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The Silk Road. SS.6.W.4.10 & SS.6.G.5.2. The Father of the Silk Road. A Chinese explorer named Zhang Qian is often called the Father of the Silk Road.
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The Silk Road SS.6.W.4.10 & SS.6.G.5.2
The Father of the Silk Road • A Chinese explorer named Zhang Qian is often called the Father of the Silk Road. • In 138 B.C.E., a Han emperor sent him west with 100 men to try to form an alliance with western peoples against China’s northern enemy, the Huns. • Although he was not able to form an alliance, he did bring back many goods and information from the people he met.
The Eastern Silk Road • The Silk Road was divided into 2 major sections: East and West. • The Eastern part traveled through both the Gobi and Taklimakan Deserts until it met with the Western part in Kashgar in the western part of the Taklimakan. • Before entering the desert, travelers formed long camel caravans for protection. • Caravan: a group of people traveling together • Bactrian camels were especially well-suited for desert travel. • They had double eyelids and nostrils that could close to keep out the blowing sand.
The Western Silk Road • The Western Silk Road ran from the midpoint at Kashgar to various ports around the Mediterranean. • Since the 1st part of this journey involved crossing the Pamir Mountains, goods traveling westward went by yak rather than camel. • This part of the route was sometimes called the “trail of bones” because of the many animals and people who died there. • After the mountains, the route went through present day Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Syrian Desert before finally reaching the Mediterranean.
Why Silk? • Silk was such a valuable item to people in the west because at first only the Chinese knew how to make it. • It was also light which made it easy to transport. • To protect the trade value of silk, the Chinese tried to keep the process for producing it a secret. • Under the Han Dynasty, revealing the secret was a crime punishable by death!
Other Trade Items • Besides silk, the Chinese also traded fine dishware which became known as China. • India sent various goods such as cotton, spices, pearls, and ivory back to China and other places along the route. • The Romans, in particular, eagerly traded valuable goods for silk. • Just as the Romans had never made silk, the Chinese were unfamiliar with glass production. • The Romans knew how to blow glass into delicate items that the Chinese desired.
How Much is Too Much? • In Rome, Chinese silk was a luxury item which was rare and expensive. • Even the richest Romans could afford to wear only a strip or patch of silk stitched to their white togas. • In addition to fine glassware, the Romans also shipped massive amounts of gold to trade for silk. • In fact, so much gold was shipped out of Rome that in the 1st century C.E., the Roman emperor Tiberius passed a law forbidding men to wear silk. • Despite the law, silk continued to flow into the Roman Empire.
Cultural Exchanges • The Silk Road opened under the Han and remained an important trade route for more than 1,000 years. • Goods were not the only things to travel along the Silk Road; they also exchanged ideas. • For example, you learned before that Buddhism began in India. • Because the Silk Road passed through India as well as many other nations, religious travelers used the road to spread their beliefs. • Buddhism was introduced to China around the middle of the 1st century C.E. and would eventually become a major religion of China.
