Silk Road
The
Silk Road (;
Persian راه ابریشم;
Râh-e Abrisham;
Turkish:
İpekyolu;
Kyrgyz:
Жибек жолу (
Ğibek ğolu);
Hungarian:
Selyemút) or
Silk Route was an interconnected series of routes through
Southern Asia traversed by
caravan and ocean vessel, and connecting
Chang'an (today's
Xi'an),
China, with
Antioch,
Asia Minor, as well as other points. Its length carries over 8,000 km (5,000 miles) long. Its influence carried over into
Japan and
Korea.
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The Silk Road in the 1st century. |
These exchanges were significant not only for the development and flowering of the great civilizations of
China,
ancient Egypt,
Mesopotamia,
Persia,
India and
Rome but also helped to lay the foundations of our modern world.
Silk road is a translation from the
German Seidenstraße, the term first used by
German geographer
Ferdinand von Richthofen in the
19th century.
The continental Silk Road diverges into northern and southern routes as it extends from the commercial centers of
North China, the northern route passing through the
Bulgar"
Kypchak zone to
Eastern Europe and the
Crimean peninsula, and from there across the
Black Sea,
Marmara Sea and the
Balkans to
Venice; the southern route passing through
Turkestan"
Khorasan into
Mesopotamia and
Anatolia, and then through
Antioch in Southern Anatolia into the
Mediterranean Sea or through the
Levant into
Egypt and
North Africa.
The last missing railroad link on the Silk Road was completed in
1992, when the international railway communication
Almaty"
Urumqi opened.
The Silk Road on the Sea extends from
South China, present-day
Philippines,
Brunei,
Siam,
Malacca,
Ceylon,
India,
Persia,
Egypt,
Italy,
Portugal and
Sweden. On
August 7 2005 it was reported that the
Antiquity and Monument Office of
Hong Kong was planning to propose the Silk Road on the Sea as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Cross-continental travel
As water-borne
shipping and
domestication of efficient
pack animals both increased the capacity for
prehistoric peoples to carry heavier loads over greater distances,
cultural exchanges and
trade developed rapidly. For example,
shipping in
predynastic Egypt was already established by the
4th millennium BC along with
domestication of the
donkey, with the
dromedary possibly having been domesticated as well. Domestication of the
Bactrian camel and use of the
horse for
transport then followed (see
Domestication of the horse).
Just as waterways provide easy means of transport, broad stretches of grasslands " all the way from the shores of the
Pacific to
Africa and deep into the heart of
Europe " provide fertile passage for grazing, plus water and fuel for
caravans. These water and land routes allowed passage that avoided trespassing on agricultural lands, presenting ideal conditions for
caravans,
merchants to travel immense distances without arousing the hostility of settled peoples.
Most historians believe the
Tocharians developed the Silk Road, as they lived along the road and built structures that still remain today. Tocharian remains indicate the people were of European origin, owing to their blonde hair and blue eyes. In 1998, the Chinese government forbade further research into the Tocharian remains.
Ancient transport
The ancient peoples of the
Sahara had already imported domesticated animals from
Asia between
7500 and
4000 BC. Foreign
artifacts dating to the
5th millennium BC in the
Badarian culture of
Egypt indicate contact with distant
Syria [
1]. By the beginning of the
4th millennium BC,
ancient Egyptians in
Maadi were importing
pottery[
2] as well as
construction ideas from
Canaan [
3].
Lapis lazuli was being traded from its only known source in the ancient world "
Badakshan, in what is now northeastern
Afghanistan " as far as
Mesopotamia and
Egypt by the second half of the
4th millennium BC. By the
third millennium BC lapis lazuli trade was extended to
Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro in the
Indus valley.
Routes along the Persian
Royal Road (constructed
5th century BC) may have been in use as early as
3500 BC. Between 1979 and 1985, charcoal samples found in the tombs of
Nekhen, which were dated to the
Naqada I and II periods, were identified as
cedar from
Lebanon [
4].
In 1994 excavators discovered an incised ceramic
shard with the
serekh sign of
Narmer, dating to circa
3000 BC. Mineralogical studies reveal the shard to be a fragment of a wine jar exported from the
Nile valley to
Israel (see
Narmer).
The ancient harbor constructed in
Lothal,
India, may be the oldest
sea-faring harbor known.
Egyptian maritime trade
The
Palermo stone mentions King
Sneferu of the
4th Dynasty sending ship to import high-quality
cedar from
Lebanon (see
Sneferu). In one scene in the pyramid of Pharaoh
Sahure of the
Fifth Dynasty, Egyptians are returning with huge
cedar trees. Sahure's name is found stamped on a thin piece of gold on a
Lebanon chair, and 5th dynasty
cartouches were found in Lebanon stone vessels. Other scenes in his temple depict
Syrian bears. The
Palermo stone also mentions expeditions to
Sinai as well as to the
diorite quarries northwest of
Abu Simbel.
The oldest known expedition to the
Land of Punt was organized by Sahure, which apparently yielded a quantity of
myrrh, along with
malachite and
electrum. The
12th-Dynasty Pharaoh Senusret III had a
"Suez" canal constructed linking the
Nile River with the
Red Sea for direct trade with Punt. Around 1950 BC, in the reign of
Mentuhotep III, an officer named
Hennu made one or more voyages to Punt. A very famous expedition was conducted by
Nehsi for Queen
Hatshepsut in the
15th century BC to obtain
myrrh; a report of that voyage survives on a
relief in Hatshepsut's funerary temple at
Deir el-Bahri. Several of her successors, including
Thutmoses III, also organized expeditions to Punt.
Chinese and Central Asian contacts
From the
2nd millennium BC nephrite jade was being traded from
mines in the region of
Yarkand and
Khotan to
China. Significantly, these mines were not very far from the
lapis lazuli and
spinel ("Balas Ruby") mines in
Badakhshan and, although separated by the formidable
Pamir Mountains, routes across them were, apparently, in use from very early times.
The
Tarim mummies, Chinese mummies of non-Chinese, apparently western, individuals, have been found in the
Tarim Basin, such as in the area of
Loulan located along the Silk Road 200
km east of Yingpan, dating to as early as
1600 BC and suggesting very ancient contacts between East and West. It has been suggested that these mummified remains may have been of people related to the
Tocharians whose
Indo-European language remained in use in the
Tarim Basin (modern day
Xinjiang) of
China until the
8th century.
Some remnants of what was probably Chinese
silk have been found in
Ancient Egypt from
1070 BC. Though the originating source seems sufficiently reliable, silk unfortunately degrades very rapidly and we cannot double-check for accuracy whether it was actually cultivated silk (which would almost certainly have come from China) that was discovered or a type of "
wild silk," which might have come from the
Mediterranean region or the
Middle East.
Following contacts of metropolitan China with nomadic western and northwestern border territories in the
8th century BC,
gold was introduced from
Central Asia, and Chinese
jade carvers began to make imitation designs of the
steppes, adopting the
Scythian-style animal art of the steppes (descriptions of animals locked in combat). This style is particularly reflected in the rectangular belt plaques made of
gold and
bronze with alternate versions in
jade and
steatite.
Persian Royal Road
By the time of
Herodotus (c.
475 BC) the Persian
Royal Road ran some 2,857 km from the city of
Susa on the lower
Tigris to the port of Smyrna (modern
Izmir in
Turkey) on the
Aegean Sea. It was maintained and protected by the
Achaemenid empire (c.700-330 BC) and had postal stations and relays at regular intervals. By having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages the entire distance in 9 days, though normal travellers took about three months. This
Royal Road linked into many other routes. Some of these, such as the routes to India and Central Asia, were also protected by the
Achaemenids, encouraging regular contact between India, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. There are accounts in
Esther of dispatches being sent from Susa to provinces as far out as India and
Cush during the reign of
Xerxes (485-465 BC).
The first major step in opening the Silk Road between the East and the West came with the expansion of
Alexander the Great deep into
Central Asia, as far as
Ferghana at the borders of the modern-day
Xinjiang region of
China, where he founded in
329 BC a Greek settlement in the city of
Alexandria Eschate "Alexandria The Furthest",
Khujand (also called Khozdent or Khojent " formerly Leninabad), in the state of
Tajikistan.
When
Alexander the Great's successors, the
Ptolemies, took control of Egypt in
323 BC, they began to actively promote trade with
Mesopotamia,
India, and
East Africa through their ports on the
Red Sea coast, as well as overland. This was assisted by the active participation of a number of intermediaries, especially the
Nabataeans and other
Arabs. The
Greeks were to remain in
Central Asia for the next three centuries, first through the administration of the
Seleucid Empire, and then with the establishment of the
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in
Bactria. They kept expanding eastward, especially during the reign of
Euthydemus (230"200 BC), who extended his control to
Sogdiana, reaching and going beyond the city of
Alexandria Eschate. There are indications that he may have led expeditions as far as
Kashgar in
Chinese Turkestan, leading to the first known contacts between China and the West around
200 BC. The Greek historian
Strabo writes that
"they extended their empire even as far as the Seres (China) and the Phryni" (
Strabo XI.XI.I).
Zhang Qian (138"126 BC)
The next step came around
130 BC, with the embassies of the
Han Dynasty to Central Asia, following the reports of the ambassador
Zhang Qian (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the
Yuezhi against the
Xiongnu, in vain). The Chinese emperor
Wudi became interested in developing commercial relationship with the sophisticated urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria and Parthia: "The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus:
Ferghana (
Dayuan) and the possessions of
Bactria (
Ta-Hia) and
Parthia (
Anxi) are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China" (
Hou Hanshu,
Later Han History).
The Chinese were also strongly attracted by the tall and powerful horses in the possession of the
Dayuan (named "Heavenly horses"), which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic Xiongnu. The Chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies, around ten every year, to these countries and as far as
Seleucid Syria. "Thus more embassies were dispatched to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai [who later joined the
Alans ], Lijian [Syria under the Seleucids], Tiaozhi [Chaldea], and Tianzhu [northwestern India]… As a rule, rather more than ten such missions went forward in the course of a year, and at the least five or six." (
Hou Hanshu, Later Han History). The Chinese campaigned in Central Asia on several occasion, and direct encounters between Han troops and Roman legionaries (probably captured or recruited as mercenaries by the Xiong Nu) are recorded, particularly in the 36 BC battle of
Sogdiana (Joseph Needham, Sidney Shapiro). It has been suggested that the Chinese
crossbow was transmitted to the Roman world on such occasions, although the Greek
gastraphetes provides an alternative origin.
The Roman historian
Florus also describes the visit of numerous envoys, included
Seres (Chinese), to the first Roman Emperor
Augustus, who reigned between
27 BC and
14::
"Even the rest of the nations of the world which were not subject to the imperial sway were sensible of its grandeur, and looked with reverence to the Roman people, the great conqueror of nations. Thus even Scythians and Sarmatians sent envoys to seek the friendship of Rome. Nay, the Seres came likewise, and the Indians who dwelt beneath the vertical sun, bringing presents of precious stones and pearls and elephants, but thinking all of less moment than the vastness of the journey which they had undertaken, and which they said had occupied four years. In truth it needed but to look at their complexion to see that they were people of another world than ours." ("Cathay and the way thither",
Henry Yule).
The "Silk Road" essentially came into being from the
1st century BC, following these efforts by China to consolidate a road to the Western world and India, both through direct settlements in the area of the
Tarim Basin and diplomatic relations with the countries of the Dayuan, Parthians and Bactrians further west.
A maritime "Silk Route" opened up between Chinese-controlled
Jiaozhi (centred in modern
Vietnam [see map above], near
Hanoi) probably by the
1st century. It extended, via ports on the coasts of
India and
Sri Lanka, all the way to
Roman-controlled ports in
Egypt and the
Nabataean territories on the northeastern coast of the
Red Sea.
Ban Chao (97"102)
In 97
Ban Chao crossed the
Tian Shan and
Pamir Mountains with an army of 70,000 men in a campaign against the
Xiongnu. He went as far west as the
Caspian Sea and the
Ukraine, reaching the territory of
Parthia, where he reportedly also sent an envoy named
Gan Ying to
Daqin (i.e.,
Rome). Gan Ying detailed an account of the western countries; although he likely reached only the
Black Sea before turning back.
The Chinese
army made an alliance with the
Parthians and established some
forts at a distance of a few days march from the Parthian capital
Ctesiphon, planning to hold the region for several years. In
116, the Roman Emperor
Trajan advanced into Parthia to Ctesiphon and came within one day's march of the Chinese border garrisons, but no direct contacts are known.
 |
Menade in silk dress, Naples National Museum. |
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Sassanid silk twill textile of a Senmerv in a beaded surround, 6"7th c. A.D |
Soon after the
Roman conquest of
Egypt in
30 BC, regular communications and trade between
India,
Southeast Asia,
Sri Lanka,
China, the
Middle East,
Africa and
Europe blossomed on an unprecedented scale. Land and maritime routes were closely linked, and novel products, technologies and ideas began to spread across the continents of Europe,
Asia and Africa. Intercontinental trade and communication became regular, organised, and protected by the 'Great Powers.' Intense
trade with the Roman Empire followed soon, confirmed by the
Roman craze for Chinese
silk (supplied through the
Parthians), even though the Romans thought silk was obtained from trees:
"The Seres (Chinese), are famous for the woolen substance obtained from their forests; after a soaking in water they comb off the white down of the leaves… So manifold is the labour employed, and so distant is the region of the globe drawn upon, to enable the Roman maiden to flaunt transparent clothing in public" (
Pliny the Elder (
23"
79, The Natural History).
The
Senate issued, in vain, several edicts to prohibit the wearing of silk, on economic and moral grounds: the importation of Chinese silk caused a huge outflow of gold, and silk clothes were considered to be decadent and immoral:
"I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one's decency, can be called clothes… Wretched flocks of maids labour so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife's body" (
Seneca the Younger (
c.3 BC"
65, Declamations Vol. I).
The
Hou Hanshu records that the first Roman envoy arrived in China by this maritime route in 166, initiating a series of
Roman embassies to China.
|
Blue-eyed Central Asian Buddhist monk, with an East-Asian colleague, Tarim Basin, 9th-10th century. |
Notably, the
Buddhist faith and the
Greco-Buddhist culture started to travel eastward along the Silk Road, penetrating in China from around the
1st century BC.
The
Kushan empire, in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, was located at the center of these exchanges. They fostered multi-cultural interaction as indicated by their
2nd century treasure hoards filled with products from the Greco-Roman world, China and India, such as in the
archeological site of Begram.
The heyday of the Silk Road corresponds to that of the
Byzantine Empire in its west end,
Sassanid Empire Period to
Il Khanate Period in the
Nile-
Oxus section and
Three Kingdoms to
Yuan Dynasty in the Sinitic zone in its east end. Trade between East and West also developed on the sea, between
Alexandria in Egypt and
Guangzhou in China, fostering the expansion of Roman trading posts in India. Historians also talk of a "Porcelain Route" or "Silk Route" across the
Indian Ocean. The Silk Road represents an early phenomenon of political and cultural integration due to inter-regional trade. In its heyday, the Silk Road sustained an international culture that strung together groups as diverse as the
Magyars,
Armenians, and
Chinese.
Under its strong integrating dynamics on the one hand and the impacts of change it transmitted on the other, tribal societies previously living in isolation along the Silk Road or pastoralists who were of barbarian cultural development were drawn to the riches and opportunities of the civilizations connected by the Silk Road, taking on the trades of marauders or mercenaries. Many barbarian tribes became skilled warriors able to conquer rich cities and fertile lands, and forge strong military empires.
The Silk Road gave rise to the clusters of military states of nomadic origins in North China, invited the
Nestorian,
Manichaean,
Buddhist, and later
Islamic religions into
Central Asia and China, created the influential
Khazar Federation and at the end of its glory, brought about the largest continental empire ever: the
Mongol Empire, with its political centers strung along the Silk Road (
Beijing in North China,
Karakorum in central Mongolia,
Sarmakhand in
Transoxiana,
Tabriz in Northern Iran,
Astrakhan in lower
Volga,
Solkhat in
Crimea,
Kazan in Central Russia,
Erzurum in eastern
Anatolia), realizing the political unification of zones previously loosely and intermittently connected by material and cultural goods.
The main traders were during Antiquity were the Indian and Bactrian Traders, then from the fifth to the eighth c. the Sogdian traders, then the Persian traders.
The Roman empire, and its demand for sophisticated Asian products, crumbled in the West around the 5th century. In Central Asia,
Islam expanded from the 7th century onward, bringing a stop to Chinese westward expansion at the
Battle of Talas in
751. Further expansion of the Islamic Turks in Central Asia from the
10th century finished disrupting trade in that part of the world, and Buddhism almost disappeared.
See also: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism |
First known Chinese Buddha statue, found in a late Han Dynasty burial in Sichuan province. Dated circa 200. The hair, the moustache, the robe indicate heavy influence by Gandharan styles. |
Main article: Silk Road transmission of art.
Many artistic influences transited along the Silk Road, especially through the
Central Asia, where
Hellenistic,
Iranian,
Indian and
Chinese influence were able to intermix. In particular
Greco-Buddhist art represent one of the most vivid examples of this interaction.
Buddhist deities
The image of the
Buddha, originating during the
1st century in northern
India (areas of
Gandhara and
Mathura) was transmitted progressively through
Central Asia and
China until it reached
Korea in the
4th century and
Japan in the
6th century. However the transmission of many iconographical details are clear, such as the
Hercules inspiration behind the
Nio guardian deities in front of Japanese Buddhist temples, and also representations of the Buddha reminiscent of Greek art such as the Buddha in
Kamakura.
Another Buddhist deity,
Shukongoshin, is also an interesting case of transmission of the image of the famous Greek god
Herakles to the Far-East along the Silk Road.
Herakles was used in Greco-Buddhist art to represent
Vajrapani, the protector of the Buddha, and his representation was then used in China, Korea, and Japan to depict the protector gods of Buddhist temples.
 |
Iconographical evolution of the Wind God. Left: Greek Wind God from Hadda, 2nd century. Middle: Wind God from Kizil, Tarim Basin, 7th century. Right: Japanese Wind God Fujin, 17th century. |
Wind god
Various other artistic influences from the Silk Road can be found in Asia, one of the most striking being that of the Greek Wind God
Boreas, transiting through Central Asia and China to become the Japanese
Shinto wind god
Fujin.
Floral scroll pattern
Finally the Greek artistic motif of the floral scroll was transmitted from the Hellenistic world to the area of the
Tarim Basin around the
2nd century, as seen in
Serindian art and wooden architectural remains. It then was adopted by China between the
4th and
6th century and displayed on tiles and ceramics; then it transmitted to Japan in the form of roof tile decorations of Japanese Buddhist temples circa
7th century, particularly in
Nara temple building tiles, some of them exactly depicting
vines and
grapes.
See main article, Mongol Empire: Silk Road.The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around
1215 to
1360 helped bring political stability and re-establish the Silk Road (vis-à-vis
Karakorum). In the late 13th century, a
Venetian explorer named
Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to
China. Westerners became more aware of the Far East when Polo documented his travels in
Il Milione. He was followed by numerous Christian missionnaries to the East, such as
William of Rubruck,
Benedykt Polak,
Giovanni da Pian del Carpini,
Andrew of Longjumeau,
Odoric of Pordenone,
Giovanni de Marignolli,
Giovanni di Monte Corvino, and other travellers such as
Ibn Battuta or
Niccolo Da Conti. Luxury goods were traded from one middleman to another, from China to the West, resulting in high prices for the trade goods.
Technological transfer to the West
Main article: Medieval technology
Many technological innovations from the East seem to have filtered into Europe around that time. The period of the
High Middle Ages in Europe saw major
technological advances, including the adoption through the Silk Road of
printing,
gunpowder, the
astrolabe, and the
compass.
Chinese maps such as the
Kangnido and Islamic mapmaking seem to have influenced the emergence of the first practical world maps, such as those of
De Virga or
Fra Mauro. Ramusio, a contemporary, states that Fra Mauro's map is "an improved copy of the one brought from Cathay by Marco Polo".
Large Chinese
junks were also observed by these travelers and may have provided impetus to develop larger ships in Europe.
"The ships, called junks, that navigate these seas carry four masts or more, some of which can be raised or lowered, and have 40 to 60 cabins for the merchants and only one tiller." (Text from the
Fra Mauro map, 09-P25)
"A ship carries a complement of a thousand men, six hundred of whom are sailors and four hundred men-at-arms, including archers, men with shields and crossbows, who throw naphtha… These vessels are built in the towns of Zaytun (a.k.a
Zaitun, today's
Quanzhou; 刺桐)
and Sin-Kalan. The vessel has four decks and contains rooms, cabins, and saloons for merchants; a cabin has chambers and a lavatory, and can be locked by its occupants." (
Ibn Battuta).
Disintegration
However, with the disintegration of the Mongol Empire also came discontinuation of the Silk Road's political, cultural and economic unity.Turkmeni marching lords seized the western end of the Silk Road " the decaying
Byzantine Empire. After the Mongol Empire, the great political powers along the Silk Road became economically and culturally separated. Accompanying the crystallization of regional states was the decline of nomad power, partly due to the devastation of the
Black Death and partly due to the encroachment of sedentary civilizations equipped with
gunpowder.
The effect of
gunpowder and early
modernity on
Europe was the integration of territorial states and increasing
mercantilism; whereas on the Silk Road, gunpowder and early modernity had the opposite impact: the level of integration of the Mongol Empire could not be maintained, and trade declined (though partly due to an increase in European maritime exchanges).
The Silk Road stopped serving as a shipping route for silk around
1400.
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The Great Silk Road, an ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean. |
The disappearance of the Silk Road following the end of the Mongols was one of the main factors that stimulated the Europeans to reach the prosperous Chinese empire through another route, especially by the sea. Tremendous profits were to be obtained for anyone who could achieve a direct trade connection with Asia.
When he went West in
1492,
Christopher Columbus reportedly wished to create yet another Silk Route to China. It was allegedly one of the great disappointments of western nations to have found a continent "in-between" before recognizing the potential of a "New World."
The wish to trade directly with China was also the main drive behind the expansion of the Portuguese beyond Africa after
1480, followed by the powers of the
Netherlands and
Great Britain from the 17th century. As late as the
18th century, China was usually still considered the most prosperous and sophisticated of any civilization on earth, however its per capita income was low relative to
western Europe at that time.
Leibniz, echoing the prevaling perception in Europe until the
Industrial Revolution, wrote in the 17th century:
"Everything exquisite and admirable comes from the East Indies… Learned people have remarked that in the whole world there is no commerce comparable to that of China" (Leibniz).
In the 18th century,
Adam Smith, declared that China had been one of the most prosperous nations in the world, but that it had remained stagnant for a long time and its wages always were low and the lower classes were particularly poor
["The accounts of all travellers, inconsistent in many other respects, agree in the low wages of labour, and in the difficulty which a labourer finds in bringing up a family in China. If by digging the ground a whole day he can get what will purchase a small quantity of rice in the evening, he is contented. The condition of artificers is, if possible, still worse. Instead of waiting indolently in their work-houses, for the calls of their customers, as in Europe, they are continually running about the streets with the tools of their respective trades, offering their service, and as it were begging employment. The poverty of the lower ranks of people in China far surpasses that of the most beggarly nations in Europe. In the neighbourhood of Canton many hundred, it is commonly said, many thousand families have no habitation on the land, but live constantly in little fishing boats upon the rivers and canals. The subsistence which they find there is so scanty that they are eager to fish up the nastiest garbage thrown overboard from any European ship. Any carrion, the carcase of a dead dog or cat, for example, though half putrid and stinking, is as welcome to them as the most wholesome food to the people of other countries. Marriage is encouraged in China, not by the profitableness of children, but by the liberty of destroying them. In all great towns several are every night exposed in the street, or drowned like puppies in the water. The performance of this horrid office is even said to be the avowed business by which some people earn their subsistence." (Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776).]:
"China has been long one of the richest, that is, one of the most fertile, best cultivated, most industrious, and most populous countries in the world. It seems, however, to have been long stationary. Marco Polo, who visited it more than five hundred years ago, describes its cultivation, industry, and populousness, almost in the same terms in which they are described by travellers in the present times. It had perhaps, even long before his time, acquired that full complement of riches which the nature of its laws and institutions permits it to acquire." (
Adam Smith,
The Wealth of Nations,
1776).
In effect, the spirit of the Silk Road and the will to foster exchange between the East and West, and the lure of the huge profits attached to it, has affected much of the history of the world during these last three millennia.
*List of
cities along the Silk Road.
*The detailed histories listed under
Kashgar,
Khotan, and
Yarkand.
*
Radhanites*
Silk Road Project*
Incense Road*
Chinese Silk and The Chinese Silk Road*
China National Tourist Office*
Cities Along the Silk Road (University of Washington)*
The history of the Silk Road by Oliver Wild*
Introduction of the Silk Road from a Turkish tour guide*
International Dunhuang Project*
Old World Traditional Trade Routes Project *
Travel report incl. photos along the Silk Road*
Silkroad Foundation*
Silk Road Project*
Silk Road Chicago*
Playing Polo: Silk Road games from Athens to Beijing*
Poems (with photos) of the Chinese Silk Road* Boulnois, Luce. 2004.
Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants on the Silk Road. Translated by Helen Loveday with additional material by Bradley Mayhew and Angela Sheng. Airphoto International. ISBN 962-217-720-4 hardback, ISBN 9622177212 softback.
* Bulliet, Richard W. 1975.
The Camel and the Wheel. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674091302.
* Casson, Lionel. 1989. The
Periplus Maris Erythraei. Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691040605.
*
Elisseeff, Vadime. Editor. 1998.
The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce. UNESCO Publishing. Paris. Reprint: 2000. ISBN 9231036521 softback; ISBN 1571812210; ISBN 1571812229 softback.
* Foltz, Richard C. 1999.
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