I | INTRODUCTION |
Silk
Road, most important premodern trade route linking China, Central Asia,
Persia and western Asia, and Europe. A 19th-century German scholar named the
network of trails the Silk Road for the precious Chinese cloth that was
originally the most valuable and abundant commodity transported on it. Although
historians traditionally date the origin of the Silk Road to the 2nd century
bc, a trickle of goods—principally
jades, bronzes, and silks—was conveyed across Central Asia as early as about
1000 bc. Commerce persisted on the
Silk Road until ocean-borne trade surpassed and superseded trade on the land
route in the late 15th and early 16th centuries ad.
II | DEVELOPMENT OF THE SILK ROAD |
The Silk Road originated in the 2nd century
bc not from a desire for trade but
from considerations of defense. Chinese Emperor Wudi (reigned 141-87 bc) of the Han dynasty sent a court
official named Zhang Qian to Central Asia to seek allies against the Xiongnu,
pastoral nomads from Mongolia who repeatedly raided Chinese settlements during
this period. However, the Xiongnu captured Zhang while he was en route and
detained him for ten years. Zhang finally escaped from his captors and completed
his journey to Central Asia, only to have the local rulers rebuff his overtures
for an alliance with China. Although Zhang’s mission failed in its original
objectives, the information he conveyed to China about Central Asia, and vice
versa, made people in each area desire goods produced in the other. The Central
Asians, and later the Persians and the inhabitants of the Roman Empire, learned
of and began to covet Chinese products, particularly silk, leading to the
development of trade.
Political developments were vital in the
operation of the Silk Road. As caravans traversed Eurasia (the combined landmass
of Europe and Asia), they were vulnerable to wars, thieves, and other forms of
economic and political turmoil. The stable conditions that fostered trade
required strong, centralized governments. Stability was particularly necessary
in China and Persia, the two most important centers for Silk Road commerce. As
interest in trade was rising during the 2nd and 1st centuries bc, China’s Han dynasty and the empire
of Parthia in Persia were reaching the heights of their power, thus ensuring
optimal conditions for commerce. Simultaneously, the Roman Republic (and later
the Roman Empire) was flourishing. It controlled parts of western Asia and
provided a large market for luxury products, such as silk. Both the Han and
Roman emperors built roads within their own domains, thereby facilitating
caravan travel.
III | THE ROUTE |
The Silk Road consisted of several principal
routes. The different routes developed in response to environmental obstacles
and changing political circumstances.
All caravans traveling from east to west
left from Chang’an (modern Xi’an) in northern China. They traveled along the
Hexi Corridor (in modern Gansu province) between the Gobi Desert to the north
and the Nan Shan mountains to the south. At Jiayuguan the caravans left the
protection of the wall along China’s northern border (rebuilt centuries later as
the network of walls known as the Great Wall) and headed for Anxi.
The first major obstacle along the route
was the inhospitable Takla Makan desert, which lay just beyond Anxi. Here, some
travelers continued south, while others went north. The southern route passed
through Dunhuang, an oasis town that later emerged as a center of Buddhist
learning and art. At Dunhuang the path diverged again, one fork skirting the
Takla Makan to the south and the other to the north. The southern fork entered
the Tarim Pendi (the basin of the Tarim River) and then skirted the northern
flank of the Kunlun Mountains. Travelers rested at Hotan, an oasis town that
became an important jade center. The caravans then continued along the Kunlun to
the town of Kashi (Kashgar), in the foothills of the Pamirs mountain range,
where they rejoined travelers who circumvented the Takla Makan via the northern
fork.
The longer and more circuitous northern
route from Anxi detoured sharply north along the fringes of a desolate sector of
the desert. Once a caravan had reached Hami, however, it had completed the most
arduous and perilous leg of the journey. The caravan then followed the southern
foothills of the Tian Shan mountains via the towns of Turpan and Yanqi. The
northern route met up with the northern fork of the southern route at Korla
before reaching Kashi.
The route from Kashi to western Asia varied
considerably as new towns and empires waxed and waned during the approximately
1,500 years of trade along the Silk Road. All travelers, however, had to cross
one of the rugged mountain ranges that stretch across Central Asia. One route
headed west to cross the Tian Shan mountains, descending to Samarqand and
Bukhara (both in present-day Uzbekistan). This route then crossed the Amu Darya
river and continued to Merv (present-day Mary, Turkmenistan). The other route
ran south through the high Pamirs to Bactra (now Balkh, Afghanistan) before
winding its way to Merv. From Merv, travelers journeyed to Nishapur (now
Neyshābūr, Iran). Then, passing south of the Caspian Sea, some continued west to
Palmyra and the Mediterranean Sea, while others headed north for Byzantium
(later Constantinople; now İstanbul, Turkey). In later periods, the Persian
cities of Tabrīz, Shīrāz, and Eşfahān became vital political centers. As such,
these cities were important destinations for the merchants plying the Silk Road.
Few caravans or merchants traveled the whole
distance from Chang’an to western Asia. Goods were traded all along the route,
and new caravans would be organized to transmit the cargo to the next commercial
emporium. Oases, with supplies of food, water, and fresh horses and camels, were
vital for the smooth operation of the Silk Road. Multiethnic local residents who
spoke many different languages provided a valuable service, promoting
communication and trade with the traveling caravans. Central Asians and Persians
served as the principal traders on the route because Chinese rulers generally
prohibited their own merchants from traveling abroad.
IV | CARAVANS AND TRADE |
Journeys on the Silk Road entailed numerous
hardships and obstacles, as attested by travelers’ reports of the corpses they
encountered along the route. Some of the route’s difficulties arose from the
inhospitable climate and terrain it passed through. Traversing the desert was
extremely hazardous, as travelers had to cope with heat, thirst, and sudden
sandstorms. Accidental spillage or theft of water was a potential disaster. At
the high elevations of mountain passes, travelers encountered extremely low
temperatures. Icy conditions, avalanches, frostbite, and altitude sickness
threatened life and limb. To help overcome such obstacles, desert caravans
relied on camels to serve as pack animals. Camels could carry more weight and
required less water than any other available beast. Yet raising and maintaining
camels required expertise and was time-consuming and expensive. Travel could be
especially difficult in Central Asia, where the trade route generally took the
form of irregular trails rather than well-designed, well-marked, and
well-constructed roads. Winter snows and summer floods frequently obscured the
trails, making them difficult to find or, at times, impassable.
Bandit raids, bribes, and customs duties
added to the cost and danger of traveling on the Silk Road. Looters roamed the
desert and steppes, preying on caravans loaded with silk and other valuables.
Various kingdoms and towns along the route demanded payments in return for
permitting caravans to pass through their territories.
Considering the expense and insecurity of
Silk Road trade, its continuance for 1,500 years requires explanation. The
elites of western Asia and Europe were willing to pay substantial sums for
Chinese products, such as silk and porcelain, that no other people knew how to
produce. Merchants recognized the potential profits to be made from these goods.
With that incentive, they gambled on their ability to overcome the numerous
obstacles of the route and deliver their cargo intact.
While the long-distance Silk Road trade
enriched a few merchants, it had limited economic significance for the empires
it linked. Trade goods had to be low in volume and high in value because they
were carried on the backs of the limited number of camels in each caravan. Thus,
of necessity they were luxury items, not bulky raw materials or essential goods
for daily use. The oases and towns along the route, which were located in or
near remote areas, profited from the Silk Road trade and relied on it for their
existence. The great empires of Persia, China, and Rome, however, could easily
have survived without the commerce in luxury goods.
V | SPREAD OF RELIGION AND ART |
Although the economic significance of the
Silk Road was limited, its cultural impact was great. As merchants, artisans,
and missionaries traveled along the trade routes, they brought with them new
products, ideas, technologies, and aesthetic principles. For example, in the
late 2nd century ad, when the Han
dynasty was declining and China was in chaos, the Chinese people found stability
and comfort in a new religion introduced to them via Silk Road travelers. The
religion, Buddhism, had originated in northern India in the 6th century bc. It began to appear in Central Asian
oases and towns, finally spreading into China in the 1st century ad. Buddhism greatly influenced not only
the spiritual views of the Chinese but also their diets, funerary practices,
knowledge of the outside world, and arts, as well as the economic structure of
their society. The pagoda style in architecture, new designs and motifs in
painting, and sculptures of the historical Buddha and other Buddhist figures
contributed enormously to Chinese art (see Chinese Art and Architecture).
Spectacular Buddhist sculptures and paintings were produced in the Mogao caves
of Dunhuang and in Kyzyl (in present-day southeastern Russia), two vital
locations along the Silk Road.
VI | HEIGHT AND DECLINE OF THE SILK ROAD |
The fall of the Han dynasty in the early 3rd
century caused Silk Road trade to decline. However, the rise of the Tang dynasty
in the 7th century revived this commerce. In fact, the Tang period witnessed an
even greater quantity of goods flowing across Asia. Simultaneously, cultural
transmission increased, as Islam, Persian mystery religions, and Central Asian
music and dance reached China and influenced Chinese civilization.
The fall of the Tang in the early 10th
century dramatically curtailed trade. This trend reversed in the 13th century,
when the conquests of the Mongols ushered in an era of frequent and extended
contacts between East and West. Carving out the largest contiguous land empire
in world history, the Mongols expedited and encouraged travel across Eurasia.
For the first time, western Asians and Europeans could journey as far east as
China. Artisans, envoys, missionaries, and merchants—including Marco Polo—made
the trip. This increased contact created a demand for Asian goods in Europe, a
demand that eventually inspired the search for a sea route to Asia.
The discovery of a sea route from Europe to
Asia in the late 15th century around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope dealt a
damaging blow to the Silk Road trade. Ocean-going vessels could convey the
bulkier essential goods and raw materials that caravans on the Silk Road could
not. Sea trade also entailed less cost and experienced less harassment and
plunder than did land-based trade.
As long-distance overland trade ceased and
poor agricultural techniques increasingly changed fertile lands to deserts,
Central Asian towns and oases declined significantly. During the 18th and 19th
centuries most of Central Asia fell to either the expanding Qing dynasty of
China or to the Russian Empire. Chinese and Russian (and later Soviet)
authorities continued to rule the Islamic and Buddhist peoples of Central Asia
until recent times. Meanwhile, European archaeologists and explorers carted some
of the greatest artistic treasures out of the region. They sent these treasures
to the British Museum in London, England, the Musée Guimet in Paris, France, and
other museums in Europe.
VII | THE SILK ROAD TODAY |
Although the Silk Road no longer exists as
a trade route, sites along its course remain important tourist destinations.
These sites include the ancient trading metropolises of Samarqand, Bukhara, and
Khiva, and the towns of Dunhuang, Kashi, and Turpan, with their artistic and
architectural treasures.
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