Silk Road

The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes that was used from about the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. It stretched over 6,400 km (4,000 mi) on land. It helped people in the Eastern and Western worlds trade goods and share ideas, culture, politics, and religion.

The name "Silk Road" was first used in the late 19th century. Some historians of the 20th and 21st centuries prefer the name Silk Routes. They feel it better describes the many land and sea routes that linked Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia, as well as East Africa and Southern Europe. Some scholars disagree with the idea of silk roads altogether. They say older writings focused on the settled empires at either end of Eurasia and did not pay enough attention to the steppe nomads. The classic idea also leaves out important places such as India and Iran.

The Silk Road got its name from the valuable trade in silk textiles, which were primarily produced in China. The network began when the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) expanded into Central Asia around 114 BCE. The journeys of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian helped bring the region under unified control. The Chinese wanted to keep their trade goods safe, so they extended the Great Wall of China to help protect the trade route. The Parthian Empire acted as an important bridge connecting the network to the Mediterranean. The rise of the Roman Empire in the west created the western end of this connected trade system. By the first century CE, Chinese silk was in high demand in Rome, Egypt, and Greece. Other valuable goods from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, and porcelain. Goods from the West included horses, camels, honey, wine, and gold. The trade created great wealth for merchants. Goods such as paper and gunpowder greatly changed the course of history in many parts of Eurasia and beyond.

The Silk Road was used during a time of big changes across the continent, including major events such as the Black Death and the Mongol conquests. The network had no central control, and there was little safety. Travelers faced dangers from bandits, raiders, and long stretches of harsh land. Few people travelled the whole length of the Silk Road. Instead, they relied on a chain of middlemen based at different stopping points along the way. Besides goods, the network carried a large exchange of especially Buddhist religious, philosophical, and scientific ideas. Many of these ideas were syncretised by the societies along the way. People from many different backgrounds used the routes. Diseases such as plague also spread along the Silk Road and may have helped cause the Black Death.

From 1453 onwards, the Ottoman Empire competed with other gunpowder empires for greater control over the overland routes. This pushed European states to look for other paths and gain more influence over their trade partners. This was the start of the Age of Discovery, European colonialism, and a further growth in globalization. In the 21st century, the name "New Silk Road" is used for several large building projects along many of the old trade routes. Two of the best known are the Eurasian Land Bridge and China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). UNESCO named the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road a World Heritage Site in 2014, and the Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor in 2023. The Fergana-Syrdarya Corridor, the Indian and Iranian portions, and the remaining sites in China are still on tentative lists. Despite popular imagination, the Silk Road was never a single east-west route linking China to the Mediterranean. There was also no unrestricted trade before the Mongol Empire. It was a network of routes. Even Marco Polo, who is often linked to the Silk Road, never used the term, even though he travelled at a time when the Mongols made movement easier.

Name and contested significance

The Silk Road gets its name from the trade in silk, first developed in China. Silk was a major reason the trade routes joined into a large network across continents. The German term Seidenstraße (literally "Silk Road") became popular in 1877 thanks to Ferdinand von Richthofen. He made seven trips to China between 1868 and 1872. The name was already used for some decades before that. Some people also call it the "Silk Route." The name was created in the 1800s, but scholars and the public did not widely accept it until the 1900s. The first book called The Silk Road was written by Swedish geographer Sven Hedin in 1938.

Not everyone likes the name. Warwick Ball argues that the sea spice trade with India and Arabia was more important to the economy of the Roman Empire than the silk trade with China. He even calls the idea of one Silk Road a "myth" made up by modern scholars. The southern parts of the route, from Khotan (Xinjiang) to eastern China, were used for jade as early as 5000 BCE, long before silk. People still use them for this today. Some believe "Jade Road" would have been a better name, but the silk trade was much larger and reached much farther.

Routes

Further information: Cities along the Silk Road

Two main Silk Road paths started from Merv. One went through Nisa and the other through Sarakhs. They met again in Mashhad, a large city for religion and trade in Khurasan. The Silk Road had many routes. Going west from the old trading centres of China, it split into a northern route and a southern route. Both went around the Taklamakan Desert and Lop Nur. Merchants on these routes often used "relay trade." Goods changed "hands many times before reaching their final destinations."

The northern route began at Chang'an, which is now called Xi'an. This was an old capital of China. The route took shape around the 1st century BCE, when Han Wudi stopped nomadic tribes from attacking travellers. It went northwest through Gansu from Shaanxi Province. Its paths met again at Kashgar, then passed through Turpan and Talgar.

The southern route is also called the Karakoram route. Today it is still followed by the Karakoram Highway, which links Pakistan and China through the Khunjerab Pass. This route crossed the Hindu Kush into Afghanistan. It joined the northern route again near Merv in Turkmenistan. From there it went west to the Levant. Mediterranean ships then sailed from there to Italy.

Main article: Northern Silk Road

See also: Tea Horse Road

The southwestern route is believed to pass through the Ganges/Brahmaputra Delta. People around the world have been interested in this area for over two thousand years. Roman beads and other items have been found at the Wari-Bateshwar ruins, an ancient city in Bangladesh that is being dug up slowly. Gemstones and other goods from Thailand and Java were traded through the delta. Some writers suggest a route through Sichuan, Yunnan, Burma, and Bangladesh. The ancient cities of Mahasthangarh, Bhitagarh, Bikrampur, and Sonargaon are believed to have been important trade centres.

Main article: Maritime Silk Road

The Maritime Silk Road was the sea part of the old Silk Road. It connected Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian Peninsula, eastern Africa, and Europe. It began around the 2nd century BCE and was busiest until the 15th century CE. Most of its sailors were from the Austronesian peoples. They sailed large ships that travelled across the ocean, called trade ships. The dhows of Persian and Arab traders and Tamil merchants in South Asia also used this route. From the 10th to the 15th centuries CE, China built its own trade ships (chuán) and sailed the same routes. Ships could carry much more goods than caravans could. Traders could also sail the whole distance, instead of passing goods along in stages. Traders faced different dangers, such as bad weather and piracy. Despite its modern name, the Maritime Silk Road carried many kinds of goods, not just silk.

History

Main articles: Protectorate of the Western Regions, War of the Heavenly Horses, Han–Xiongnu War, and History of the Han dynasty

See also: Sino-Roman relations, China–India relations, and Zhang Qian

Further information: Byzantine–Mongol alliance

Further information: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks, Conquest of the Western Turks, Tang campaign against the Eastern Turks, and Tang dynasty § Trade and spread of culture

Further information: History of Islamic economics

See also: Mongol Empire, Pax Mongolica, and Fonthill Vase

Long before the Silk Road, people traded along older routes. Starting in the 2nd millennium BCE, nephrite jade was carried from mines near Yarkand and Khotan to China. Horse breeders in Central Eurasia used the Steppe Route. Silk from China even reached Ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean. Around 130 BCE, China's Han dynasty opened a land route across the Tarim Basin. This happened after the ambassador Zhang Qian shared what he had seen on his travels. Trade also grew by sea. In the time of the Roman Empire, Roman merchants bought silk, spices, glassware, and perfumes. They traveled by ship to India and beyond. The Roman Empire later declined, and the trade routes changed over time.

Later, the Byzantine Empire learned how to make silk. Emperor Justinian sent monks to bring back silkworm eggs. The Silk Road was reopened by the Tang Empire in 639, and it reached a golden age under the Tang dynasty. During the Islamic era, Baghdad became the most important city along the route. The Mongol Empire brought political stability and re-established the Silk Road. Marco Polo was one of the first Europeans to travel it to China. The Silk Road declined after the 15th century, when the Mongol Empire broke apart and its regions became separated. The silk trade continued until the collapse of the Safavid Empire in the 1720s disrupted it.

Expansion of religions

Further information: Nestorianism and Church of the East

Richard Foltz and Xinru Liu have explained that trade along the Silk Road carried more than goods. It also carried ideas, culture, and religions. Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Islam all spread across Eurasia through these trade routes. Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road gave travelers a place to stay and introduced them to a new religion. Jerry H. Bentley said this spread also led to syncretism, where cultures mixed together. The Xiongnu nomads adopted Chinese farming methods, clothing, and way of life. The Chinese also took some Xiongnu military methods, clothing, music, and dance. Some Chinese soldiers even chose to live the Xiongnu way of life. Christianity spread along the Silk Road mainly as Nestorianism. A stone monument from 781 shows Nestorian Christian missionaries arriving. Buddhism is said to have reached China in the 1st century CE, according to a partly legendary story about an envoy sent by the Chinese Emperor Ming. The three main forms of Buddhism that spread across Asia were Mahayana, Theravada, and Vajrayana.

Merchants played a large role in spreading religion, especially Buddhism, during the 5th and 6th centuries CE. They supported Buddhist monasteries, which gave them places to stay as they traveled between cities. They also helped spread Buddhism to the places they visited. Judean merchants also took part in Silk Road trade. A group called the Radanites built trade networks from China to Rome. Religious ideas traveled too. Richard Foltz noted that Iranian influence on Jewish ideas was stronger than the other way around. Concepts such as heaven and hell are linked to Iranian beliefs. The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism mostly ended around the 7th century, when Islam rose in Central Asia.

Expansion of the arts

Many artistic ideas traveled along the Silk Road, especially through Central Asia. Hellenistic, Iranian, Indian, and Chinese styles could mix there. Greco-Buddhist art is one of the clearest examples of this mixing. Silk was also a symbol of art and religion, and it was used as money in trade.

These influences can be seen in how Buddhism developed. For example, the Buddha was first shown in human form during the Kushan period. Many scholars think Greek influence helped make this happen. Greek and Indian styles also appear in later Buddhist art in China and other countries along the Silk Road. Many art goods were traded from east to west. One example is lapis lazuli, a blue stone with golden specks. People ground it into powder and used it as paint.

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. Since 1993, the World Tourism Organization of the United Nations has worked to help people travel along the route in ways that protect the land. The goal is to bring people together and help them understand each other.

To celebrate the Silk Road becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the China National Silk Museum announced a "Silk Road Week" for 19–25 June 2020. 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).