Essay on Life Along the Silk Road

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes that extended from the Mediterranean to China. These trade routes nurtured the spread in religion, diseases, wealth, culture, and products. Buddhism became the dominant faith

The Silk Road, a series of passageways connecting China with the Mediterranean completely changed the world. These series of trade routes allowed the advancement of technology and cultural diversity like never seen before. These routes connected many different civilizations allowing the exchange of goods and ideas. This variety of nationalities made it a “Cultural Bridge between Asia and Europe. ” Before these pathways were established trade was nearly impossible due to extreme desert conditions and high mountain tops. Many people died making the journey, even after the trade routes were established. So why make the trip? How did the Silk Road impact history?

From the view point of author James A. Millward, The Silk Road was more than caravans and tents, it was an ancient form of globalization, and it was more than just a one lane road. Millward brings up three points that solidify his point of view. Idea one is, "Yet the idea of the Silk Road-or silk roads-has come to mean many things beyond brocades and caravans, and in its broadest concept...it stands for the idea that humanity has thrived most when connected across its far-flung habits by the exchange of goods, ideas, art, and people." (Millward pg. 2) This brings to light the ideas that the Silk Road was more than just a one lane path of which silk fabric and pasta was traded along. Later in that same section Millward talks about when Hillary

David Christian proved his passion for digging deeper into history through use of writing the article “Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History," published in the eleventh edition of the Journal of World History, in the spring of 2000 by the University of Hawaii Press. Christian points out that trans-ecological exchanges are not fully appreciated and recognized in conventional historiography about the Silk Roads; he believes they should be—since they play an important role in the expansion of the roads in the North and were apart of the flourishing of the Silk Roads. In David’s article, he recognizes different interpretations of the Silk Roads throughout different regions and time periods and relies on a plethora of sources to do.

The Silk Road, a series of passageways connecting China with the Mediterranean, completely changed the world. These trade routes allowed the advancement of technology and cultural diversity like never before seen. These routes connected many different civilizations allowing the exchange of goods and ideas. This variety of nationalities made it a “Cultural Bridge between Asia and Europe. ” Before these pathways were established trade was nearly impossible, due to extreme desert conditions and high mountain tops. Many people died making the journey, even after the trade routes were established. So why make the trip? How did the Silk Road impact history?

The Silk Road went through towns and lead straight to the town that they needed to go to. They had to go through mountains but it was easier than having to go through the desert and around the towns.

Imagine traveling into an area with burning summers, freezing winters, and limited resources. A time where the internet has not been invented, where traveling is long, hard, and often deadly. These are the circumstances that adventures dealt with when traveling throughout Asia on the famous Silk Road. It is often thought that the Silk Road consists of one main route when in fact it is various roads under a unified name. The Silk Road connected that time periods views regarding social class, gender roles, violence and religions. The book, Religions of the Silk Road, written by Richard Foltz brings these points to life.

The Silk Road was not a single road, it was an entire network of trade routes connecting China and many other countries throughout Asia and the Middle East. This network acquired its name from the beautiful, fine desired silk fabrics from China although it was not called the Silk Road till later in 1877 by Ferdinand von Richthofen. The Silk Road stenches 4000 miles from China to Europe although the path stenches that far people almost never make the whole trip for the road had varying paths to stop on and hidden dangers. The Silk Road was a major accomplishment for ancient China because it allowed the spread of culture, technologies, goods and customs to the Middle East even as far as Egypt. The same was true for customs and traditions coming

The Silk Road which started in 200 BCE and ended it in 1450 CE has its own changes and continuities. Trade flourished between the Asian and Europe at the time and as time went on its sole purpose of trading expanded to many other purposes and affect not only the area it contacted. Although there were many continuities during the time but it has more significant changes that occurred and also impact the world.

Study of the Silk Road has made it obvious that Eurasian history was more than isolated histories of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, and China. In reality, for several thousand years, the Silk Road ensured that these regions were never

The Silk Road played a vital role in aiding the interaction between India and China and multicultural transmissions, however, its purposes were primarily used to increase trade. Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen created the term “Silk Road” in 1877

In the book, Life along the Silk Road by Susan Whitfield, accounts of individuals living along the Silk Road were reconstructed to provide readers the personal experiences each faced. Focusing on The Princess’s Tale chapter, it tells a story of a woman named Taihe, an imperial princess, who was chosen to fulfill a promise to a Uygur khagan. It was tradition to send off a princess to another kingdom in order to keep peace and form an alliance. Providing an account of Taihe’s journey of over a thousand miles to the palace, Whitfield gave an insight look of the struggles a court would go through just to keep a harmonious balance among kingdoms.

During the outward-looking rule of China's Tang dynasty (seventh-ninth century C. E. ), sophisticated people in northeastern Iran developed such a taste for expensive, imported Chinese pottery that they began to imitate it in great quantity for sale to people who could not afford the real thing. And in northern China there was a vogue for beautiful pottery figurines of camels laden with caravan goods or ridden by obviously non-Chinese merchants, musicians, or entertainers. Non-Chinese camel figurines found in Mesopotamia carry loads that duplicate the distinctive appearance of the loads on the Chinese figurines. So it is clear that by the time of the rise of Islam in the seventh century, contact across the Silk

Many thousands of years ago, upon the earliest creations of civilization, there were two thriving civilizations. Both of which knew little to nothing about each other’s existence. In this ancient world, there was no connection of the two civilizations, no trade in commerce or culture. It was not until the second century BC that Europe and Eastern Asia interacted in a significant way. What is known as “The Silk Road” was established during the Han Dynasty of China, it was a network of trade routes that created a link between these two regions during this ancient world (ancient.eu). Though these routes have history prior to the Han Dynasty, this is when many historians see the routes in full practice. This time during the second century BC was crucial in the connection of these separately thriving civilizations, connecting them through commerce, religion, and exploration.

The lives of writers and artists are very similar yet very different at the same time. By today’s standards there are far more writers than artists, well at least there are more writers that we hear about in the media. But back during the time of the Silk Road, they were both just as equally in demand and popular. At some points, one was more popular and in demand than the other but it all equaled out eventually. The most important thing about the writers and artists is the stories that they both leave behind. Without them we would have no idea how we all came to be and we would be left wondering about our ancestors and the past in general. Here are the similar yet different stories of the writers and artists of the Silk Road.