1.

Silk Road
By Joshua J. Mark
Published on 28 March 2014
Www.ancient.eu/Silk Road/

2. Silk Road
By Joshua J. Mark
Published on 28 March 2014

TheSilkRoadwasa
networkoftraderoutes,
formallyestablished
duringtheHanDynasty
ofChina

ThehistoryoftheSilk
RoadpredatestheHan
Dynastyinpractice

Www.ancient.eu/Silk Road/

3. Silk Road

Oliver Wild, 1992

http://www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html

The development of
these Central Asian
trade routes caused
some problems for
the Han rulers in
China.

Origin: A trading
rout that was very
famous.
Purpose: To trade
goods and to
travel.
Value
Limitations
Origin: The silk
road has a vast
history.
Purpose: To
explain how Han
Dynasty helped
secure the silk
road.
Value:
Limitations
Origin-The Silk
road and how it
caused problems
for the Hans
Purpose-Trade rout
and how it caused
problems.i
Value
Limitations
Origin: It was not
only to trade of silk
but also the trade
of

TheSilkRoadwasnota
traderoutethatexisted
solelyforthepurposeof
http://www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html
tradinginsilk;many
othercommoditieswere
Purpose
alsotraded,fromgold
andivorytoexotic
Value
animalsandplants.
4. Silk Road

Oliver Wild, 1992

5. Wu, Annie. "History of the

Silk Road." China Highlights.
September 20, 2015, n.d.
Web. 03 Feb. 2016.

The Silk Road is

actually the
collective name
given to a number
of ancient trade
routes linking

Limitations
Origin-Different
routes connected
to create the silk
road.
Purpose

China and Central

Asia.
6. "China Magazine Chinese Culture - The Silk
Road: The Most Influential
Land Route." China
Magazine - Chinese Culture
- The Silk Road: The Most
Influential Land Route. N.p.,
09 Feb. 2016. Web. 09 Feb.
2016.
7. "China Magazine Chinese Culture - The Silk
Road: The Most Influential
Land Route." China
Magazine - Chinese Culture
- The Silk Road: The Most
Influential Land Route. N.p.,
09 Feb. 2016. Web. 09 Feb.
2016.
8. "History of Silk Road."
History of China Silk Road:
Development, Significance,
Travelers. N.p., n.d. Web. 10
Feb. 2016.
9. Silk Road
By Joshua J. Mark
Published on 28 March 2014
Www.ancient.eu/Silk Road/

10.

Paper, the printing

press, the compass
and gunpowder
came down the Silk
Road to Europe.

It brought the
Bubonic
Plague/Black Death
to the West. In the
1300s, the Mongol
Emperor of China
had an empire that
extended from
Korea to Hungary.
Silk was the major
trade product.

Value
Limitations
Origin-Made
products availed in
other places.
Purpose-To trade
goods to other
States and
countrys.
Value
Limitations
Origin
Purpose
Value
Limitations
Origin
Purpose
Value

The greatest value

of the Silk Road
was the exchange
of culture. Art,
religion,
philosophy,
technology,
language, science,
architecture.

Limitations
Origin
Purpose
Value
Limitations
Origin
Purpose
Value
Limitations

Document 1: TheSilkRoadwasanetworkoftraderoutes,formallyestablished
duringtheHanDynastyofChina,whichlinkedtheregionsoftheancientworldin
commerce.AstheSilkRoadwasnotasinglethoroughfarefromeasttowest,historians
haveincreasinglyfavoredthetermSilkRoutes,though'SilkRoadisthemorecommon
andrecognizedname.BothtermsforthisnetworkofroadswerecoinedbytheGerman
geographerandtraveler,FerdinandvonRichthofen,in1877CE,whodesignatedthem
'Seidenstrasse(silkroad)or'Seidenstrassen(silkroutes).Thenetworkwasused
regularlyfrom130BCE,whentheHanofficiallyopenedtradewiththewest,to1453CE,
whentheOttomanEmpireboycottedtradewiththewestandclosedtheroutes.

Document 2: ThehistoryoftheSilkRoadpredatestheHanDynastyinpractice,
however,asthePersianRoyalRoad,whichwouldcometoserveasoneofthemainarteries
oftheSilkRoad,wasestablishedduringtheAchaemenidEmpire(500330BCE).The
PersianRoyalRoadranfromSusa,innorthPersia(moderndayIran)totheMediterranean
SeainAsiaMinor(moderndayTurkey)andfeaturedpostalstationsalongtheroutewith
freshhorsesforenvoystoquicklydelivermessagesthroughouttheempire.Herodotus,
writingofthespeedandefficiencyofthePersianmessengers,statedThereisnothingin
theworldthattravelsfasterthanthesePersiancouriers.Neithersnow,norrain,norheat,nor
darknessofnightpreventsthesecouriersfromcompletingtheirdesignatedstageswith
utmostspeed"(theselines,fromhisHistories,8.98,wouldcenturieslaterformthecreedof
theUnitedStatesofAmericaspostoffice).ThePersiansmaintainedtheRoyalRoad
carefullyand,intime,expandeditthroughsmallersideroads.Thesepathseventually
crosseddownintotheIndiansubcontinent,acrossMesopotamia,andoverintoEgypt.

Document 3: The development of these Central Asian trade routes caused

some problems for the Han rulers in China. Bandits soon learnt of the precious
goods travelling up the Gansu Corridor and skirting the Taklimakan, and took
advantage of the terrain to plunder these caravans. Caravans of goods
needed their own defense forces, and this was an added cost for the
merchants making the trip. The route took the caravans to the farthest extent
of the Han Empire, and policing this route became a big problem. This was
partially overcome by building forts and defensive walls along part of the
route. Sections of `Great Wall' were built along the northern side of the Gansu
Corridor, to try to prevent the Xiongnu from harming the trade; Tibetan
bandits from the Qilian Mountains to the south were also a problem. Sections
of Han dynasty wall can still be seen as far as Yumen Guan, well beyond the
recognized beginning of the Great Wall at Jiayuguan. However, these
fortifications were not all as effective as intended, as the Chinese lost control
of sections of the route at regular intervals.

Document 4: TheSilkRoadwasnotatraderoutethatexistedsolelyforthepurpose
oftradinginsilk;manyothercommoditieswerealsotraded,fromgoldandivorytoexotic
animalsandplants.Ofallthepreciousgoodscrossingthisarea,silkwasperhapsthemost
remarkableforthepeopleoftheWest.ItisoftenthoughtthattheRomanshadfirst
encounteredsilkinoneoftheircampaignsagainsttheParthiansin53B.C,andrealized
thatthisrelativelyunsophisticatedpeoplecouldnothaveproducedit.Theyreputedly
learntfromParthianprisonersthatitcamefromamysterioustribeintheeast,whothey
cametorefertoasthesilkpeople,`Seers'.Inpractice,itislikelythatsilkandothergoods
werebeginningtofilterintoEuropebeforethistime,thoughonlyinverysmallquantities.
TheRomansobtainedsamplesofthisnewmaterial,anditquicklybecameverypopularin
Rome,foritssofttextureandattractiveness.TheParthiansquicklyrealizedthattherewas
moneytobemadefromtradingthematerial,andsenttrademissionstowardstheeast.The
Romansalsosenttheirownagentsouttoexploretheroute,andtotrytoobtainsilkata
lowerpricethanthatsetbytheParthians.Forthisreason,theRomanssawthetraderoute
totheEastasarouteforsilkratherthantheothergoodsthatweretraded.Thename`Silk
Road'itselfdoesnotoriginatefromtheRomans,however,butisanineteenthcentury
term,coinedbytheGermanscholar,vonRichthofen.

Document 5: The Silk Road is actually the collective name given to a

number of ancient trade routes linking China and Central Asia.
The long and winding part in Northwest China, with a history of more
than two thousand years, starts from the old capitals of Luoyang and
Xi'an, crosses the Yellow River at Lanzhou, follows the "Gansu
Corridor", and stretches along the edge of deserts and mountain
ranges. Silk, the most luxurious fabric of all was almost exclusively
7: Another
powerful
effect
the SilktoRoad:
made in China Document
until the secret
was revealed
in the
7thof
century
the it brought the
Bubonic
Plague/Black
Death
to theAsian
West.merchants,
In the 1300s, the Mongol
West. This precious
commodity
attracted
Central
Emperor
of
China
had
an
empire
that
extended
from
Korea to Hungary.
who in exchange brought horses, cattle, furs, hides, and luxuries,
such
His to
golden
passport allowed many more travelers to make the journey
as ivory and jade,
China.
safely to China (such as Marco Polo). But traders and armies also carried
the Black Death. Bacteria in fleas that lived on rats caused this; this was
easily transmitted to humans. The disease had existed in Asia for
centuries, but Europeans had no immunity to it. Thus in the 1300s, the
disease
killed
a
third
ofmany
the European
population.
Document
6:
The
Silkthe
Road
brought
items
to Europe
and
profound
Document 8: silk
was
major
trade
product,
which
traveled
onSome
this scholars say that
this
broke
down
in Europe.
much land
was now available
changes.
Paper,
theRichthofen
printing
press,
the compass
andSo
gunpowder
came
road;
Ferdinand
von
feudalism
a well-known
German
geographer,
that
serfs
left
their
feudal
lords,
took
their
own
land
down
the
Silk
Road
to
Europe.
As
Karl
Marx
said,
They
blew
the
roof
offbecame free
named it the Silk Road in 1877. This ancient route not only circulatedand
men.
Also,
some
believe
this
helped
start the
Renaissance
or re-birth in
of Europe.
Paper
and
the the
printing
press
fueled
theChina,
Protestant
goods,
but also
exchanged
splendid
cultures
of
India,
Persia,
Italy
and
Europe
around
1450;
many
people
felt
that
religion
did not
Reformation
in
Europe
in
the
1600s.
This
broke
up
the
Catholic
Churchs
Arabia, Greek and Rome.
monopoly on science and education and fueled the age of reason and
science in Europe. The compass allowed Europeans to discover the
Americas and Asia by ship, and gunpowder enabled them to conquer
nearly every country.

Document 9: The greatest value of the Silk Road was the

exchange of culture. Art, religion, philosophy, technology,
language, science, architecture, and every other element of
civilization were exchanged through the Silk Road along with the
commercial goods the merchants carried from country to country.
Along the network of routes disease traveled also, as evidenced in
the spread of the bubonic plague of 542 CE which is thought to
have arrived in Constantinople by way of the Silk Road and which
decimated the Byzantine Empire. The closing of the Silk Road
forced merchants to take to the sea to ply their trade, thus
initiating the Age of Discovery (1453-1660 CE), which led to
worldwide interaction and the beginnings of a global community.