

Во второй половине 14 в. Великий шелковый путь вошел в состояние упадка. «Квартет» монгольских империй распался на множество враждующих друг с другом государств. Попытка Тимура (Тамерлана) вновь объединить основные евразийские торговые маршруты в рамках своего государства дала лишь временный эффект. В сложившейся в 1370–1380-е империи Тимура купцы, следующие по южной дороге, вновь получили надежную защиту. Однако во время походов против Золотой Орды в 1389–1395 Тимур практически стер с лица земли все торговые города Прикаспия и Причерноморья, в результате чего северная дорога была заброшена. Потомки Тимура не смогли впоследствии сохранить централизованное среднеазиатское государство, поэтому южная дорога также почти перестала функционировать.

Закат Великого шелкового пути связывают, прежде всего, с развитием торгового мореплавания вдоль побережий Ближнего Востока, Южной и Юго-Восточной Азии. В 14–15 вв. морская торговля стала привлекательнее ставших опасными сухопутных караванных путей: морской путь из Персидского залива в Китай занимал примерно 150 дней, в то время как караванный путь из Таны (Азов) в Ханбалык (Пекин) – около 300; один корабль перевозил столько же грузов, как и очень большой караван в 1 тыс. вьючных животных.

В результате этих геополитических и геоэкономических факторов к 16 в. Великий шелковый путь окончательно прекратил свое существование. Впрочем, локальные сегменты Шелкового пути продолжали еще долго функционировать (например, караванная торговля между Средней Азией и Китаем прекратилась лишь в 18 в.).

Роль Великого Шелкового пути в развитии товарно-денежных отношений.

Шелковый путь способствовал развитию торговли и многих институтов («правил») рыночного хозяйства.

Международное разделение труда.

Функционирование Великого шелкового пути требовало создания развитой системы международного разделения труда в производстве товаров на экспорт и в обеспечении инфраструктуры транспортных коммуникаций.

Главными товарами на Великом шелковом пути были шелковые ткани и шелк-сырец. Они были наиболее удобны для транспортировки на дальние расстояния, поскольку шелк легок и очень ценен – в Европе его продавали дороже золота. Китай, родина шелководства, сохранял монополию на изделия из шелка примерно до 5–6 вв. н.э., но и после этого оставался одним из центров производства и экспорта шелка наряду со Средней Азией. В средние века Китай также экспортировал фарфор и чай. Страны Ближнего Востока и Центральной Азии специализировались на изготовлении шерстяных и хлопчатобумажных тканей, которые шли по Шелковому пути на восток, в Китай. Из стран Южной и Юго-Восточной Азии купцы везли в Европу специи (перец, мускатный орех, корица, гвоздика и т.д.), которые использовались европейцами для консервации продуктов и изготовления лекарств.

Западная Европа в торговле с Востоком всегда имела пассивный торговый баланс: покупая дорогие восточные товары, европейцы не могли предложить в обмен равного по качеству товара и были вынуждены платить золотом и серебром. С античных времен до конца своего функционирования Великий шелковый путь действовал как канал «перекачивания» драгоценных металлов из Европы на Восток. Поскольку эта утечка полноценных денег ухудшала денежную систему, европейские правители пытались вводить ограничения на потребление восточных товаров и на вывоз на восток золота и серебра. Однако эти административные меры имели низкий эффект. Добиться конкурентоспособности своих товаров в сравнении с восточными Западной Европе удалось только после промышленной революции.

Организация торговли на дальние расстояния требовала создания для караванной торговли особых условий – перевалочных пунктов, специализированных базаров, режима стабильных денежных расчетов и защиты прав собственности купцов-чужеземцев. Вся эта рыночная инфраструктура поддерживалась вдоль евразийских трасс более полутора тысяч лет.

Торговые города.

Великий шелковый путь стимулировал развитие на средневековом Востоке торговых городов.

Если в Западной Европе города обслуживали в основном местные рынки, то в Азии – международную торговлю, играя роль транзитных пунктов на караванных путях. Эти города (Тебриз, Ормуз, Бухара, Самарканд, Хорезм, Отрар, Кашгар, Турфан, Хотан, Дуньхуан и др.) обязательно имели караван-сараи, сочетавшие функции гостиниц и складских помещений. Для купцов-иноземцев организовывались специальные рынки наиболее ходовых товаров. На обслуживание торговых караванов работали люди многих профессий – переводчики, менялы, проститутки, погонщики верблюдов, охранники караванов, сборщики налогов и т.д.

«Привязанность» торговых городов континентальной Азии к обслуживанию караванной торговли на дальние расстояния привела к тому, что разрушение Шелкового пути привело к упадку и этих городов. Некоторые из них совершенно исчезли.

Особой разновидностью торговых городов стали итальянские купеческие республики Венеция и Генуя, которые в 13–15 вв. почти монополизировали транзитную торговлю Европы с Востоком. Наиболее успешно действовали генуэзцы, создавшие множество колоний и факторий в конечных пунктах Шелкового пути в Восточном Средиземноморье (Кафа, Тана, Тебриз, Тарс, Константинополь и др.). В итальянских торговых городах впервые в Западной Европе возникли такие институты рыночной коммерции как торговые компании на паях (прообраз акционерных обществ) и банки, дающие ссуды таким компаниям. Когда Великий Шелковый путь распался, торговые города Запада также снизили свою деловую активность.

Система денежных расчетов.

Регулярное заключение крупных торговых сделок между купцами разных стран требовало использования общепризнанных денежных знаков. Не каждая из стран, активно участвовавших в трансевразийской торговле, могла выпускать золотые и серебряные монеты, которые только и ценились тогда во всех странах Старого Света. Поэтому купцы по всей Евразии активно использовали полноценные деньги немногих «сильных» стран. Так, в раннее Средневековье по всему Великому шелковому пути, до Китая включительно, при расчетах пользовались золотыми византийскими и серебряными сасанидскими и арабскими монетами.

Несмотря на все меры, наличных денег для расчетов купцам Шелкового пути все равно не хватало. Поэтому они широко практиковали бартерные сделки (товар на товар), оплачивая деньгами только разницу в стоимости партий.

Поскольку перевозить на далекое расстояние крупные суммы наличных денег было опасно, купцы Шелкового пути начали использовать чеки («чек» в переводе с персидского – «документ, расписка»). Отправляясь на Восток, купец сдавал свои наличные деньги кому-либо из авторитетных менял в обмен на расписку. Эту расписку купец мог предъявить в тех городах Шелкового пути, где работали доверенные люди этого менялы-банкира, и получить вновь наличные деньги за вычетом платы за услуги. Система чеков на предъявителя могла работать, только если менялы из отдаленных городов Шелкового пути лично доверяли друг другу как членам одного религиозного сообщества. Поэтому чеки начали использоваться лишь примерно с 10 в., когда торговля на всем Шелковом пути стала контролироваться мусульманами и евреями.

Защита прав собственности купцов.

Главным условием функционирования Великого шелкового пути была защита имущества и жизни купцов.

Сами купцы стремились для минимизации опасностей заниматься коммерцией не в одиночку, а конфессионально-этническими группами. Чтобы защищаться от грабителей, купцы отправлялись в опасный путь от города до города крупными караванами, состоящими из сотен и тысяч вооруженных людей. Известно, например, что при Тимуре, когда караванная торговля уже клонилась к упадку, в Самарканд раз в год приходил караван из Китая в 800 вьючных животных.

Меры самозащиты купцов, однако, могли защитить их лишь от мелких разбойников, но не от произвола правителей и не от нападений кочевых племен. Однако и государства, и кочевники объективно были заинтересованы в сохранении торговых коммуникаций.

Правители земель получали доходы от таможенных пошлин, взимаемых в городах вдоль караванных путей. Чтобы не потерять эти доходы, правители стран Азии принимали строгие законы, охранявшие купцов. Так, в империи Тимура та провинция, на территории которой ограбили купца, была обязана компенсировать ему потери в двойном размере и еще заплатить штраф самому Тимуру в пятикратном размере.

Кочевники постоянно нуждались во многих товарах оседлых земледельцев, но не могли предложить им равноценных товаров, а потому были вынуждены добывать нужные товары силой, в опасных грабительских набегах. Великий шелковый путь дал им возможность найти место в мирном разделении труда. Они стали выступать в роли проводников купеческих караванов через пустыни и степи, взимая плату за помощь и обеспечение безопасности. Шелковый путь стал уникальным проявлением длительного взаимовыгодного сотрудничества оседлых и кочевых народов.

Отличие товарно-рыночных отношений эпохи Великого шелкового пути от современной международной торговли.

Эпоха Великого шелкового пути породила многие институты, схожие с международной торговлей нового и новейшего времени (международное разделение труда, чековая система, экстерриториальная защита прав собственности). Однако он имел и многие особенности, типичные для доиндустриальных обществ, когда рыночные отношения оставались второстепенными в сравнении с натурально-хозяйственными.

Западная Европа получала по Шелковому пути в основном дорогие предметы роскоши (шелковые ткани, пряности, ковры, фарфоровая посуда и т.д.), которыми пользовались лишь высшие сословия. Потребление этих товаров слабо влияло на развитие экономики самих стран Западной Европы, за исключением специализирующихся на торговле с Востоком купеческих республик Италии. Правда, оно стимулировало постепенный переход от натуральной феодальной ренты (барщины и продуктовой ренты) к денежной, поскольку знати были нужны наличные деньги для покупки восточных товаров.

Несмотря на все меры защиты жизни и имущества купцов, караванная торговля по маршрутам Шелкового пути всегда была связана с высоким риском. Путь от Восточного Средиземноморья до Китая и обратно занимал обычно несколько лет. Многие погибали в дороге от болезней, непривычного климата, нападений разбойников или произвола правителей. Караваны шли через пустыни, ориентируясь на скелеты людей и верблюдов, повсюду лежащие вдоль маршрутов Шелкового пути. Когда купец умирал в чужом краю, его имущество обычно захватывал местный правитель, если только родственники или компаньоны покойного не успевали быстро заявить о своих правах на наследство.

Платой смельчакам была очень высокая прибыль. Средневековая арабская поговорка гласила, что купец едет из Аравии в Китай с тысячей дирхемов, а возвращается с тысячей динаров (динар равнялся примерно 20 дирхемам). Опасаясь за свою жизнь, однако, купцы редко проходили Великий шелковый путь из конца в конец (как Марко Поло); чаще они меняли свой товар в каком-то из промежуточных торговых городов.

Функционирование Великого шелкового пути показывает типичную для докапиталистических эпох картину международной коммерции, связанной в основном с предметами роскоши, не защищенной страхованием, сильно зависящей от политической конъюнктуры.

Роль Великого шелкового пути в распространении инноваций между цивилизациями Евразии.

Великий шелковый путь стал каналом, по которому шел постоянный обмен культурными достижениями – новыми товарами, знаниями и идеями.

Распространение товаров и технологий.

Функционирование Великого шелкового пути привело к знакомству разных народов с новыми потребительскими товарами. От распространения новых товаров как формы культурных контактов в наибольшей степени выигрывала Западная Европа. Шелковые ткани повышали личную гигиену европейцев, избавляя их от вшей. Пряности широко использовались для изготовления лекарств и для консервации продуктов длительного хранения. Бумага, изготовленная по рецептам из Китая и Средней Азии, начала вытеснять пергамент и папирус, удешевляя тиражирование рукописных книг.

По Шелковому пути распространялись не только сами товары, но и информация об их производстве и существовании. Первоначально шелк производили только в Китае, но уже в 1–2 вв. н.э. шелководство проникло в Восточный Туркестан, в 5 в. – в Иран. В 6 в. император Византии смог организовать шелководство в Греции, уговорив, согласно легенде, монахов-путешественников тайно привезти ему в полом посохе яйца тутового шелкопряда. Покупая сначала бумагу у купцов с востока, европейцы также стали с 13 в. изготавливать ее самостоятельно.

Некоторые новые товары возникли в результате своего рода «коллективного творчества» разных народов Шелкового пути. Так, порох открыли в Китае в 9 в. В 14 вв. было изобретено оружие, стреляющее при помощи пороха, – пушки. Место и время их изобретения точно неизвестны – специалисты называют и Китай, и арабские страны, и Западную Европу. Информация о новом виде оружия быстро прошла по Шелковому пути, и уже в 15 в., до эпохи Великих географических открытий, артиллерию применяли во всех странах Евразии, от Европы до Китая.

Со многими новыми товарами познакомились в процессе функционирования Великого шелкового пути и страны Востока. Когда китайский путешественник Чжан Цянь вернулся из Средней Азии, он привез информацию о ферганских аргамаках – невиданных в Китае высоких лошадях. На начальном этапе развития Шелкового пути китайцы получили из Средней Азии, помимо коней, также семена люцерны (кормовой травы для лошадей) и культуру винограда (ранее в Китае не знали ни винограда, ни виноградного вина). Позже китайцы освоили за счет караванной торговли еще несколько сельскохозяйственных культур – фасоль, лук, огурцы, морковь и др.

Таким образом, если Запад в ходе культурных контактов по Шелковому пути заимствовал в основном промышленные «новинки» то Восток – сельскохозяйственные. Это демонстрирует существовавшее ранее технологическое превосходство Востока над Западом, которое сохранялось до 18–19 вв. Некоторые технические секреты восточных ремесленников (булатное оружие, фарфоровая посуда) европейцам в эпоху функционирования Шелкового пути перенять так и не удалось.

Распространение знаний и идей.

Великий Шелковый путь сыграл важную роль в развитии географических знаний. Только после образования этой сквозной торговой трассы европейцы и китайцы впервые узнали о существовании друг друга и получили хотя бы приблизительное представление о всех цивилизациях Евразии.

Если в конце 3 в. до н.э. греческий географ Эратосфен считал Индию самой крайней восточной страной, то во 2 в. н.э. в Географическом руководстве римского географа Клавдия Птолемея уже описан путь в Серику (от римского serica – шелк), как называли тогда Китай. Относительно точные знания о размерах Евразии и об особенностях различных стран Востока Западная Европа получила лишь в конце 13 – начале 14 в., после того как некоторые европейские купцы и миссионеры (в том числе знаменитый Марко Поло) смогли пройти Шелковый путь из конца в конец и написать об этом книги, которые пользовались в Европе огромным интересом.

Велика роль Великого шелкового пути в распространении мировых религий. Наиболее успешной была экспансия буддизма в первые века н.э. Буддизм являлся государственной религией Кушанской империи. Вместе с купеческими караванами буддийские монахи шли из Индии в Среднюю Азию и в Китай, распространяя новую религию. Во 2–3 вв. буддизм проник в государства Средней Азии и Восточного Туркестана. В 4–7 вв., когда буддизм активно распространялся в Китае, индийские миссионеры ездили в Китай, а многие китайские монахи совершали по маршрутам Шелкового пути паломничество в Индию. Регулярные путешествия буддистов из Индии в Китай и обратно продолжались до первой половины 11 в. В результате в странах Дальнего Востока буддизм нашел буквально вторую родину, став одним из элементов традиционного китайского религиозного синкретизма (См. БУДДА И БУДДИЗМ).

Большое влияние на цивилизации Центральной Азии оказал также ислам, активно распространявшийся в 8–14 вв. Если первоначально он насаждался силой армий Арабского халифата, то затем его распространение шло по Шелковому пути главным образом мирным путем. В 14 в. ислам дошел до границ Китая, вытеснив буддизм из Восточного Туркестана (ныне китайский Синьзян-Уйгурский район). Правители-монголы первоначально рассматривали ислам лишь как одно из равнозначных вероучений, но в 14 в. все монгольские государства, кроме китайской империи Юань, приняли мусульманскую веру как государственную религию. Лишь в Китае ислам не получил распространения, хотя и в этой стране существовали крупные общины купцов-мусульман.

Менее всего на Восток проникло христианство. Первая волна распространения христианства связана с деятельностью несториан. После осуждения учения Нестория как ереси на Эфесском соборе в 431, его последователи начали мигрировать на Восток – в Иран и Центральную Азию. В 635 сирийский миссионер-несторианин Рабань (Алобэнь) после аудиенции у китайского императора добился того, что христианство было официально разрешено в Китае. В 13 в. по Шелковому пути прошла новая волна распространения христианского учения, связанная с деятельностью католических миссий, которые воспользовались высокой веротерпимостью правителей-монголов. По поручению римского папы францисканец Джованни Монтекорвино в 1290-е основал в Ханбалыке, столице Китая при монголах, постоянную миссию, которая функционировала несколько десятков лет. Однако падение государств монголов-чингисидов привело в середине 14 в. к фактическому закрытию Азии для христиан. Результаты проповеди христианства на средневековом Востоке оказались в итоге очень скромными. Немногочисленные несторианские общины сохранились только в странах Ближнего Востока.

Вдоль Великого шелкового пути шло распространение и других вероучений – иудаизма (принятого в 8–10 вв. государственной религией в Хазарии), манихейства (принятого в 8 в. государственной религией в Уйгурском каганате), зороастризма. Ни одно из них, однако, не смогло надолго стать популярным среди азиатских народов.

В результате функционирования Великого шелкового пути впервые в истории проявилась тенденция к сближению культур в процессе интенсивных и регулярных мирохозяйственных связей. Вдоль всего маршрута Великого шелкового пути происходила постепенная унификация культурных компонентов. Исследователи отмечают, что в торговых городах Азии даже выработались общие черты планировки храмов, хотя они и принадлежали разным конфессиям.

Это сближение, однако, оставалось только тенденцией. Заимствование культурных достижений было ограниченным. Например, такие изобретения китайцев, как книгопечатание и бумажные деньги, не стали объектом заимствования даже в близких к Китаю азиатских странах Шелкового пути. Совершенно не перенимались инновации в социально-экономической сфере. Европейцы проявляли к изучению стран Востока гораздо более активный интерес, чем жители стран Востока – к Европе. Распад Великого шелкового пути привел к практической ликвидации опыта мирных торгово-культурных контактов, которые сменились колониальной агрессией европейских стран.

История Великого шелкового пути рассматривается в наши дни как актуальный опыт взаимовыгодной торговли и мирного культурного общения разных стран и народов. В 1987–1997 действовала программа ЮНЕСКО «Шелковый путь – путь диалога», которая стала элементом подготовки планов возрождения Великого шелкового пути.

Возрождение трансевразийских транспортных коммуникаций в 20-21 в.

Недостаточное развитие сухопутных транспортных коммуникаций, которые соединяли бы Европу с Дальним Востоком, препятствует хозяйственному развитию всех стран Евразии. Создание современной трансевразийской транспортной сети часто называют строительством нового Шелкового пути.

В России уже к 1903 была построена железнодорожная магистраль от Санкт-Петербурга до Владивостока, Транссиб и Китайская Восточная железная дорога (КВЖД). В 1970–2000-е ее дополнила Байкало-Амурская магистраль (БАМ). Эта железнодорожная система в настоящее время отчасти выполняет функции Шелкового пути, обеспечивая возможность сквозной транспортировки грузов через всю Евразию. Ее функционирование, однако, осложняется отсутствием транспортного сообщения российского Дальнего Востока с Японией, крупнейшим экспортером Восточной Азии.

Есть проекты достройки БАМ за счет подводных туннелей, которые бы соединили Сахалин с материком и с японским Хоккайдо. Реализация этого плана позволит создать магистраль Япония – Западная Европа в 12–13 тыс. км, развитие которой дало бы сильный импульс экономическому развитию и Японии, и восточных регионов России. Однако реализация этого проекта (как и иные планы российско-японского экономического сотрудничества) имеет весьма неопределенную перспективу из-за политических проблем.

Параллельно с развитием системы БАМ-Транссиб с начала 1990-х активно обсуждается и реализуется проект создания второй трансевразийской транспортной системы, которая примерно повторяла бы трассу исторического Шелкового пути, проходя из Китая через Туркменистан до Турции и Грузии. Эта программа носит название ТРАСЕКА (ТРАСЕСА – Transport Corridor Europe – Caucasus – Asia), ее также называют восстановлением Великого шелкового пути.

В мае 1993 на конференции министров торговли и транспорта 8-ми стран Азии была принята официальная декларация этих стран и ЕС о формировании нового евроазиатского транспортного коридора. В сентябре 1998 в Баку состоялась международная конференция по восстановлению исторического Шелкового пути, на которой уже 32-мя евроазиатскими государствами было подписано многостороннее соглашение по развитию коридора Европа – Кавказ – Азия.

Проект TRACECA пользуется активной финансовой поддержкой ЕБРР и МВФ. В его рамках осуществляется строительство не только железных дорог, но и портов на Черном и Каспийском морях, оптоволоконных сетей связи, автомобильных трасс. Планы развития новой магистрали включают строительство новых нефте- и газопроводов, создание в странах Средней и Центральной Азии современной индустрии туризма, активное развитие разделения труда между этих странами и усиление их вовлеченности в мировое хозяйство.

Однако полная реализация плана TRACECA ставится многими специалистами под сомнение. Многие участки этой трассы технически весьма трудны (например, путь из китайского Синьцзяна в узбекскую Ферганскую долину через киргизский Тянь-Шань). Самое главное, существуют серьезные политические препятствия: для успешного функционирования пути через 10 государственных границ надо унифицировать и предельно упростить таможенные и страховые нормы разных стран, а самое главное, обеспечить по всей трассе политическую стабильность и правопорядок. Поэтому хотя TRACECA короче Транссиба на 2 тыс. км, ее сравнительные преимущества не очевидны. Впрочем, чисто экономические соображения могут перевешиваться политическими: создание TRACECA ослабит экономическую зависимость от России экс-советских республик Закавказья и Средней Азии.

Интернет-ресурсы: Мамлева Л.А. Становление Великого шелкового пути в системе трансцивилизационного взаимодействия народов Евразии // Vita Antiqua. 1999. № 2 (http://archaeology.kiev.ua/pub/mamleyeva.htm).

См. также МИРОВАЯ ЭКОНОМИКА.

Юрий Латов

Silk Road
Main routes of the Silk Road
Route information
Time period	Around 114 BCE – 1450s CE
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, iv, vi
Designated	2014 (38th session)
Reference no.	1442
Region	Asia-Pacific

The Silk Road (Chinese: 絲綢之路)^[1] was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.^[2] Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the East and West.^[3][4][5] The name «Silk Road», first coined in the late 19th century, has fallen into disuse among some modern historians in favor of Silk Routes, on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and Europe.^[2]

The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of silk textiles that were produced almost exclusively in China. The network began with the Han dynasty’s expansion into Central Asia around 114 BCE, which largely pacified the once untamed region. Imperial envoy Zhang Qian was commissioned to explore the unknown lands beyond the region in search of potential trading partners and allies.^[6] The information and goods gathered by these expeditions piqued Chinese interest and prompted formal diplomatic and commercial dispatches, as well as efforts to protect the routes with soldiers and an extension of the Great Wall.^[7]

The expansion of the Parthian Empire, which stretched from eastern Anatolia to Afghanistan, provided a bridge to East Africa and the Mediterranean, particularly the nascent Roman Empire. By the early first century CE, Chinese silk was widely sought-after in Rome, Egypt, and Greece.^[2] Other lucrative commodities from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, and porcelain; among Western exports were horses, camels, honey, wine, and gold. Aside from generating substantial wealth for emerging mercantile classes, the proliferation of goods such as paper and gunpowder greatly altered the trajectory of various realms, if not world history.

During its roughly 1,500 years of existence, the Silk Road endured the rise and fall of numerous empires and major calamities such as the Black Death and the Mongol conquests; after almost every disruption, the network reemerged stronger than before, most notably under the Mongol Empire and its offshoot the Yuan Dynasty. As a highly decentralized network, security was sparse. Travelers faced constant threats of banditry and nomadic raiders, and long expanses of inhospitable terrain. Few individuals crossed the entirety of the Silk Road, instead relying on a succession of middlemen based at various stopping points along the way.

The Silk Road trade played a significant role in opening political and economic relations between China, Korea,^[8] Japan,^[4] India, Iran, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia.^[9] In addition to goods, the network facilitated an unprecedented exchange of ideas, religions (especially Buddhism), philosophies, and scientific discoveries, many of which were syncretised or reshaped by the societies that encountered them.^[10] Likewise, a wide variety of people used the routes, including migrants, refugees, missionaries, artisans, diplomats, and soldiers. Diseases such as plague also spread along the Silk Road, possibly contributing to the Black Death.^[11]

Despite repeatedly surviving many geopolitical changes and disruptions, the Silk Road abruptly ended with the rise of the Ottoman Empire in 1453, which almost immediately severed trade between East and West. This prompted European efforts to seek alternative routes to Eastern riches, thereby ushering the Age of Discovery, European colonialism, and a more intensified process of globalization, which had arguably begun with the Silk Road. The network’s influence survives into the 21st century. One of the world’s best known historical figures, Marco Polo, was a Medieval Venetian merchant who was among the earliest Westerners to visit and describe the East. The name «New Silk Road» is used to describe several large infrastructure projects seeking to expand transportation through many of the historic trade routes; among the best known include the Eurasian Land Bridge and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In June 2014, UNESCO designated the Chang’an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site, while the Indian portion remains on the tentative site list.

Name

The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk, first developed in China,^[12][13] and a major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive transcontinental network.^[14][15] It derives from the German term Seidenstraße (literally «Silk Road») and was first popularized in 1877 by Ferdinand von Richthofen, who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872.^{[16][15][17][18]} However, the term itself has been in use in decades prior.^[19] The alternative translation «Silk Route» is also used occasionally.^[20] 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.^[18] The first book entitled The Silk Road was by Swedish geographer Sven Hedin in 1938.^[18]

The use of the term ‘Silk Road’ is not without its detractors. For instance, Warwick Ball contends that the maritime spice trade with India and Arabia was far more consequential for the economy of the Roman Empire than the silk trade with China, which at sea was conducted mostly through India and on land was handled by numerous intermediaries such as the Sogdians.^[21] 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 goods from East Asia to the West until the period of the Mongol Empire.^[22] He notes that traditional authors discussing east–west trade such as Marco Polo and Edward Gibbon never labelled any route a «silk» one in particular.^[18]

The southern stretches of the Silk Road, from Khotan (Xinjiang) to Eastern China, were first used for jade and not silk, as long as 5000 BCE, and is 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.^[23]

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 overland Steppe Route across the northern steppes of Central Eurasia was in use long before that of the Silk Road.^[13] Archeological sites such as the Berel burial ground in Kazakhstan, confirmed that the nomadic Arimaspians were not only breeding horses for trade but also produced great craftsmen able to propagate exquisite art pieces along the Silk Road.^[24][25] From the 2nd millennium BCE, nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region of Yarkand and Khotan to China. Significantly, these mines were not very far from the lapis lazuli and spinel («Balas Ruby») mines in Badakhshan, and, although separated by the formidable Pamir Mountains, routes across them were apparently in use from very early times.^{[citation needed]}

The Tarim mummies, mummies of non-Mongoloid, apparently Caucasoid, individuals, have been found in the Tarim Basin, in the area of Loulan located along the Silk Road 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Yingpan, dating to as early as 1600 BCE and suggesting very ancient contacts between East and West. These mummified remains may have been of people who spoke Indo-European languages, which remained in use in the Tarim Basin, in the modern day Xinjiang region, until replaced by Turkic influences from the Xiongnu culture to the north and by Chinese influences from the eastern Han dynasty, who spoke a Sino-Tibetan language.^{[citation needed]}

Some remnants of what was probably Chinese silk dating from 1070 BCE have been found in Ancient Egypt. The Great Oasis cities of Central Asia played a crucial role in the effective functioning of the Silk Road trade.^[26] 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 of wild silk, which might have come from the Mediterranean or Middle East.^[27]

Following contacts between Metropolitan 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 the Scythian-style animal 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 and steatite.^{[citation needed]} An elite burial near Stuttgart, Germany, dated to the 6th century BCE, was excavated and found to have not only Greek bronzes but also Chinese silks.^[28] Similar animal-shaped pieces of art and wrestler motifs on belts have been found in Scythian grave sites stretching from the Black Sea region all the way to Warring States era archaeological sites in Inner Mongolia (at Aluchaideng) and Shaanxi (at Keshengzhuang [de]) in China.^[28]

The expansion of Scythian cultures, stretching from the Hungarian plain and the Carpathian Mountains to the Chinese Kansu Corridor, and linking the Middle East with Northern India and the Punjab, undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road. Scythians accompanied the Assyrian Esarhaddon on his invasion of Egypt, and their distinctive triangular arrowheads have been found as far south as Aswan. 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 a lingua franca for Asian trade as far back as the 4th century.^[29][30]

Persian Royal Road (500–330 BCE)

By the time of Herodotus (c. 475 BCE), the Royal Road of the Persian Empire ran some 2,857 km (1,775 mi) from the city of Susa on the Karun (250 km (155 mi) east of the Tigris) to the port of Smyrna (modern İzmir in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea.^[31] It was maintained and protected by the Achaemenid Empire (c. 500–330 BCE) and had postal stations and relays at regular intervals. By having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages and traverse the length of the road in nine days, while normal travelers took about three months.^[32]

Expansion of the Greek Empire (329 BCE–10 CE)

The next major step toward the development of the Silk Road was the expansion of the Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great into Central Asia. In August 329 BCE, at the mouth of the Fergana Valley, he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate or «Alexandria The Furthest».^[34]

The Greeks remained in Central Asia for the next three centuries, first through the administration of the Seleucid Empire, and then with the establishment of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (250–125 BCE) in Bactria (modern Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan) and the later Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BCE – 10 CE) in modern Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. They continued to expand eastward, especially during the reign of Euthydemus (230–200 BCE), who extended his control beyond Alexandria Eschate to Sogdiana. There are indications that he may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar on the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert, leading to the first known contacts between China and the West around 200 BCE.^{[citation needed]} The Greek historian Strabo writes, «they extended their empire even as far as the Seres (China) and the Phryni.»^[35]

Classical Greek philosophy syncretised with Indian philosophy.^[36]

Initiation in China (130 BCE)

The Silk Road was initiated and spread by China’s Han dynasty through exploration and conquests in Central Asia. With the Mediterranean linked to the Fergana Valley, the next step was to open a route across the Tarim Basin and the Hexi Corridor to China Proper. This extension came around 130 BCE, with the embassies of the Han dynasty to Central Asia following the reports of the ambassador Zhang Qian^[37] (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu). Zhang Qian visited directly the kingdom of Dayuan in Ferghana, the territories of the Yuezhi in Transoxiana, the Bactrian country of Daxia with its remnants of Greco-Bactrian rule, and Kangju. He also made reports on neighbouring countries that he did not visit, such as Anxi (Parthia), Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), Shendu (Indian subcontinent) and the Wusun.^[38] 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.^[39]

After winning the War of the Heavenly Horses and the Han–Xiongnu War, Chinese armies established themselves in Central Asia, initiating the Silk Route as a major avenue of international trade.^[40] Some say that the Chinese Emperor Wu became interested in developing commercial relationships with the sophisticated urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria, and the Parthian Empire: «The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan «Great Ionians») 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^[41] say that Emperor Wu was mainly interested in fighting the Xiongnu and that major trade began only after the Chinese pacified the Hexi Corridor.
The Silk Roads’ origin lay in the hands of the Chinese. The soil in China lacked Selenium, a deficiency which contributed to muscular weakness and reduced growth in horses.^[42] Consequently, horses in China were too frail to support the weight of a Chinese soldier.^[43] The Chinese needed the superior horses that nomads bred on the Eurasian steppes, and nomads wanted things only agricultural societies produced, such as grain and silk. Even after the construction of the Great Wall, nomads gathered at the gates of the wall to exchange. Soldiers sent to guard the wall were often paid in silk which they traded with the nomads.^[44] Past its inception, the Chinese continued to dominate the Silk Roads, a process which was accelerated when «China snatched control of the Silk Road from the Hsiung-nu» and the Chinese general Cheng Ki «installed himself as protector of the Tarim at Wu-lei, situated between Kara Shahr and Kucha.» «China’s control of the Silk Road at the time of the later Han, by ensuring the freedom of transcontinental trade along the double chain of oases north and south of the Tarim, favoured the dissemination of Buddhism in the river basin, and with it Indian literature and Hellenistic art.»^[45]

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», the Greek kingdoms of Central Asia), which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic Xiongnu. They defeated the Dayuan in the Han-Dayuan war. The Chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies, around ten every year, to these countries and as far as Seleucid Syria.

Thus more embassies were dispatched to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai [who later joined the Alans ], Lijian [Syria under the Greek Seleucids], Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), and Tianzhu [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.^[46]
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 of Sogdiana (Joseph Needham, Sidney Shapiro). It has been suggested that the Chinese crossbow was transmitted to the Roman world on such occasions, although the Greek gastraphetes provides an alternative origin. R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy suggest that in 36 BCE,

[A] Han expedition into Central Asia, west of Jaxartes River, apparently encountered and defeated a contingent of Roman legionaries. The Romans may have been part of Antony’s army invading Parthia. Sogdiana (modern Bukhara), east of the Oxus River, on the Polytimetus 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.^[47]

The Roman historian Florus also describes the visit of numerous envoys, which included Seres (China), to the first Roman Emperor Augustus, who reigned between 27 BCE and 14 CE:

Even the rest of the nations of the world which were not subject to the imperial sway were sensible of its grandeur, and looked with reverence to the Roman people, the great conqueror of nations. Thus even Scythians and Sarmatians sent envoys to seek the friendship of Rome. Nay, the Seres came likewise, and the Indians who dwelt beneath the vertical sun, bringing presents of precious stones and pearls and elephants, but thinking all of less moment than the vastness of the journey which they had undertaken, and which they said had occupied four years. In truth, it needed but to look at their complexion to see that they were people of another world than ours.

— Henry Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither (1866)

The Han Dynasty army regularly policed the trade route against nomadic bandit forces generally identified as Xiongnu. Han general Ban Chao led an army of 70,000 mounted infantry and light cavalry troops in the 1st century CE to secure the trade routes, reaching far west to the Tarim Basin. Ban Chao expanded his conquests across the Pamirs to the shores of the Caspian Sea and the borders of Parthia.^[48] It was from here that the Han general dispatched envoy Gan Ying to Daqin (Rome).^[49] 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 and India, 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.^[9]

A maritime Silk Route opened up between Chinese-controlled Giao Chỉ (centred in modern Vietnam, near Hanoi), probably by the 1st century. It extended, via ports on the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, all the way to Roman-controlled ports in Roman Egypt and the Nabataean territories on the northeastern coast of the Red Sea. The earliest Roman glassware bowl found in China was unearthed from a Western Han tomb in Guangzhou, dated to the early 1st century BCE, indicating that Roman commercial items were being imported through the South China Sea.^[51] According to Chinese dynastic histories, it is from this region that the Roman embassies arrived in China, beginning in 166 CE during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Emperor Huan of Han.^[52][53][54] Other Roman glasswares have been found in Eastern-Han-era tombs (25–220 CE) more further inland in Nanjing and Luoyang.^[55]

P.O. Harper asserts that a 2nd or 3rd-century Roman gilt silver plate found in Jingyuan, Gansu, China with a central image of the Greco-Roman god Dionysus resting on a feline creature, most likely came via Greater Iran (i.e. Sogdiana).^[56] Valerie Hansen (2012) believed that earliest Roman coins found in China date to the 4th century, during Late Antiquity and the Dominate period, and come from the Byzantine Empire.^[57] However, Warwick Ball (2016) highlights the recent discovery of sixteen Principate-era Roman coins found in Xi’an (formerly Chang’an, one of the two Han capitals) that were minted during the reigns of Roman emperors spanning from Tiberius to Aurelian (i.e. 1st to 3rd centuries CE).^[58]

Helen Wang points out that although these coins were found in China, they were deposited there in the twentieth century, not in ancient times, and therefore do not shed light on historic contacts between China and Rome.^[59] Roman golden medallions made during the reign of Antoninus Pius and quite possibly his successor Marcus Aurelius have been found at Óc Eo in southern Vietnam, which was then part of the Kingdom of Funan bordering the Chinese province of Jiaozhi in northern Vietnam.^[60][61] Given the archaeological finds of Mediterranean artefacts made by Louis Malleret in the 1940s,^[61] Óc Eo may have been the same site as the port city of Kattigara described by Ptolemy in his Geography (c. 150 CE),^[60] although Ferdinand von Richthofen had previously believed it was closer to Hanoi.^[62]

Evolution

Roman Empire (30 BCE–3rd century CE)

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.^[63] The Roman-style glassware discovered in the archeological sites of Gyeongju, the capital of the Silla kingdom (Korea) showed that Roman artifacts were traded as far as the Korean peninsula.^[8] The Greco-Roman trade with India started by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 130 BCE continued to increase, and according to Strabo (II.5.12), by the time of Augustus, up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos in Roman Egypt to India.^[64] The Roman Empire connected with the Central Asian Silk Road through their ports in Barygaza (known today as Bharuch^[65]) and Barbaricum (known today as the city of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan^[66]) and continued along the western coast of India.^[67] An ancient «travel guide» to this Indian Ocean trade route was the Greek Periplus of the Erythraean Sea written in 60 CE.

The travelling party of Maës 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». Intense trade 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 by Seneca the Younger in his Phaedra and by Virgil in his Georgics. Notably, Pliny the Elder knew better. Speaking of the bombyx or silk moth, he wrote in his Natural Histories «They weave webs, like spiders, that become a luxurious clothing material for women, called silk.»^[68] The Romans traded spices, glassware, perfumes, and silk.^[63]

Roman artisans began to replace yarn with valuable plain silk cloths from China and the Silla Kingdom in Gyeongju, Korea.^[69][8] Chinese wealth grew as they delivered silk and other luxury goods to the Roman Empire, whose wealthy women admired their beauty.^[70] 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.^[71]

The Western Roman Empire, and its demand for sophisticated Asian products, collapsed in the fifth century.

The unification of Central Asia and Northern India within the Kushan Empire between the first and third centuries reinforced the role of the powerful merchants from Bactria and Taxila.^[72] 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 the archeological site of Begram.

Byzantine Empire (6th–14th centuries)

Byzantine Greek historian Procopius stated that two Nestorian Christian monks eventually uncovered the way silk was made. From this revelation, monks were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (ruled 527–565) as spies on the Silk Road from Constantinople to China and back to steal the silkworm eggs, resulting in silk production in the Mediterranean, particularly in Thrace in northern Greece,^[73] and giving the Byzantine Empire a monopoly on silk production in medieval Europe. In 568 the Byzantine ruler Justin II was greeted by a Sogdian embassy representing Istämi, ruler of the First Turkic Khaganate, who formed an alliance with the Byzantines against Khosrow I of the Sasanian Empire that allowed the Byzantines to bypass the Sasanian merchants and trade directly with the Sogdians for purchasing Chinese silk.^[74][75][76] 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 of Shanxi province dated to the Sui dynasty (581–618).^[77]

Both the Old Book of Tang and New Book of Tang, covering the history of the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907), record that a new state called Fu-lin (拂菻; i.e. Byzantine Empire) was virtually identical to the previous Daqin (大秦; i.e. Roman Empire).^[52] Several Fu-lin embassies were recorded for the Tang period, starting in 643 with an alleged embassy by Constans II (transliterated as Bo duo li, 波多力, from his nickname «Kōnstantinos Pogonatos») to the court of Emperor Taizong of Tang.^[52] The History of Song describes the final embassy and its arrival in 1081, apparently sent by Michael VII Doukas (transliterated as Mie li yi ling kai sa, 滅力伊靈改撒, from his name and title Michael VII Parapinakēs Caesar) to the court of Emperor Shenzong of the Song dynasty (960–1279).^[52]

However, the History of Yuan claims that a Byzantine man became a leading astronomer and physician in Khanbaliq, at the court of Kublai Khan, Mongol founder of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and was even granted the noble title ‘Prince of Fu lin’ (Chinese: 拂菻王; Fú lǐn wáng).^[78] The Uyghur Nestorian Christian diplomat Rabban Bar Sauma, who set out from his Chinese home in Khanbaliq (Beijing) and acted as a representative for Arghun (a grandnephew of Kublai Khan),^{[79][80][81][82]} traveled throughout Europe and attempted to secure military alliances with Edward I of England, Philip IV of France, Pope Nicholas IV, as well as the Byzantine ruler Andronikos II Palaiologos.^[83][81] Andronikos II had two half-sisters who were married to great-grandsons of Genghis Khan, which made him an in-law with the Yuan-dynasty Mongol ruler in Beijing, Kublai Khan.^[84]

The History of Ming preserves an account where the Hongwu Emperor, after founding the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), had a supposed Byzantine merchant named Nieh-ku-lun (捏古倫) deliver his proclamation about the establishment of a new dynasty to the Byzantine court of John V Palaiologos in September 1371.^[85][52] Friedrich Hirth (1885), Emil Bretschneider (1888), and more recently Edward Luttwak (2009) presumed that this was none other than Nicolaus de Bentra, a Roman Catholic bishop of Khanbilaq chosen by Pope John XXII to replace the previous archbishop John of Montecorvino.^[86][87][52]

Tang dynasty (7th century)

Although the Silk Road was initially formulated during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (141–87 BCE), it was reopened by the Tang Empire in 639 when Hou Junji conquered the Western Regions, and remained open for almost four decades. It was closed after the Tibetans captured it in 678, but in 699, during Empress Wu’s period, the Silk Road reopened when the Tang reconquered the Four Garrisons of Anxi originally installed in 640,^[88] once again connecting China directly to the West for land-based trade.^[89] The Tang captured the vital route through the Gilgit Valley from Tibet in 722, lost it to the Tibetans in 737, and regained it under the command of the Goguryeo-Korean General Gao Xianzhi.^[90]

While the Turks were settled in the Ordos region (former territory of the Xiongnu), 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.^[91] During Emperor Taizong’s reign alone, large campaigns were launched against not only the Göktürks, but also separate campaigns against the Tuyuhun, the oasis states, and the Xueyantuo. Under Emperor Taizong, Tang general Li Jing conquered the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. Under Emperor Gaozong, Tang general Su Dingfang conquered the Western Turkic Khaganate, an important ally of the Byzantine empire.^[92] After these conquests, the Tang dynasty fully controlled the Xiyu, which was the strategic location astride the Silk Road.^[93] This led the Tang dynasty to reopen the Silk Road, with this portion named the Tang-Tubo Road («Tang-Tibet Road») in many historical texts.

The Tang dynasty established a second Pax 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 the Indian Ocean to India since perhaps the 2nd century BCE,^[94] yet it was during the Tang dynasty that a strong Chinese maritime presence could be found in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea into Persia, Mesopotamia (sailing up the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq), Arabia, Egypt, Aksum (Ethiopia), and Somalia in the Horn of Africa.^[95]

Sogdian–Türkic tribes (4th–8th centuries)

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 the Magyars, Armenians, and Chinese. The Silk Road reached its peak in the west during the time of the Byzantine Empire; in the Nile-Oxus section, from the Sassanid Empire period to the Il Khanate period; and in the sinitic zone from the Three Kingdoms period to the Yuan dynasty period. Trade between East and West also developed across the Indian Ocean, between Alexandria in Egypt and Guangzhou in China. Persian Sassanid coins emerged as a means of currency, just as valuable as silk yarn and textiles.^[96]

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.»^[97]

The Sogdians dominated the east–west trade after the 4th century up to the 8th century, with Suyab and Talas ranking among their main centres in the north. They were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia. Their commercial interests were protected by the resurgent military power of the Göktürks, whose empire has been described as «the joint enterprise of the Ashina clan and the Soghdians».^[72][98] 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.»^[99]

The Silk Road gave rise to the clusters of military states of nomadic origins in North China, ushered the Nestorian, Manichaean, Buddhist, and later Islamic religions into Central Asia and China.

Islamic era (8th–13th centuries)

By the Umayyad era, Damascus had overtaken Ctesiphon as a major trade center until the Abbasid dynasty built the city of Baghdad, which became the most important city along the silk road.

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 in Transoxiana, Tabriz in Northern Iran, realising the political unification of zones previously loosely and intermittently connected by material and cultural goods.^{[citation needed]}

The Islamic world expanded into Central Asia during the 8th century, under the Umayyad Caliphate, while its successor the Abbasid Caliphate put a halt to Chinese westward expansion at the Battle of Talas in 751 (near the Talas River in modern-day Kyrgyzstan).^[100] However, following the disastrous An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) and the conquest of the Western Regions by the Tibetan Empire, the Tang Empire was unable to reassert its control over Central Asia.^[101] Contemporary Tang authors noted how the dynasty had gone into decline after this point.^[102] In 848 the Tang Chinese, led by the commander Zhang Yichao, were only able to reclaim the Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang in Gansu from the Tibetans.^[103] The Persian Samanid Empire (819–999) centered in Bukhara (Uzbekistan) continued the trade legacy of the Sogdians.^[100] The disruptions of trade were curtailed in that part of the world by the end of the 10th century and conquests of Central Asia by the Turkic Islamic Kara-Khanid Khanate, yet Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Buddhism in Central Asia virtually disappeared.^[104]

During the early 13th century Khwarezmia was invaded by the Mongol Empire. The Mongol ruler Genghis Khan had the once vibrant cities of Bukhara and Samarkand burned to the ground after besieging them.^[105] However, in 1370 Samarkand saw a revival as the capital of the new Timurid Empire. The Turko-Mongol ruler Timur forcefully moved artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand, making it one of the most important trade centers and cultural entrepôts of the Islamic world.^[106]

Mongol empire (13th–14th centuries)

The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 1207 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-established the Silk Road (via Karakorum and Khanbaliq). 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.^[107] 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^[108]

The Mongol diplomat Rabban Bar Sauma visited the courts of Europe in 1287–88 and provided a detailed written report to the Mongols. Around the same time, the Venetian explorer Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China. His tales, documented in The Travels of Marco Polo, opened Western eyes to some of the customs of the Far East. He was not the first to bring back stories, but he was one of the most widely read. He had been preceded by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck, Benedykt Polak, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, and Andrew of Longjumeau. Later envoys included Odoric of Pordenone, Giovanni de’ Marignolli, John of Montecorvino, Niccolò de’ Conti, and Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan Muslim traveller who passed through the present-day Middle East and across the Silk Road from Tabriz between 1325 and 1354.^[109]

In the 13th century, efforts were made at forming a Franco-Mongol alliance, with an exchange of ambassadors and (failed) attempts at military collaboration in the Holy Land during the later Crusades. Eventually, the Mongols in the Ilkhanate, after they had destroyed the Abbasid and Ayyubid dynasties, converted to Islam and signed the 1323 Treaty of Aleppo with the surviving Muslim power, the Egyptian Mamluks.^{[citation needed]}

Some studies indicate that the Black 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.^[110] One theory holds that Genoese traders coming from the entrepot of Trebizond in northern Turkey 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.^[111]

Decline and disintegration (15th century)

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2020)

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 with gunpowder.^[113]

Partial revival in West Asia

Significant is Armenians 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. ^[114]

Collapse (18th century)

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2020)

The silk trade continued to flourish until it was disrupted by the collapse of the Safavid Empire in the 1720s.^[115]

New Silk Road (20th–21st centuries)

In the 20th century, the Silk Road through the Suez Canal and the overland connections were repeatedly blocked from the First World War on. This also applied to the massive trade barriers of the Cold War. It was not until the 1990s that the «old» trade routes began to reactivate again. In addition to the Chinese activities and the integration of Africa, this also applies to the increasing importance of the Mediterranean region and the connection to Central Europe such as the trade center of Trieste.

Trade along the Silk Road could soon account for almost 40% of total world trade, with a large part taking place by sea. The land route of the Silk Road seems to remain a niche project in terms of transport volume in the future. As a result of the Chinese Silk Road Initiative and investments, trade seems to be intensifying on the relevant routes.^{[116][117][118]}

Maritime Silk Road

The maritime Silk Road follows the old trade route that was opened by the Chinese admiral Zheng He during the early Ming Dynasty. In particular, the establishment of the lockless Suez Canal then strongly promoted maritime trade between Asia and Europe in this area. While many trade flows were interrupted in the 20th century by the World Wars, the Suez Crisis and the Cold War, from the beginning of the 21st century many of the trading centers that had already existed in the 19th century were activated again.^[116][119]

The Suez Canal was also continually expanded and its time-saving role in Asia-Europe trade was highlighted. At the beginning of the Maritime Silk Road are the major Chinese ports in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Ningbo-Zhoushan. The Chinese investments in Africa will connect large areas of Central and East Africa to the maritime Silk Road and thus to China and directly to southern Europe via the Suez Canal. The increasing importance of the Mediterranean as a trading center with its direct, fast connections to Central and Eastern Europe is evident from the international investments in port cities of Piraeus and Trieste. Trieste in particular plays a major role in the economic zone in Central Europe known as the Blue Banana. This includes a banana-shaped corridor from southern England via the Benelux region, western Germany and Switzerland to northern Italy. The transport via Trieste instead of northern ports such as Rotterdam and Hamburg shortens the delivery time from Shanghai by ten days and from Hong Kong by nine days. On the maritime Silk Road, on which more than half of all containers in the world are already on the move, deep-water ports are being expanded, logistics hubs are being built and new transport routes such as railways and roads in the hinterland are being created.^{[118][120][121][117][122][123][124][125][126][127]}

Today the maritime silk road runs with its connections from the Chinese coast to the south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo towards the southern tip of India via Malé, the capital of the Maldives, to the East African Mombasa, from there to Djibouti, then through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its international free port and its rail connections to Central Europe and the North Sea. As a result, Poland, the Baltic States, Northern Europe and Central Europe are also connected to the maritime silk road.^{[116][120][128][129]}

Railway (1990)

The Eurasian Land Bridge, a railway through China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, is sometimes referred to as the «New Silk Road».^[130] The last link in one of these two railway routes was completed in 1990, when the railway systems of China and Kazakhstan connected at Alataw Pass (Alashan Kou). In 2008 the line was used to connect the cities of Ürümqi in China’s Xinjiang Province to Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan.^[131] In October 2008 the first Trans-Eurasia Logistics train reached Hamburg from Xiangtan. Starting in July 2011 the line has been used by a freight service that connects Chongqing, China with Duisburg, Germany,^[132] cutting travel time for cargo from about 36 days by container ship to just 13 days by freight train. In 2013, Hewlett-Packard began moving large freight trains of laptop computers and monitors along this rail route.^[130] In January 2017, the service sent its first train to London. The network additionally connects to Madrid and Milan.^[133][134]

Revival of cities (1966)

After an earthquake that hit Tashkent in Central Asia in 1966, the city had to rebuild itself. Although it took a huge toll on their markets, this commenced a revival of modern silk road cities.^[135]

Belt and Road Initiative (2013)

During a September 2013 a visit to Kazakhstan, China’s Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced a plan for a New Silk Road from China to Europe. The latest iterations of this plan, dubbed the «Belt and Road Initiative» (BRI), includes a land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, with primary points in Ürümqi, Dostyk, Nur-Sultan, Gomel, the Belarusian city of Brest, and the Polish cities of Małaszewicze and Łódź—which would be hubs of logistics and transshipment to other countries of Europe.^{[136][137][138][139]}

On 15 February 2016, with a change in routing, the first train dispatched under the scheme arrived from eastern Zhejiang Province to Tehran.^[140] Though this section does not complete the Silk Road–style overland connection between China and Europe,^[139] but new railway line connecting China to Europe via Istanbul’s has now been established.^[141] The actual route went through Almaty, Bishkek, Samarkand, and Dushanbe.^[139]

Routes

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 and southern routes bypassing the Taklamakan Desert and Lop Nur. Merchants along these routes were involved in «relay trade» in which goods changed «hands many times before reaching their final destinations.»^[142]

Northern route

The northern route started at Chang’an (now called Xi’an), an ancient capital of China that was moved further east during the Later Han to Luoyang. The route was defined around the 1st century BCE when Han Wudi put an end to harassment by nomadic tribes.^{[143][citation needed]}

The northern route travelled northwest through the Chinese province of Gansu from Shaanxi Province and split into three further routes, two of them following the mountain ranges to the north and south of the Taklamakan Desert to rejoin at Kashgar, and the other going north of the Tian Shan mountains through Turpan, Talgar, and Almaty (in what is now southeast Kazakhstan). The routes split again west of Kashgar, with a southern branch heading down the Alai Valley towards Termez (in modern Uzbekistan) and Balkh (Afghanistan), while the other travelled through Kokand in the Fergana Valley (in present-day eastern Uzbekistan) and then west across the Karakum Desert. Both routes joined the main southern route before reaching ancient Merv, Turkmenistan. Another branch of the northern route turned northwest past the Aral Sea and north of the Caspian 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 and myrrh from Somalia; sandalwood from India; glass bottles from Egypt, and other expensive and desirable goods from other parts of the world.»^[144] In exchange, the caravans sent back bolts of silk brocade, lacquer-ware, and porcelain.

Southern route

The southern route or Karakoram route was mainly a single route from China through the Karakoram mountains, where it persists in modern times as the Karakoram Highway, a paved road that connects Pakistan and China.^{[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 northern Pakistan, over the Hindu Kush mountains, and into Afghanistan, rejoining the northern route near Merv, Turkmenistan. From Merv, it followed a nearly straight line west through mountainous northern Iran, Mesopotamia, and the northern tip of the Syrian Desert to the Levant, where Mediterranean trading ships plied regular routes to Italy, while land routes went either north through Anatolia or south to North Africa. Another branch road travelled from Herat through Susa to Charax Spasinu at the head of the Persian Gulf and across to Petra and on to Alexandria and other eastern Mediterranean ports from where ships carried the cargoes to Rome.^{[citation needed]}

Southwestern route

The southwestern route is believed to be the Ganges/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 at Wari-Bateshwar ruins, the ancient city with roots from much earlier, before the Bronze Age, presently being slowly excavated beside the Old Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. Ptolemy’s map of the Ganges Delta, a remarkably accurate effort, showed that his informants knew all about the course of the Brahmaputra River, crossing through the Himalayas then bending westward to its source in Tibet. 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 from Thailand and Java 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 as Sichuan–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 modern Bangladesh, 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, and Sonargaon, are believed to be the international trade centers in this route.^{[145][146][147]}

Maritime route

Maritime Silk Road or Maritime Silk Route refer to the maritime section of historic Silk Road that connects China to Southeast Asia, Indonesian archipelago, Indian subcontinent, Arabian peninsula, all the way to Egypt and finally Europe.^[148]

The trade route encompassed numbers of bodies of waters; including South China Sea, Strait of Malacca, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. The maritime route overlaps with historic Southeast Asian maritime trade, Spice trade, Indian Ocean trade and after 8th century – the Arabian naval trade network. The network also extended eastward to East China Sea and Yellow Sea to connect China with Korean Peninsula and Japanese archipelago.

Expansion of religions

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.^[149] Notably, established Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road offered a haven, as well as a new religion for foreigners.^[150]

The spread of religions and cultural traditions along the Silk Roads, according to Jerry H. Bentley, also led to syncretism. One example was the encounter with the Chinese and Xiongnu 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.^[151] 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.^[151]

Nomadic mobility played a key role in facilitating inter-regional contacts and cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Roads.^[152][153]

Transmission of Christianity

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.^[154]

Transmission of Buddhism

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 Emperor Ming (58–75). During this period Buddhism began to spread throughout Southeast, East, and Central Asia.^[158] Mahayana, Theravada, and Tibetan Buddhism are the three primary forms of Buddhism that spread across Asia via the Silk Road.^[159]

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.^[160] Buddha’s community of followers, the Sangha, consisted of male and female monks and laity. These people moved through India and beyond to spread the ideas of Buddha.^[161] 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.^[162] It is believed that under the control of the Kushans, Buddhism was spread to China and other parts of Asia from the middle of the first century to the middle of the third century.^[163] Extensive contacts started in the 2nd century, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim 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, or Kuchean.^[164]

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 of Merv, 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.^[165] 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.^[166]

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, with Fa-hsien’s pilgrimage to India (395–414), and later Xuanzang (629–644) and Hyecho, who traveled from Korea to India.^[167] The travels of the priest Xuanzang were fictionalized in the 16th century in a fantasy adventure novel called Journey 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 the Khotan region.^[166] 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.^[168] 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.^[63]

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.^[169] Merchants also helped to establish diaspora 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.^[170] The voluntary conversion of Chinese ruling elites helped the spread of Buddhism in East Asia and led Buddhism to become widespread in Chinese society.^[171] The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.

Judaism on the Silk Road

Adherents to the Jewish faith first began to travel eastward from Mesopotamia following the Persian conquest of Babylon in 559 by the armies of Cyrus the Great. Judean slaves freed after the Persian conquest of Babylon dispersed throughout the Persian Empire. Some Judeans could have traveled as far east as Bactria and Sogdia, though there is not clear evidence for this early settlement of Judeans.^[172] After settlement, it is likely that most Judeans took up trades in commerce.^[172] 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 as Rome, Judean merchants in Central Asia would have been in an advantageous position to participate in trade along the Silk Road.^[172] A group of Judean merchants originating from Gaul known as the Radanites were one group of Judean merchants that had thriving trade networks from China to Rome.^[172] This trade was facilitated by a positive relationship the Radanites were able to foster with the Khazar Turks. 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.^[172]

According to Richard Foltz «there is more evidence for Iranian influence on the formation of Jewish [religious] ideas than the reverse.» Concepts of a paradise (heaven) for the good and a place of suffering (hell) for the wicked, and a form or world-ending apocalypse came from Iranian religious ideas, and this is supported by a lack of such ideas from pre-exile Judean sources.^[172] The origin of the devil is also said to come from the Iranian Angra Mainyu, an evil figure in Persian mythology.^[172]

Expansion of the arts

Many artistic influences were transmitted via the Silk Road, particularly through Central Asia, where Hellenistic, Iranian, Indian and Chinese 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.^[173]

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.^[174]

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, the lapis lazuli, was a blue stone with golden specks, which was used as paint after it was ground into powder.^[175]

Commemoration

On 22 June 2014, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named the Silk Road a World Heritage Site at the 2014 Conference on World Heritage. The United Nations World Tourism Organization has been working since 1993 to develop sustainable international tourism along the route with the stated goal of fostering peace and understanding.^[176]

To commemorate the Silk Road becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the China National Silk Museum announced a «Silk Road Week» to take place 19–25 June 2020.^[177]

Bishkek and Almaty each have a major east–west street named after the Silk Road (Kyrgyz: Жибек жолу, Jibek Jolu in Bishkek, and Kazakh: Жібек жолы, Jibek Joly in Almaty). There is also a Silk Road in Macclesfield, UK.^[178]

Gallery

• Silk Road and artifacts

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

  Taldyk pass

• 

• 

  The ruins of a Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province

• 

  A late Zhou or early Han Chinese bronze mirror inlaid with glass, perhaps incorporated Greco-Roman artistic patterns

See also

References

Citations

Sources

Further reading

External links

• Silk Road Atlas (University of Washington)
• The Silk Road, a historical overview by Oliver Wild
• The Silk Road Journal, a freely available scholarly journal run by Daniel Waugh
• The New Silk Road – a lecture by Paul Lacourbe at TEDxDanubia 2013
• Escobar, Pepe (February 2015). Year of the Sheep, Century of the Dragon? New Silk Roads and the Chinese Vision of a Brave New (Trade) World, an essay at Tom Dispatch

Silk Road
Main routes of the Silk Road
Route information
Time period	Around 114 BCE – 1450s CE
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, iv, vi
Designated	2014 (38th session)
Reference no.	1442
Region	Asia-Pacific

The Silk Road (Chinese: 絲綢之路)^[1] was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.^[2] Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the East and West.^[3][4][5] The name «Silk Road», first coined in the late 19th century, has fallen into disuse among some modern historians in favor of Silk Routes, on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and Europe.^[2]

The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of silk textiles that were produced almost exclusively in China. The network began with the Han dynasty’s expansion into Central Asia around 114 BCE, which largely pacified the once untamed region. Imperial envoy Zhang Qian was commissioned to explore the unknown lands beyond the region in search of potential trading partners and allies.^[6] The information and goods gathered by these expeditions piqued Chinese interest and prompted formal diplomatic and commercial dispatches, as well as efforts to protect the routes with soldiers and an extension of the Great Wall.^[7]

The expansion of the Parthian Empire, which stretched from eastern Anatolia to Afghanistan, provided a bridge to East Africa and the Mediterranean, particularly the nascent Roman Empire. By the early first century CE, Chinese silk was widely sought-after in Rome, Egypt, and Greece.^[2] Other lucrative commodities from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, and porcelain; among Western exports were horses, camels, honey, wine, and gold. Aside from generating substantial wealth for emerging mercantile classes, the proliferation of goods such as paper and gunpowder greatly altered the trajectory of various realms, if not world history.

During its roughly 1,500 years of existence, the Silk Road endured the rise and fall of numerous empires and major calamities such as the Black Death and the Mongol conquests; after almost every disruption, the network reemerged stronger than before, most notably under the Mongol Empire and its offshoot the Yuan Dynasty. As a highly decentralized network, security was sparse. Travelers faced constant threats of banditry and nomadic raiders, and long expanses of inhospitable terrain. Few individuals crossed the entirety of the Silk Road, instead relying on a succession of middlemen based at various stopping points along the way.

The Silk Road trade played a significant role in opening political and economic relations between China, Korea,^[8] Japan,^[4] India, Iran, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia.^[9] In addition to goods, the network facilitated an unprecedented exchange of ideas, religions (especially Buddhism), philosophies, and scientific discoveries, many of which were syncretised or reshaped by the societies that encountered them.^[10] Likewise, a wide variety of people used the routes, including migrants, refugees, missionaries, artisans, diplomats, and soldiers. Diseases such as plague also spread along the Silk Road, possibly contributing to the Black Death.^[11]

Despite repeatedly surviving many geopolitical changes and disruptions, the Silk Road abruptly ended with the rise of the Ottoman Empire in 1453, which almost immediately severed trade between East and West. This prompted European efforts to seek alternative routes to Eastern riches, thereby ushering the Age of Discovery, European colonialism, and a more intensified process of globalization, which had arguably begun with the Silk Road. The network’s influence survives into the 21st century. One of the world’s best known historical figures, Marco Polo, was a Medieval Venetian merchant who was among the earliest Westerners to visit and describe the East. The name «New Silk Road» is used to describe several large infrastructure projects seeking to expand transportation through many of the historic trade routes; among the best known include the Eurasian Land Bridge and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In June 2014, UNESCO designated the Chang’an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site, while the Indian portion remains on the tentative site list.

Name

The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk, first developed in China,^[12][13] and a major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive transcontinental network.^[14][15] It derives from the German term Seidenstraße (literally «Silk Road») and was first popularized in 1877 by Ferdinand von Richthofen, who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872.^{[16][15][17][18]} However, the term itself has been in use in decades prior.^[19] The alternative translation «Silk Route» is also used occasionally.^[20] 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.^[18] The first book entitled The Silk Road was by Swedish geographer Sven Hedin in 1938.^[18]

The use of the term ‘Silk Road’ is not without its detractors. For instance, Warwick Ball contends that the maritime spice trade with India and Arabia was far more consequential for the economy of the Roman Empire than the silk trade with China, which at sea was conducted mostly through India and on land was handled by numerous intermediaries such as the Sogdians.^[21] 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 goods from East Asia to the West until the period of the Mongol Empire.^[22] He notes that traditional authors discussing east–west trade such as Marco Polo and Edward Gibbon never labelled any route a «silk» one in particular.^[18]

The southern stretches of the Silk Road, from Khotan (Xinjiang) to Eastern China, were first used for jade and not silk, as long as 5000 BCE, and is 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.^[23]

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 overland Steppe Route across the northern steppes of Central Eurasia was in use long before that of the Silk Road.^[13] Archeological sites such as the Berel burial ground in Kazakhstan, confirmed that the nomadic Arimaspians were not only breeding horses for trade but also produced great craftsmen able to propagate exquisite art pieces along the Silk Road.^[24][25] From the 2nd millennium BCE, nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region of Yarkand and Khotan to China. Significantly, these mines were not very far from the lapis lazuli and spinel («Balas Ruby») mines in Badakhshan, and, although separated by the formidable Pamir Mountains, routes across them were apparently in use from very early times.^{[citation needed]}

The Tarim mummies, mummies of non-Mongoloid, apparently Caucasoid, individuals, have been found in the Tarim Basin, in the area of Loulan located along the Silk Road 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Yingpan, dating to as early as 1600 BCE and suggesting very ancient contacts between East and West. These mummified remains may have been of people who spoke Indo-European languages, which remained in use in the Tarim Basin, in the modern day Xinjiang region, until replaced by Turkic influences from the Xiongnu culture to the north and by Chinese influences from the eastern Han dynasty, who spoke a Sino-Tibetan language.^{[citation needed]}

Some remnants of what was probably Chinese silk dating from 1070 BCE have been found in Ancient Egypt. The Great Oasis cities of Central Asia played a crucial role in the effective functioning of the Silk Road trade.^[26] 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 of wild silk, which might have come from the Mediterranean or Middle East.^[27]

Following contacts between Metropolitan 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 the Scythian-style animal 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 and steatite.^{[citation needed]} An elite burial near Stuttgart, Germany, dated to the 6th century BCE, was excavated and found to have not only Greek bronzes but also Chinese silks.^[28] Similar animal-shaped pieces of art and wrestler motifs on belts have been found in Scythian grave sites stretching from the Black Sea region all the way to Warring States era archaeological sites in Inner Mongolia (at Aluchaideng) and Shaanxi (at Keshengzhuang [de]) in China.^[28]

The expansion of Scythian cultures, stretching from the Hungarian plain and the Carpathian Mountains to the Chinese Kansu Corridor, and linking the Middle East with Northern India and the Punjab, undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road. Scythians accompanied the Assyrian Esarhaddon on his invasion of Egypt, and their distinctive triangular arrowheads have been found as far south as Aswan. 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 a lingua franca for Asian trade as far back as the 4th century.^[29][30]

Persian Royal Road (500–330 BCE)

By the time of Herodotus (c. 475 BCE), the Royal Road of the Persian Empire ran some 2,857 km (1,775 mi) from the city of Susa on the Karun (250 km (155 mi) east of the Tigris) to the port of Smyrna (modern İzmir in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea.^[31] It was maintained and protected by the Achaemenid Empire (c. 500–330 BCE) and had postal stations and relays at regular intervals. By having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages and traverse the length of the road in nine days, while normal travelers took about three months.^[32]

Expansion of the Greek Empire (329 BCE–10 CE)

The next major step toward the development of the Silk Road was the expansion of the Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great into Central Asia. In August 329 BCE, at the mouth of the Fergana Valley, he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate or «Alexandria The Furthest».^[34]

The Greeks remained in Central Asia for the next three centuries, first through the administration of the Seleucid Empire, and then with the establishment of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (250–125 BCE) in Bactria (modern Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan) and the later Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BCE – 10 CE) in modern Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. They continued to expand eastward, especially during the reign of Euthydemus (230–200 BCE), who extended his control beyond Alexandria Eschate to Sogdiana. There are indications that he may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar on the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert, leading to the first known contacts between China and the West around 200 BCE.^{[citation needed]} The Greek historian Strabo writes, «they extended their empire even as far as the Seres (China) and the Phryni.»^[35]

Classical Greek philosophy syncretised with Indian philosophy.^[36]

Initiation in China (130 BCE)

The Silk Road was initiated and spread by China’s Han dynasty through exploration and conquests in Central Asia. With the Mediterranean linked to the Fergana Valley, the next step was to open a route across the Tarim Basin and the Hexi Corridor to China Proper. This extension came around 130 BCE, with the embassies of the Han dynasty to Central Asia following the reports of the ambassador Zhang Qian^[37] (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu). Zhang Qian visited directly the kingdom of Dayuan in Ferghana, the territories of the Yuezhi in Transoxiana, the Bactrian country of Daxia with its remnants of Greco-Bactrian rule, and Kangju. He also made reports on neighbouring countries that he did not visit, such as Anxi (Parthia), Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), Shendu (Indian subcontinent) and the Wusun.^[38] 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.^[39]

After winning the War of the Heavenly Horses and the Han–Xiongnu War, Chinese armies established themselves in Central Asia, initiating the Silk Route as a major avenue of international trade.^[40] Some say that the Chinese Emperor Wu became interested in developing commercial relationships with the sophisticated urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria, and the Parthian Empire: «The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan «Great Ionians») 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^[41] say that Emperor Wu was mainly interested in fighting the Xiongnu and that major trade began only after the Chinese pacified the Hexi Corridor.
The Silk Roads’ origin lay in the hands of the Chinese. The soil in China lacked Selenium, a deficiency which contributed to muscular weakness and reduced growth in horses.^[42] Consequently, horses in China were too frail to support the weight of a Chinese soldier.^[43] The Chinese needed the superior horses that nomads bred on the Eurasian steppes, and nomads wanted things only agricultural societies produced, such as grain and silk. Even after the construction of the Great Wall, nomads gathered at the gates of the wall to exchange. Soldiers sent to guard the wall were often paid in silk which they traded with the nomads.^[44] Past its inception, the Chinese continued to dominate the Silk Roads, a process which was accelerated when «China snatched control of the Silk Road from the Hsiung-nu» and the Chinese general Cheng Ki «installed himself as protector of the Tarim at Wu-lei, situated between Kara Shahr and Kucha.» «China’s control of the Silk Road at the time of the later Han, by ensuring the freedom of transcontinental trade along the double chain of oases north and south of the Tarim, favoured the dissemination of Buddhism in the river basin, and with it Indian literature and Hellenistic art.»^[45]

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», the Greek kingdoms of Central Asia), which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic Xiongnu. They defeated the Dayuan in the Han-Dayuan war. The Chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies, around ten every year, to these countries and as far as Seleucid Syria.

Thus more embassies were dispatched to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai [who later joined the Alans ], Lijian [Syria under the Greek Seleucids], Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), and Tianzhu [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.^[46]
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 of Sogdiana (Joseph Needham, Sidney Shapiro). It has been suggested that the Chinese crossbow was transmitted to the Roman world on such occasions, although the Greek gastraphetes provides an alternative origin. R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy suggest that in 36 BCE,

[A] Han expedition into Central Asia, west of Jaxartes River, apparently encountered and defeated a contingent of Roman legionaries. The Romans may have been part of Antony’s army invading Parthia. Sogdiana (modern Bukhara), east of the Oxus River, on the Polytimetus 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.^[47]

The Roman historian Florus also describes the visit of numerous envoys, which included Seres (China), to the first Roman Emperor Augustus, who reigned between 27 BCE and 14 CE:

Even the rest of the nations of the world which were not subject to the imperial sway were sensible of its grandeur, and looked with reverence to the Roman people, the great conqueror of nations. Thus even Scythians and Sarmatians sent envoys to seek the friendship of Rome. Nay, the Seres came likewise, and the Indians who dwelt beneath the vertical sun, bringing presents of precious stones and pearls and elephants, but thinking all of less moment than the vastness of the journey which they had undertaken, and which they said had occupied four years. In truth, it needed but to look at their complexion to see that they were people of another world than ours.

— Henry Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither (1866)

The Han Dynasty army regularly policed the trade route against nomadic bandit forces generally identified as Xiongnu. Han general Ban Chao led an army of 70,000 mounted infantry and light cavalry troops in the 1st century CE to secure the trade routes, reaching far west to the Tarim Basin. Ban Chao expanded his conquests across the Pamirs to the shores of the Caspian Sea and the borders of Parthia.^[48] It was from here that the Han general dispatched envoy Gan Ying to Daqin (Rome).^[49] 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 and India, 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.^[9]

A maritime Silk Route opened up between Chinese-controlled Giao Chỉ (centred in modern Vietnam, near Hanoi), probably by the 1st century. It extended, via ports on the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, all the way to Roman-controlled ports in Roman Egypt and the Nabataean territories on the northeastern coast of the Red Sea. The earliest Roman glassware bowl found in China was unearthed from a Western Han tomb in Guangzhou, dated to the early 1st century BCE, indicating that Roman commercial items were being imported through the South China Sea.^[51] According to Chinese dynastic histories, it is from this region that the Roman embassies arrived in China, beginning in 166 CE during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Emperor Huan of Han.^[52][53][54] Other Roman glasswares have been found in Eastern-Han-era tombs (25–220 CE) more further inland in Nanjing and Luoyang.^[55]

P.O. Harper asserts that a 2nd or 3rd-century Roman gilt silver plate found in Jingyuan, Gansu, China with a central image of the Greco-Roman god Dionysus resting on a feline creature, most likely came via Greater Iran (i.e. Sogdiana).^[56] Valerie Hansen (2012) believed that earliest Roman coins found in China date to the 4th century, during Late Antiquity and the Dominate period, and come from the Byzantine Empire.^[57] However, Warwick Ball (2016) highlights the recent discovery of sixteen Principate-era Roman coins found in Xi’an (formerly Chang’an, one of the two Han capitals) that were minted during the reigns of Roman emperors spanning from Tiberius to Aurelian (i.e. 1st to 3rd centuries CE).^[58]

Helen Wang points out that although these coins were found in China, they were deposited there in the twentieth century, not in ancient times, and therefore do not shed light on historic contacts between China and Rome.^[59] Roman golden medallions made during the reign of Antoninus Pius and quite possibly his successor Marcus Aurelius have been found at Óc Eo in southern Vietnam, which was then part of the Kingdom of Funan bordering the Chinese province of Jiaozhi in northern Vietnam.^[60][61] Given the archaeological finds of Mediterranean artefacts made by Louis Malleret in the 1940s,^[61] Óc Eo may have been the same site as the port city of Kattigara described by Ptolemy in his Geography (c. 150 CE),^[60] although Ferdinand von Richthofen had previously believed it was closer to Hanoi.^[62]

Evolution

Roman Empire (30 BCE–3rd century CE)

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.^[63] The Roman-style glassware discovered in the archeological sites of Gyeongju, the capital of the Silla kingdom (Korea) showed that Roman artifacts were traded as far as the Korean peninsula.^[8] The Greco-Roman trade with India started by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 130 BCE continued to increase, and according to Strabo (II.5.12), by the time of Augustus, up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos in Roman Egypt to India.^[64] The Roman Empire connected with the Central Asian Silk Road through their ports in Barygaza (known today as Bharuch^[65]) and Barbaricum (known today as the city of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan^[66]) and continued along the western coast of India.^[67] An ancient «travel guide» to this Indian Ocean trade route was the Greek Periplus of the Erythraean Sea written in 60 CE.

The travelling party of Maës 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». Intense trade 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 by Seneca the Younger in his Phaedra and by Virgil in his Georgics. Notably, Pliny the Elder knew better. Speaking of the bombyx or silk moth, he wrote in his Natural Histories «They weave webs, like spiders, that become a luxurious clothing material for women, called silk.»^[68] The Romans traded spices, glassware, perfumes, and silk.^[63]

Roman artisans began to replace yarn with valuable plain silk cloths from China and the Silla Kingdom in Gyeongju, Korea.^[69][8] Chinese wealth grew as they delivered silk and other luxury goods to the Roman Empire, whose wealthy women admired their beauty.^[70] 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.^[71]

The Western Roman Empire, and its demand for sophisticated Asian products, collapsed in the fifth century.

The unification of Central Asia and Northern India within the Kushan Empire between the first and third centuries reinforced the role of the powerful merchants from Bactria and Taxila.^[72] 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 the archeological site of Begram.

Byzantine Empire (6th–14th centuries)

Byzantine Greek historian Procopius stated that two Nestorian Christian monks eventually uncovered the way silk was made. From this revelation, monks were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (ruled 527–565) as spies on the Silk Road from Constantinople to China and back to steal the silkworm eggs, resulting in silk production in the Mediterranean, particularly in Thrace in northern Greece,^[73] and giving the Byzantine Empire a monopoly on silk production in medieval Europe. In 568 the Byzantine ruler Justin II was greeted by a Sogdian embassy representing Istämi, ruler of the First Turkic Khaganate, who formed an alliance with the Byzantines against Khosrow I of the Sasanian Empire that allowed the Byzantines to bypass the Sasanian merchants and trade directly with the Sogdians for purchasing Chinese silk.^[74][75][76] 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 of Shanxi province dated to the Sui dynasty (581–618).^[77]

Both the Old Book of Tang and New Book of Tang, covering the history of the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907), record that a new state called Fu-lin (拂菻; i.e. Byzantine Empire) was virtually identical to the previous Daqin (大秦; i.e. Roman Empire).^[52] Several Fu-lin embassies were recorded for the Tang period, starting in 643 with an alleged embassy by Constans II (transliterated as Bo duo li, 波多力, from his nickname «Kōnstantinos Pogonatos») to the court of Emperor Taizong of Tang.^[52] The History of Song describes the final embassy and its arrival in 1081, apparently sent by Michael VII Doukas (transliterated as Mie li yi ling kai sa, 滅力伊靈改撒, from his name and title Michael VII Parapinakēs Caesar) to the court of Emperor Shenzong of the Song dynasty (960–1279).^[52]

However, the History of Yuan claims that a Byzantine man became a leading astronomer and physician in Khanbaliq, at the court of Kublai Khan, Mongol founder of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and was even granted the noble title ‘Prince of Fu lin’ (Chinese: 拂菻王; Fú lǐn wáng).^[78] The Uyghur Nestorian Christian diplomat Rabban Bar Sauma, who set out from his Chinese home in Khanbaliq (Beijing) and acted as a representative for Arghun (a grandnephew of Kublai Khan),^{[79][80][81][82]} traveled throughout Europe and attempted to secure military alliances with Edward I of England, Philip IV of France, Pope Nicholas IV, as well as the Byzantine ruler Andronikos II Palaiologos.^[83][81] Andronikos II had two half-sisters who were married to great-grandsons of Genghis Khan, which made him an in-law with the Yuan-dynasty Mongol ruler in Beijing, Kublai Khan.^[84]

The History of Ming preserves an account where the Hongwu Emperor, after founding the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), had a supposed Byzantine merchant named Nieh-ku-lun (捏古倫) deliver his proclamation about the establishment of a new dynasty to the Byzantine court of John V Palaiologos in September 1371.^[85][52] Friedrich Hirth (1885), Emil Bretschneider (1888), and more recently Edward Luttwak (2009) presumed that this was none other than Nicolaus de Bentra, a Roman Catholic bishop of Khanbilaq chosen by Pope John XXII to replace the previous archbishop John of Montecorvino.^[86][87][52]

Tang dynasty (7th century)

Although the Silk Road was initially formulated during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (141–87 BCE), it was reopened by the Tang Empire in 639 when Hou Junji conquered the Western Regions, and remained open for almost four decades. It was closed after the Tibetans captured it in 678, but in 699, during Empress Wu’s period, the Silk Road reopened when the Tang reconquered the Four Garrisons of Anxi originally installed in 640,^[88] once again connecting China directly to the West for land-based trade.^[89] The Tang captured the vital route through the Gilgit Valley from Tibet in 722, lost it to the Tibetans in 737, and regained it under the command of the Goguryeo-Korean General Gao Xianzhi.^[90]

While the Turks were settled in the Ordos region (former territory of the Xiongnu), 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.^[91] During Emperor Taizong’s reign alone, large campaigns were launched against not only the Göktürks, but also separate campaigns against the Tuyuhun, the oasis states, and the Xueyantuo. Under Emperor Taizong, Tang general Li Jing conquered the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. Under Emperor Gaozong, Tang general Su Dingfang conquered the Western Turkic Khaganate, an important ally of the Byzantine empire.^[92] After these conquests, the Tang dynasty fully controlled the Xiyu, which was the strategic location astride the Silk Road.^[93] This led the Tang dynasty to reopen the Silk Road, with this portion named the Tang-Tubo Road («Tang-Tibet Road») in many historical texts.

The Tang dynasty established a second Pax 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 the Indian Ocean to India since perhaps the 2nd century BCE,^[94] yet it was during the Tang dynasty that a strong Chinese maritime presence could be found in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea into Persia, Mesopotamia (sailing up the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq), Arabia, Egypt, Aksum (Ethiopia), and Somalia in the Horn of Africa.^[95]

Sogdian–Türkic tribes (4th–8th centuries)

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 the Magyars, Armenians, and Chinese. The Silk Road reached its peak in the west during the time of the Byzantine Empire; in the Nile-Oxus section, from the Sassanid Empire period to the Il Khanate period; and in the sinitic zone from the Three Kingdoms period to the Yuan dynasty period. Trade between East and West also developed across the Indian Ocean, between Alexandria in Egypt and Guangzhou in China. Persian Sassanid coins emerged as a means of currency, just as valuable as silk yarn and textiles.^[96]

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.»^[97]

The Sogdians dominated the east–west trade after the 4th century up to the 8th century, with Suyab and Talas ranking among their main centres in the north. They were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia. Their commercial interests were protected by the resurgent military power of the Göktürks, whose empire has been described as «the joint enterprise of the Ashina clan and the Soghdians».^[72][98] 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.»^[99]

The Silk Road gave rise to the clusters of military states of nomadic origins in North China, ushered the Nestorian, Manichaean, Buddhist, and later Islamic religions into Central Asia and China.

Islamic era (8th–13th centuries)

By the Umayyad era, Damascus had overtaken Ctesiphon as a major trade center until the Abbasid dynasty built the city of Baghdad, which became the most important city along the silk road.

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 in Transoxiana, Tabriz in Northern Iran, realising the political unification of zones previously loosely and intermittently connected by material and cultural goods.^{[citation needed]}

The Islamic world expanded into Central Asia during the 8th century, under the Umayyad Caliphate, while its successor the Abbasid Caliphate put a halt to Chinese westward expansion at the Battle of Talas in 751 (near the Talas River in modern-day Kyrgyzstan).^[100] However, following the disastrous An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) and the conquest of the Western Regions by the Tibetan Empire, the Tang Empire was unable to reassert its control over Central Asia.^[101] Contemporary Tang authors noted how the dynasty had gone into decline after this point.^[102] In 848 the Tang Chinese, led by the commander Zhang Yichao, were only able to reclaim the Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang in Gansu from the Tibetans.^[103] The Persian Samanid Empire (819–999) centered in Bukhara (Uzbekistan) continued the trade legacy of the Sogdians.^[100] The disruptions of trade were curtailed in that part of the world by the end of the 10th century and conquests of Central Asia by the Turkic Islamic Kara-Khanid Khanate, yet Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Buddhism in Central Asia virtually disappeared.^[104]

During the early 13th century Khwarezmia was invaded by the Mongol Empire. The Mongol ruler Genghis Khan had the once vibrant cities of Bukhara and Samarkand burned to the ground after besieging them.^[105] However, in 1370 Samarkand saw a revival as the capital of the new Timurid Empire. The Turko-Mongol ruler Timur forcefully moved artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand, making it one of the most important trade centers and cultural entrepôts of the Islamic world.^[106]

Mongol empire (13th–14th centuries)

The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 1207 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-established the Silk Road (via Karakorum and Khanbaliq). 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.^[107] 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^[108]

The Mongol diplomat Rabban Bar Sauma visited the courts of Europe in 1287–88 and provided a detailed written report to the Mongols. Around the same time, the Venetian explorer Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China. His tales, documented in The Travels of Marco Polo, opened Western eyes to some of the customs of the Far East. He was not the first to bring back stories, but he was one of the most widely read. He had been preceded by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck, Benedykt Polak, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, and Andrew of Longjumeau. Later envoys included Odoric of Pordenone, Giovanni de’ Marignolli, John of Montecorvino, Niccolò de’ Conti, and Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan Muslim traveller who passed through the present-day Middle East and across the Silk Road from Tabriz between 1325 and 1354.^[109]

In the 13th century, efforts were made at forming a Franco-Mongol alliance, with an exchange of ambassadors and (failed) attempts at military collaboration in the Holy Land during the later Crusades. Eventually, the Mongols in the Ilkhanate, after they had destroyed the Abbasid and Ayyubid dynasties, converted to Islam and signed the 1323 Treaty of Aleppo with the surviving Muslim power, the Egyptian Mamluks.^{[citation needed]}

Some studies indicate that the Black 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.^[110] One theory holds that Genoese traders coming from the entrepot of Trebizond in northern Turkey 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.^[111]

Decline and disintegration (15th century)

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2020)

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 with gunpowder.^[113]

Partial revival in West Asia

Significant is Armenians 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. ^[114]

Collapse (18th century)

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2020)

The silk trade continued to flourish until it was disrupted by the collapse of the Safavid Empire in the 1720s.^[115]

New Silk Road (20th–21st centuries)

In the 20th century, the Silk Road through the Suez Canal and the overland connections were repeatedly blocked from the First World War on. This also applied to the massive trade barriers of the Cold War. It was not until the 1990s that the «old» trade routes began to reactivate again. In addition to the Chinese activities and the integration of Africa, this also applies to the increasing importance of the Mediterranean region and the connection to Central Europe such as the trade center of Trieste.

Trade along the Silk Road could soon account for almost 40% of total world trade, with a large part taking place by sea. The land route of the Silk Road seems to remain a niche project in terms of transport volume in the future. As a result of the Chinese Silk Road Initiative and investments, trade seems to be intensifying on the relevant routes.^{[116][117][118]}

Maritime Silk Road

The maritime Silk Road follows the old trade route that was opened by the Chinese admiral Zheng He during the early Ming Dynasty. In particular, the establishment of the lockless Suez Canal then strongly promoted maritime trade between Asia and Europe in this area. While many trade flows were interrupted in the 20th century by the World Wars, the Suez Crisis and the Cold War, from the beginning of the 21st century many of the trading centers that had already existed in the 19th century were activated again.^[116][119]

The Suez Canal was also continually expanded and its time-saving role in Asia-Europe trade was highlighted. At the beginning of the Maritime Silk Road are the major Chinese ports in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Ningbo-Zhoushan. The Chinese investments in Africa will connect large areas of Central and East Africa to the maritime Silk Road and thus to China and directly to southern Europe via the Suez Canal. The increasing importance of the Mediterranean as a trading center with its direct, fast connections to Central and Eastern Europe is evident from the international investments in port cities of Piraeus and Trieste. Trieste in particular plays a major role in the economic zone in Central Europe known as the Blue Banana. This includes a banana-shaped corridor from southern England via the Benelux region, western Germany and Switzerland to northern Italy. The transport via Trieste instead of northern ports such as Rotterdam and Hamburg shortens the delivery time from Shanghai by ten days and from Hong Kong by nine days. On the maritime Silk Road, on which more than half of all containers in the world are already on the move, deep-water ports are being expanded, logistics hubs are being built and new transport routes such as railways and roads in the hinterland are being created.^{[118][120][121][117][122][123][124][125][126][127]}

Today the maritime silk road runs with its connections from the Chinese coast to the south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo towards the southern tip of India via Malé, the capital of the Maldives, to the East African Mombasa, from there to Djibouti, then through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its international free port and its rail connections to Central Europe and the North Sea. As a result, Poland, the Baltic States, Northern Europe and Central Europe are also connected to the maritime silk road.^{[116][120][128][129]}

Railway (1990)

The Eurasian Land Bridge, a railway through China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, is sometimes referred to as the «New Silk Road».^[130] The last link in one of these two railway routes was completed in 1990, when the railway systems of China and Kazakhstan connected at Alataw Pass (Alashan Kou). In 2008 the line was used to connect the cities of Ürümqi in China’s Xinjiang Province to Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan.^[131] In October 2008 the first Trans-Eurasia Logistics train reached Hamburg from Xiangtan. Starting in July 2011 the line has been used by a freight service that connects Chongqing, China with Duisburg, Germany,^[132] cutting travel time for cargo from about 36 days by container ship to just 13 days by freight train. In 2013, Hewlett-Packard began moving large freight trains of laptop computers and monitors along this rail route.^[130] In January 2017, the service sent its first train to London. The network additionally connects to Madrid and Milan.^[133][134]

Revival of cities (1966)

After an earthquake that hit Tashkent in Central Asia in 1966, the city had to rebuild itself. Although it took a huge toll on their markets, this commenced a revival of modern silk road cities.^[135]

Belt and Road Initiative (2013)

During a September 2013 a visit to Kazakhstan, China’s Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced a plan for a New Silk Road from China to Europe. The latest iterations of this plan, dubbed the «Belt and Road Initiative» (BRI), includes a land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, with primary points in Ürümqi, Dostyk, Nur-Sultan, Gomel, the Belarusian city of Brest, and the Polish cities of Małaszewicze and Łódź—which would be hubs of logistics and transshipment to other countries of Europe.^{[136][137][138][139]}

On 15 February 2016, with a change in routing, the first train dispatched under the scheme arrived from eastern Zhejiang Province to Tehran.^[140] Though this section does not complete the Silk Road–style overland connection between China and Europe,^[139] but new railway line connecting China to Europe via Istanbul’s has now been established.^[141] The actual route went through Almaty, Bishkek, Samarkand, and Dushanbe.^[139]

Routes

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 and southern routes bypassing the Taklamakan Desert and Lop Nur. Merchants along these routes were involved in «relay trade» in which goods changed «hands many times before reaching their final destinations.»^[142]

Northern route

The northern route started at Chang’an (now called Xi’an), an ancient capital of China that was moved further east during the Later Han to Luoyang. The route was defined around the 1st century BCE when Han Wudi put an end to harassment by nomadic tribes.^{[143][citation needed]}

The northern route travelled northwest through the Chinese province of Gansu from Shaanxi Province and split into three further routes, two of them following the mountain ranges to the north and south of the Taklamakan Desert to rejoin at Kashgar, and the other going north of the Tian Shan mountains through Turpan, Talgar, and Almaty (in what is now southeast Kazakhstan). The routes split again west of Kashgar, with a southern branch heading down the Alai Valley towards Termez (in modern Uzbekistan) and Balkh (Afghanistan), while the other travelled through Kokand in the Fergana Valley (in present-day eastern Uzbekistan) and then west across the Karakum Desert. Both routes joined the main southern route before reaching ancient Merv, Turkmenistan. Another branch of the northern route turned northwest past the Aral Sea and north of the Caspian 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 and myrrh from Somalia; sandalwood from India; glass bottles from Egypt, and other expensive and desirable goods from other parts of the world.»^[144] In exchange, the caravans sent back bolts of silk brocade, lacquer-ware, and porcelain.

Southern route

The southern route or Karakoram route was mainly a single route from China through the Karakoram mountains, where it persists in modern times as the Karakoram Highway, a paved road that connects Pakistan and China.^{[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 northern Pakistan, over the Hindu Kush mountains, and into Afghanistan, rejoining the northern route near Merv, Turkmenistan. From Merv, it followed a nearly straight line west through mountainous northern Iran, Mesopotamia, and the northern tip of the Syrian Desert to the Levant, where Mediterranean trading ships plied regular routes to Italy, while land routes went either north through Anatolia or south to North Africa. Another branch road travelled from Herat through Susa to Charax Spasinu at the head of the Persian Gulf and across to Petra and on to Alexandria and other eastern Mediterranean ports from where ships carried the cargoes to Rome.^{[citation needed]}

Southwestern route

The southwestern route is believed to be the Ganges/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 at Wari-Bateshwar ruins, the ancient city with roots from much earlier, before the Bronze Age, presently being slowly excavated beside the Old Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. Ptolemy’s map of the Ganges Delta, a remarkably accurate effort, showed that his informants knew all about the course of the Brahmaputra River, crossing through the Himalayas then bending westward to its source in Tibet. 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 from Thailand and Java 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 as Sichuan–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 modern Bangladesh, 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, and Sonargaon, are believed to be the international trade centers in this route.^{[145][146][147]}

Maritime route

Maritime Silk Road or Maritime Silk Route refer to the maritime section of historic Silk Road that connects China to Southeast Asia, Indonesian archipelago, Indian subcontinent, Arabian peninsula, all the way to Egypt and finally Europe.^[148]

The trade route encompassed numbers of bodies of waters; including South China Sea, Strait of Malacca, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. The maritime route overlaps with historic Southeast Asian maritime trade, Spice trade, Indian Ocean trade and after 8th century – the Arabian naval trade network. The network also extended eastward to East China Sea and Yellow Sea to connect China with Korean Peninsula and Japanese archipelago.

Expansion of religions

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.^[149] Notably, established Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road offered a haven, as well as a new religion for foreigners.^[150]

The spread of religions and cultural traditions along the Silk Roads, according to Jerry H. Bentley, also led to syncretism. One example was the encounter with the Chinese and Xiongnu 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.^[151] 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.^[151]

Nomadic mobility played a key role in facilitating inter-regional contacts and cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Roads.^[152][153]

Transmission of Christianity

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.^[154]

Transmission of Buddhism

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 Emperor Ming (58–75). During this period Buddhism began to spread throughout Southeast, East, and Central Asia.^[158] Mahayana, Theravada, and Tibetan Buddhism are the three primary forms of Buddhism that spread across Asia via the Silk Road.^[159]

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.^[160] Buddha’s community of followers, the Sangha, consisted of male and female monks and laity. These people moved through India and beyond to spread the ideas of Buddha.^[161] 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.^[162] It is believed that under the control of the Kushans, Buddhism was spread to China and other parts of Asia from the middle of the first century to the middle of the third century.^[163] Extensive contacts started in the 2nd century, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim 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, or Kuchean.^[164]

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 of Merv, 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.^[165] 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.^[166]

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, with Fa-hsien’s pilgrimage to India (395–414), and later Xuanzang (629–644) and Hyecho, who traveled from Korea to India.^[167] The travels of the priest Xuanzang were fictionalized in the 16th century in a fantasy adventure novel called Journey 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 the Khotan region.^[166] 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.^[168] 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.^[63]

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.^[169] Merchants also helped to establish diaspora 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.^[170] The voluntary conversion of Chinese ruling elites helped the spread of Buddhism in East Asia and led Buddhism to become widespread in Chinese society.^[171] The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.

Judaism on the Silk Road

Adherents to the Jewish faith first began to travel eastward from Mesopotamia following the Persian conquest of Babylon in 559 by the armies of Cyrus the Great. Judean slaves freed after the Persian conquest of Babylon dispersed throughout the Persian Empire. Some Judeans could have traveled as far east as Bactria and Sogdia, though there is not clear evidence for this early settlement of Judeans.^[172] After settlement, it is likely that most Judeans took up trades in commerce.^[172] 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 as Rome, Judean merchants in Central Asia would have been in an advantageous position to participate in trade along the Silk Road.^[172] A group of Judean merchants originating from Gaul known as the Radanites were one group of Judean merchants that had thriving trade networks from China to Rome.^[172] This trade was facilitated by a positive relationship the Radanites were able to foster with the Khazar Turks. 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.^[172]

According to Richard Foltz «there is more evidence for Iranian influence on the formation of Jewish [religious] ideas than the reverse.» Concepts of a paradise (heaven) for the good and a place of suffering (hell) for the wicked, and a form or world-ending apocalypse came from Iranian religious ideas, and this is supported by a lack of such ideas from pre-exile Judean sources.^[172] The origin of the devil is also said to come from the Iranian Angra Mainyu, an evil figure in Persian mythology.^[172]

Expansion of the arts

Many artistic influences were transmitted via the Silk Road, particularly through Central Asia, where Hellenistic, Iranian, Indian and Chinese 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.^[173]

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.^[174]

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, the lapis lazuli, was a blue stone with golden specks, which was used as paint after it was ground into powder.^[175]

Commemoration

On 22 June 2014, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named the Silk Road a World Heritage Site at the 2014 Conference on World Heritage. The United Nations World Tourism Organization has been working since 1993 to develop sustainable international tourism along the route with the stated goal of fostering peace and understanding.^[176]

To commemorate the Silk Road becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the China National Silk Museum announced a «Silk Road Week» to take place 19–25 June 2020.^[177]

Bishkek and Almaty each have a major east–west street named after the Silk Road (Kyrgyz: Жибек жолу, Jibek Jolu in Bishkek, and Kazakh: Жібек жолы, Jibek Joly in Almaty). There is also a Silk Road in Macclesfield, UK.^[178]

Gallery

• Silk Road and artifacts

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

  Taldyk pass

• 

• 

  The ruins of a Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province

• 

  A late Zhou or early Han Chinese bronze mirror inlaid with glass, perhaps incorporated Greco-Roman artistic patterns

See also

References

Citations

Sources

Further reading

External links

• Silk Road Atlas (University of Washington)
• The Silk Road, a historical overview by Oliver Wild
• The Silk Road Journal, a freely available scholarly journal run by Daniel Waugh
• The New Silk Road – a lecture by Paul Lacourbe at TEDxDanubia 2013
• Escobar, Pepe (February 2015). Year of the Sheep, Century of the Dragon? New Silk Roads and the Chinese Vision of a Brave New (Trade) World, an essay at Tom Dispatch

1. Главная
2. Шелковый Путь

Шелковый Путь

Великий Шелковый путь — Путеводитель

Великий Шелковый путь… Что мы о нем знаем? Воображение сразу же рисует бескрайнее песчаное море знойной пустыни. Рассекая барханы, словно волны, бредут по ней нескончаемые караваны, нагруженные богатыми товарами…

Но, это только лишь часть истории. Великий Шелковый путь протянулся на тысячи километров, ведя караваны и по палящим пустыням, и по живописным оазисам, и по горным перевалам. На протяжении пути возникали, расцветали и опустошались города и целые цивилизации. Немало разрушительных войн, пожарищ, голода и мора видели древние города, расположенные вдоль Шелкового пути. Веками шумели разноязычные восточные базары, сотни лет по пыльным караванным дорогам везли купцы для продажи европейцам драгоценные шелка и каменья, пряности и красители, золото и серебро, экзотичных птиц и зверей.

Великий Шелковый путь –  грандиозный торговый маршрут, соединивший Восток и Запад и ставший причиной возникновения множества уникальных городов, исторических памятников, обычаев и даже государств.

Как же возник этот удивительный маршрут, ставший впоследствии источником культурного обогащения Запада и Востока? Обратимся к увлекательной истории Шелкового пути.

Страны на Великом Шелковом Пути

Китай- Кыргызстан — Казахстан — Таджикистан — Узбекистан — Туркмения — Иран — Азербайджан — Грузия

Маршруты Великого Шелкового пути

Великий Шелковый Путь никогда не был единой магистралью. В его систему входило несколько ветвей караванных дорог, которые проходили через разные перевалы в горных хребтах, в обход пустынь.

Первоначально Шелковый путь брал свое начало в Чаньани — древней столице Китая — и шли вдоль северного Тянь-Шаня к Дуньхуа – городу у окраины Великой Китайской стены. Здесь единая дорога разветвлялась, окаймляя с севера и юга пустыню Такла-Макан. Северная шла через Турфан в долину реки Или. Средняя (так называемый Южный путь) от Чаочана к южному берегу Иссык-Куля — через Хотан и Яркенд, вела в Бактрию (северный Афганистан). Здесь Южный путь расходился на два другие маршрута: один вел в Индию, другой на Запад и в Мерв, где сливался с Северным Путем. Далее, он проходил через Нису — столицу Парфии, Иран, Месопотамию и далее через Багдад шел в Дамаск, доходил до Средиземноморья. Далее о маршрутах Великого Шелкового пути.

История Великого Шелкового Пути

Основание Шелкового пути относят ко II веку до н.э., когда китайский посол Чжан Цянь посетил страны Центральной Азии с дипломатической миссией. До II в. до н.э. путь из Европы в Азию обрывался у границ Китая, так как горные системы Азии – Тянь-Шань, Кунь-Лунь, Каракорум, Гиндукуш, Гималаи — скрывали древнейшую китайскую цивилизацию от остального мира. Открыть богатейшее западное направление помог случай.

Товары Великого Шелкового Пути

Товары по Великому Шелковому Пути шли в основном с востока на запад. И, как это следует из названия, главным товаром в этом списке был шелк. Благодаря своей легкости, компактности, громадному спросу и дороговизне он являлся идеальным предметом торговли для перевозки на дальние расстояния.

Еще в средние века венецианский купец Марко Поло назвал эти караванные пути шелковыми. А в научный оборот термин «Великий шелковый путь» в 1877 году ввел немецкий исследователь Фердинанд Рихтгофен в своем фундаментальном труде «Китай». Далее о товарах Великого Шелкового Пути.

Дополнительно о Великом Шелковом Пути

Страны Шелкового пути

История и традиции

О шелке

Другое