Unraveling the History of the Silk Road and Its Cultural Impact

The Silk Road: An Ancient Beginning to Globalization

The Historical Significance of the Silk Road

Before the world became Eurocentric, China was the crucible of progress and the mightiest trading empire. The two centuries around the Christian era saw the evolution of a network of trade routes known as the Silk Road. This network connected China to many major cities in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Historical readings suggest that this road network marked the real beginning of globalization.

The Taklamakan Desert in Central China, once traversed by Silk Road caravans carrying immense riches, now lies as a barren expanse of sand. Today, China conducts nuclear testing there. Time indeed changes everything.

The Taklamakan Desert: A Treacherous Journey

Peter Hopkirk, the author of a best-selling book on the Silk Road, quotes Sven Hedin, a Swedish geographer and travel writer, who called the Taklamakan “the most dangerous desert in the world.” This region was marked by treacherously steep and narrow pathways, debilitating cold, and sandstorms so fierce they were dubbed black hurricanes. These storms turned the sky black when unleashed, creating a landscape filled with death and danger at every turn. Yet, trading caravans traversed these roads in large numbers.

Hopkirk's book, titled Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia, published in 1980, offers a fascinating account of how six foreigners took away historical treasures and artifacts from Central China along the Silk Road. To see these alluring fragments from Silk Road antiquity, one must now visit museums and institutions in at least a dozen countries, including Germany, France, Britain, and Sweden.

The Birth of the Silk Roads

The Han dynasty of China played a crucial role in establishing this trade route. Chang Ch’ien was the envoy sent by the Han emperor in the 2nd century BCE to discover far-off countries. He was captured by the fierce Huns, a Turkish nomadic warrior tribe, on his journey. The path to Europe lay through Hun territory.

Chang Ch’ien escaped captivity twice, and it took him 13 years to report back to the Chinese emperor. Through his travels, Chinese traders learned about Persia, Samarkand, and other regions of Afghanistan and Central Asia. Gradually, the Chinese developed trade routes to these places. Hopkirk gave Chang Ch’ien the title "father of the Silk Road."

The Allure of Chinese Silk

The German traveler and geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen coined the term 'Silk Road' in his 5-volume book series China: The Results of My Travels and the Studies Based Thereon, published from 1877 to 1912. The story of this road is also about a new kind of currency that China developed to win over both friends and foes: Chinese silk. This luxurious cloth, woven by skilled craftsmen, became a highly sought-after commodity.

Silk created a trade pathway that crossed continents, becoming known and celebrated worldwide. Not only silk but many other goods traveled the Silk Road. This route eventually meandered through the Hindu Kush mountains and the Mongolian steppe, reaching the Mediterranean Sea on its European side and crossing the Himalayas on the Indian side.

For centuries, the technology of silk manufacturing was a closely guarded secret in China. Interestingly, the Romans initially believed that silk grew on trees.

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

Goods and Ideas: The Exchange of Cultures

The Silk Route stretched 4,000 miles. From 200 BC to 200 CE, nomads and merchants ventured into this treacherous yet exciting journey, carving this path out of sheer perseverance. They survived through diplomacy and daring, as the journey often compelled it. Huns and other nomadic tribes frequently raided travelers along the route, looting and killing them.

Interestingly, Buddhism, a peaceful endeavor compared to the chaos of these foot trails, captured the world's attention and spread through this route. The journey of Buddhism along the Silk Road was a reverse migration, traveling from India to other Asian regions.

Looking back from today's safer world, one can only imagine the camel or horse caravans traversing the desolate landscape of the Taklamakan, the Eurasian mountains, and the yellow grasslands. These caravans carried sacks full of silk, jade, clay pots, rice, tea, and even gold, all while clouds of fear and uncertainty loomed overhead.

Where Exactly Lies the Silk Route?

Britannica's website explains that the Silk Route connected China to the western world and Asia, providing a map showing its major roads and travel routes. As the map indicates, Rome was a significant destination for Chinese traders, where they sold silk and artifacts. In the process, they unknowingly became carriers of ideas, including Christianity, which reached China via this route.

Rudiments of the ancient path can be traced back to 550 BCE, with a 1,500-kilometer-long Persian Royal Road extending from Susa, the abode of the Persian king Darius, to Turkey. The Silk Route, on the other hand, spanned from Xi'an, a flourishing city in central China, across the Taklamakan Desert and mountain stretches, along the Great Wall of China, and branching towards the Mediterranean and Indian Peninsula.

Caravans met at various points along this path, exchanging goods before setting off to farther destinations. Goods destined for Europe would eventually reach the Levant, a term for the countries lining the Mediterranean coast, including Venice, Tyre, and Sidon. From the Levant region, goods were transported across the Mediterranean Sea in ships.

The Decline of the Silk Route

When empires and kingdoms rise and fall, so too do the trade and commerce they protect and facilitate. Trade along the Silk Route became increasingly risky after the mighty Roman Empire collapsed, losing power to Arabian and Mongol forces. However, the Mongols revived this grand pathway in the 13th and 14th centuries, enabling the legendary traveler Marco Polo to arrive in China and report its glory to the world. Some historians believe that the Silk Route also facilitated the spread of the bubonic plague into Europe.

The prominence of the Silk Road declined as the Byzantine Empire, a Greek legacy left by Alexander, withered away. The rise of the Ottoman Empire led to the closure of the Silk Road. Traders struggled to find alternate routes to the west and the Indian Peninsula.

However, Vasco da Gama soon discovered a new sea route to Asia, circumventing the African peninsula and the Cape of Good Hope. This new route eliminated the need to traverse the treacherous Silk Road, where bandits and difficult terrains posed constant threats. The sea route became a safer option for trade.

Despite its decline, the Silk Road was not entirely abandoned. As recently as the 17th century, the renowned Chinese traveler Huan-Tsang crossed the desert and reached India through Afghanistan. He remarked that the noxious sandstorms in the Taklamakan were the handiwork of demons and evil forces, a belief shared by many in China.

The Role of Horses in the Genesis of the Silk Road

The Chinese traded silk and other luxury artifacts with the Greco-Bactrian Empire and the Ferghana kingdom. This trade alliance provided China with access to well-bred and sturdy horse breeds, which helped the Chinese army combat the Huns and other nomadic tribes on China’s borders. Horse riding later became the easiest mode of transport for the Silk Road. One wonders if the Silk Route would have existed without horses.

What Remains of the Silk Road?

The Silk Road once connected cities across Asia, Africa, and Europe. Today, a road from Pakistan to Xinjiang in China remains, representing just a tiny part of the original Silk Road. It is a parched fragment of history, hanging by an old silk thread of material culture amidst the ferocious hurricanes that drive the modern world.

References

britannica.com

Peter Hopkirk’s 1980 book, Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia.

waddesdon.org.uk

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan

The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia by Frances Wood.