Silk Road Legacy Analysis

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.

The Silk Road had a large impact on the spread of religion. It was a meeting place for a lot of different types of people, from traders to merchants, and carpenters and sellers of food or produce. Religious beliefs of the peoples of the Silk Road changed radically over time and was largely due to the effects of travel and trade on the Silk Road itself. The trade route allowed religion to travel far and fast through the stories and communication of the people who travelled the Silk Road, which is how so many different religions occurred during this time and why they were so widespread. Islam was one of the religions to flourish and thrive in the environment of the Silk Road, it was one of the fastest spreading religions and became a dominant religion, because of the Silk Road it is still one of the largest religions today.

Trautmann in his book, India: Brief History of a Civilization. Much like Millward, Trautmann’s thesis on the Silk Road is “we could say that civilizations cast a penumbra beyond them, like the half-shadow around an eclipsed moon or sun. It is a useful metaphor by which to think about the wider world beyond India proper, that was affected by India and that bears durable marks of its influences." (Trautmann pg. 128) The culture of India was impacted by the trading of the Silk Road, common Indian jewelry contained gold and red coral of which came from the Mediterranean as it was the only place the coral of that hue could be found. In exchange they received gemstones, pearls, ivory, steel sword blades, bronze vessels, and textiles. Textiles from India have been found in numerous countries including Egypt where an Indian block-print cotton fabric from Gujarat dating about the 11th century was found (pg. 139) Not only were material objects traded on the Silk Road but so were ideas and languages, "with Indian religions came the study of Sanskrit and Pali & the formations of scripts based on Indian ones, scripts that continue today in Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia."(pg. 136) It is seen that Buddhism and Hinduism, both polytheistic religions show many commonalities besides the worshipping of multiple higher entities. Also evident along other portions of the Silk Road, are Indian forms of Astronomy, calendar making and time

Christian recognizes that the Silk Roads are ingrained into historiography of China, the Mediterranean world, inner and central Asia, and also play a vital role as “links between different regions of the Afro-Eurasian landmass.” As mentioned previously, this article observes that historiography focuses on the trade between trans-civilizational societies and credits them as important to expansion and success of empires and trans-civilizational regions. In later centuries, the historiography describes the flux and flow of the Silk Roads’ flourishing. Through the use of sources, Christian describes these successes to have been at peak from 100 CE to the first, second and third centuries.

“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.

Witten on Document D, it is said that they had to go through the Gobi and Taklimakan desert, instead, they went along the Silk Road and they went through the mountains instead.

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.

Beginning in 1998, Yo-Yo Ma one of the world's greatest cellists initiated the Silk Road Project. This project explored the creative, and cultural traditions of the countries along the ancient trade route known as the Silk Road. The land route extended, from Middle Eastern countries on the Mediterranean Sea to East Asian countries bordering the Pacific Ocean. A chamber music ensemble called the Silk Road Ensemble performed works specially created, or commissioned for the project. The 2006-2007 season was devoted to partnering with the City of Chicago the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Art Institute for a series of concerts, exhibits and other events. Professional workshops produced in collaboration with the Tanglewood Music Center

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

Susan Whitfield writes Life along the Silk Road based on character stories occurring between the eight and tenth century, all living at different times. She writes this history for several reasons. First, she writes it to change the negative perception of the history of Central Asia that we know through the annals of its neighbors. By explaining the history of the region through the eyes of its own occupants, it rids the history of any distorted views from neighboring civilizations. She uses the comparison of trying to examine the life of the Atlantic Ocean by studying the ecology of Europe. Another perception Whitfield attempts to overcome is that of the present day Silk Road. Today, it is largely Islam, and it is occupied by Turkic

The article, “A Silk Road Legacy: The Spread of Buddhism and Islam” by Xinru Liu, takes up the challenge of exploring the religions and social life of Central Asian people both before and after Islamization. The article focuses on how well established Buddhism was in Central Asia before Islam, the Arab conquest and how Islam was introduced to Central

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.

he Sogdians people had been the central role of the commercial affairs along the Silk Road from the 2nd or 3rd century to 8th century (Rong and Zhang, 2004; Grenet, 2005). While traveling between Central Asia and China, the Sogdians also communicated with variable cultures; therefore, they played essential roles in the cultural exchange between the West and the East. The unique position made the Sogdian art present multicultural aspects.