Silk Road And Trans-Saharan Trade Networks

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

During the time period 600 C.E. to 1450 C.E., trade networks were relied upon to transfer goods, ideas, and services. Both the Trans-Saharan and Silk Road trade routes depended on animals, luxury goods, and economic growth. However, the trade routes differed in animals, types of luxury goods, and success of economic growth.

18. The growth of cross cultural trade spread lliterary, artistic and cultural traditions influencing Islam in Africa and Southeast Asia, Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism in Eastern Asia, Buddhism and Hinduism in Southeast Asia, traditions of Inca and Toltec/Mexica in Meso-and Andean America.

Throughout early history, civilizations often sought to receive resources from afar to sustain their societies and keep themselves thriving, and to this end trade relations and eventually trade routes began to emerge. This aided civilizations in their discovery of foreign items that they may use to better their societies. These items traded ranged from complex technology to something as simple as nutmeg. The main trade routes that were utilized in East and South Asia were the silk road and the Indian Ocean Trade Network. In the 7th- 12th centuries, both the silk road and Indian ocean trade route had affected east and south Asia by the introduction of religions such as Buddhism changing government forms and altering the belief systems of society and changing how individuals live their daily lives, however differences were present in the impact that these routes had on daily lives, such as the Indian Ocean Trade Route giving rise to an entire new culture in Africa known as the Swahili and leading to the innovation of the sailing boat known as the Dhow, and the silk road led to the transmission of religion and resources throughout Eurasia and it led to utilization of caravans and animals as a means of trade.

Such as nomads and other travellers who were so different from each other allowed religion to have access to places they usually wouldn’t. The Silk Road allowed people an easy travel path in many different places, which was another draw for people to use the Silk Road. And because the Silk Road was so diverse in religion, it acted as a refuge for people to openly practice and worship their different types of religion, without the fear of being prosecuted for doing so. The Silk Road is so diverse was a draw for people to open schools for their religion creating an easy access to the education and learning of different religions. Buddhism was a religion that had many schools created because of the Silk Road and were constructed near the Silk Road. The text ‘Religions of the Silk Road’, supplies examples of how these schools were constructed and what main teachings were supplied to the students that attended

“The most significant commodity carried along this route was not silk, but religion. ” Buddhism, one of China’s largest religions was brought there from India via the Silk Road. This alone makes the Silk Road very significant because of the effect Buddhism has had on the world, especially China. Mingdi, a Han Emperor had a vision about Buddha and sent an official West to India. This official brought back two Buddhist Monks with him. From there Buddhism continually grew. The rise of Buddhism can be seen all along the Silk Road. With many different monasteries, statues, and artwork. Not only did the West have influences on China, China also had a huge influences on western civilizations.

The Silk Road was an intricate and evolving network of overland trade routes that linked China, India, and western Eurasia for centuries. The trade route was key to the diffusion and transportation of technology, goods, religions, and language throughout Asia, the Mediterranean, Africa and southern Europe. As the strongest link between major population centers in the largest landmass on earth, the Silk Road was one of the most important of all long-distance trade routes in human history.

The Silk Road Routes was a route that was established in order to increase trade of silk, paper, and other goods across China, India, and Central East Asia. Many merchants, missionaries, and travellers have used this road for traveling and trading from one end to another. Whilst the trade and travel, there was a multicultural transmission between China and India. As there was the trade with goods, there were transferrals of philosophies, beliefs, art, and culture through the Silk Road. Buddhism, which is a major religion that originated from India, became a big impact on those who crossed paths with Buddhist monks or those who practiced Buddhism from India. China was particularly impacted by this cultural transmission. Buddhism had influenced and even replaced major belief systems that already existed in China, through this, it even helped promote new forms of social and political thought, ideologies and even harmony among the belief systems in China. Although the establishment of the Silk Road routes was known for trade among China, India and Central Asia, it also became an aid for opening multicultural transmission of philosophy and beliefs between India and China, particularly the introduction and growth of Buddhism in China.

China had wide roads made of stone that were lined with trees by 100 BCE, and it continued to grow with the establishment of the Silk Road. (217) China became the start and end point for the Silk Road due to the highly-valued commodity of their silk. China’s silk led the way to making them the site of colossal trading centers. (233) During the establishment of the Silk Road, Buddhism became widely popular in China.

Buddhism and Christianity were impacted the most with the development of the Silk Road from 600C.E. to 1450 C.E. A great change in both religions, would be that they became more materialistic. Christianity, for example, began using silk covers and wall hangings. Christians also began to incorporate Greek philosophy and a few Roman aspects into their religion because of the spread of ideas along the Silk Road. Buddhism began to be incorporated with other religions, monasteries became more focused on wealth, leading to wealthy Buddhist leaders which opposed to the more modest rulers of the past.

Without the trade routes of the Silk Road, Buddhism may have not made it to the location where it would grow into one of the top five faiths in the world. In order to work its way to China, Buddhism first extended its power along the entire thousands of miles of Silk Road trail. In 399 AD, a monk called Fa-hsien recorded the original documentation of Buddhist dwellings thriving for hundreds of years in the Kingdom of Khotan, an ancient Buddhist civilization around the

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.

Multiple religions, such as Buddhism, gained many followers through word of mouth along the Silk Road, as did other ideas. They would not have spread if there was no effective and reliable way of spreading them. Arguably, there was no guarantee that those religions only

China has more than 5,000 years of history and has changed dramatically over time. Silk and the Silk Road were both responsible for much of the change, beginning when silk became well known and frequently demanded by other countries. Many routes were created, running through all parts of the world exporting silk. As the invention flourished, the routes intertwined to form a trading system that was created and expanded over time. This influential route became know as the Silk Road and soon "channeled merchants, pilgrims, immigrants, smugglers, refugees, soldiers and adventurers across this land" (Clark 139). There were two parts to this prominent route, the Northern and the Southern. The more vulnerable part was the Northern route because travelers encountered bandits more frequently, but the Southern route was also dangerous because it required traveling through desolated areas such as the Taklamakan Desert. Because of the harsh conditions, travelers would often venture the route in caravans led by camels. Nonetheless, the journey was still quite treacherous so people rarely traveled the entire route. Out of these many travelers, missionaries introduced their Buddhist beliefs that eventually overtook China's indigenous religion. As the new religion spread through China during the Tang and Han dynasties, the route became very active and China's economy reached its most prosperous and glorious time period. All of this was the result of the production of silk and usage of the

Africa was a very connected continent during the Silk Road era. A big part of the African culture was hunting, as hunters lived off the land and used hunting as the main food source. Part of this hunting lifestyle was painting their faces to blend in while hunting for their tribes. One of the most common fruits that we have today was domesticated and introduced to the modern world by Africa. Bananas were only originally domesticated in Africa, then they were introduced to the rest of the world through trade. Slaves worked on plantations and farmed these to use as a profitable trading material. Gold and fancy cloths were very valuable resources back then, and Africa had lots of it. Yet again, these were common materials for different African