Silk Road in Ancient China

The silk road is not a single road, as the name suggests. It refers to a huge interconnection of trade routes, spread over present day China, South Asia and West Asia, connecting them to the Mediterranean region, North Africa and Europe. It covered an astonishing 4000 miles from China to Rome. The silk road promoted cultural exchange along with trading of various goods and services across the ancient civilizations. Pilgrims, missionaries, nomads and armies traveled the route, promoting a deep understanding and prosperity of civilizations like China, India, Rome, Persia and Arabia.

The term 'silk road', was first used for this route in 1877, by Ferdinand Von Richtohofen, a German geographer. The silk industry originated in China. The demand for silk clothes and the technique to master the art of silk production is credited to the Chinese civilization. The demand for Chinese silk was quite extensive and it prompted the creation of trade routes. Thus, the silk road was formed. The silk route was never traveled in its entirety by the traders or merchants. The long journey was laden with deserts, cruel winds, poisonous creatures and huge mountain ranges. In addition to these, there was always a fear of dacoits and looting. Therefore, merchants would go a certain distance initially and exchange their goods with others who then traveled further and then they would pass it on to the next batch. Thus, trade was carried out in stages in the beginning of the trade route's history.

As it crossed the commercial pockets in China, the road bifurcated into northern and southern routes. The northern route extended towards the northwest, through the Chinese province of Gansu and further split up into three more routes. The first two rejoined in the Taklamakan desert while the third moved through the Tian Shan mountains, the southern part of present day Kazakhstan, before bifurcating. One branch ended up at the Black Sea. Another branch traveled southwards, towards the southern route. Another route originating at Xian province in China, passed through present day Uzbekistan, Iran and Iraq before ending into the western fringes of the Roman Empire. The route brought a wealth of goods like dry fruits and condiments from the Persian Empire, aloes, myrrh, glass work, handicrafts, medicines and slaves from Egypt and African countries, spices, sandalwood and precious stones from India to China. The caravans exchanged silk, porcelain and textiles from China, in return for these goods.

The southern route passed through northern India, Mesopotamia and Turkestan along with a brief journey through the sea. Once it crossed into Iran, many merchant ships plied through the Mediterranean sea from ancient Italy. The Han Dynasty in China recognized the value of the silk road and extended it through Central Asia and provided military protection to the caravans. The Chinese and the Indian cultures were exposed to the western world, like never before. The Indian civilization served as the middleman between the goods of the Roman empire and Chinese silk and handicrafts. Camels, horses, mules and a lot of domestic animals accompanied the flow of people along the route. Two of the biggest religions of the world, Buddhism and Islam, spread far east from India and the Arab civilization respectively, through the silk road.

At the end of 760 AD, the trade suffered greatly under the T'ang Dynasty, only to be revived later by the Sung Dynasty of China. The increasing number of sea routes in the 14th century, however, led to a permanent decline in the popularity of the silk road. Nevertheless, it remains one of the biggest reasons and the initiator of the first wave of globalization in human history.