What is
the Silk Road?
The "Silk Road" is the term given by the 19th century German writer
Baron von Richthofen to a trade route which connected China and ancient
Rome. This important trade route appears to have first been
traveled by General Zhang Qian on a political mission to recruit forces
to fight against the Huns. Of the 100 men who left Chang'an, only
two came back, and that was thirteen years later. When Zhang
returned to the rulers of the Han Dynasty, he brought tales of numerous
new cultures -- and superior war horses. Future parties were sent
out with the goal of acquiring these horses, and they took silk with
them for trade.
As they crossed through Central Asia, they traded with merchants who
had already had contact with traders and merchants from places like
Persia and Syria. The Roman desire for silk seems to have begun
in 53 BC when the Romans first encountered silk after being defeated in
battle by the Parthians. Eventually, the Silk Road became a
"two-way"
street, with Chinese silks ending up in Rome and glass ending up in
China. In between these two poles, however, an incredible mix of
cultures and exchange of commodities took place.
By the 12th century AD, the heyday of the Silk Road has drawn to a
close. A myriad of political, financial, religious, and even
geographic factors contributed to the demise of the Silk Road as the
preeminent means of trade between East and West. As the trading
posts ceased to be useful -- and water supplying them began to dry up
-- many of the marketplace towns across Central Asia began to
disappear, some almost overnight.
Although trade and travel through the region continues to this day, the
spread of sericulture throughout the West and the advent of sea routes
for trade have reduced the centrality of the Silk Road since the time
of the Mongols.
It must finally be admitted, however, that the term "Silk Road" is
somewhat misleading, as silk was certainly not
the only commodity being traded. Furthermore, there were numerous
routes across Central Asia, rather than a single path that the name
suggests. Regardless of which path was required, however, the
journey was a long and arduous one. The caravaning travelers
had to contend with extremes of heat and cold as well as violent
marauders. Despite the adversity they faced, our world's current
cultural understandings of East and West, as well as our understandings
of globalization, international trade, and exploration have been
affected radically altered by their journeys along the Silk Road.
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