The Discovery Of The Silk Road During The Tang Dynasty

In ancient times, trade could be a matter of survival. Eventually ancient peoples began trading luxury items as well, such as art and jewelry. When Europe and Asia discovered each other, tentative political bonds began to form once they discovered what the other had to offer. The Silk Road was the most significant and important trade route for many hundreds of years, especially during the Tang dynasty. Although it is called the Silk Road, there was a variety of products and even ideas that were transported across the continents. The Silk Road saw many goods, such as silk and spices, travel from Europe to Asia and from Asia to Europe, and the route greatly influenced both the East and West.

The Silk Road is said to have started in the 2nd century BC when a Chinese general Zhang Qian Travelled west and discovered Persia, Rome, and the former Soviet Union. The Emperor Han Wudi was intrigued by
the products that his general brought back, and sent out more men to develop political contact and start a trade agreement (Cohen).
Silk soon became a major export from china and the method of making this fabric was kept a well-guarded secret from the western world. The Silkworm is a type of caterpillar that spins a cocoon out of its spit, which is later extracted. This cocoon is the secret to the popular ancient Asian clothing, and soon silk was used all over the world: “[silk was] a form of adornment for people of importance, for kimonos in Japan and wedding saris in India, for religious ritual, for burial shrouds in China and to lay on the graves of Sufis in much of the Muslim world” (Kurin). The Silk Road itself was an important trade route for both Europe and Asia. For China, the silk industry was their most important and profitable export that filled the Emperors’ coffers. This trading route flourished, especially in the Tang Dynasty. Marco Polo, an
Italian who travelled with his father and uncle, is credited with being one of the first europeans to travel the Silk Road and one of the first men to fully explore the Eastern world. He remarks that: “[Cathay, a Chinese city] yields also much silk, abounding in the trees on which the worms are fed. The merchants are constantly carrying their goods from one to another, as fairs are successively held at each” (Polo 139). In Asia the production of silk was very important, essential even, to the Chinese and Mongolian economy. There were many silkworm farms to support the demand for silk in Europe. However, there was another popular export that travelled along the Silk Road, and also kept Asia well-funded.

Spices used to be worth more than gold for a large portion of history: for a time nutmeg used to be more valuable to people than gold. Marco Polo says in his book that: “the people have… many precious spices…” (159). It is strange these days to hear spices referred to as “precious”.Spices first began to be exported by the Arabs in the Middle East, who kept the origin of the spices a secret and made it seem nearly impossible to obtain (silkroadspices.ca). Some of the spices that were transported on the Silk Road are cinnamon and black pepper. In fact, when Christopher Columbus sailed west to try to get to India he was sailing in search of black pepper, or at least a faster route to India. He bumped into the Americas instead.He discovered chilies there , and “he called them “peppers”, perhaps to soothe his disappointment at not finding peppercorns, and the term “chile pepper” persists to this day” (silkroadspices.ca). Columbus had been hoping to prove that going west would be a faster route, and by travelling in the direction that no one had an incentive to for hundreds of years, he discovered two new continents. Spices have changed the course of history, and people now live in North and South America because people had a reason to explore more of the world.

Asians and Europeans also benefitted in many ways from the trading done via the SIlk Road. China passed on many of its early inventions due to commerce from the route, and the Europeans introduced more and better horses to the East. Some inventions that the Europeans learned from the Chinese were papermaking, printing, gunpowder, and the compass. Previous to the invention of paper, the East was using the “[im]practical and cumbersome notebooks made of bamboo” (Mikkolainen) to write on, which were very heavy and large, and Europe was using parchment paper, which was complicated and took a long time to make. A Chinese man named Cai Lun discovered that he could create a more useful writing surface by “soaking, pressing and drying fibers to make durable paper sheets” (Mikkolainen). The method of creating this revolutionary product soon spread to Europe, where paper was more frequently and effectively used by churches, schools and merchants. When the Mongols and Chinese began trading for horses , the beasts greatly affected warfare in the East. With faster and stronger horses they could travel farther distances,transport more goods, and have an advantage over those of their enemies with no horses. When Bi Sheng, a chinese man, developed the first printing press, it spread to Europe, where the invention greatly influenced the course of history. With the printing press, more bibles could be made faster, so regular people could read the bible in their own homes. Newspapers were printed, informing residents, and more books could be published, educating the masses. The Silk Road brought more than just silk to Europe.
When the Silk Road was just being established, they could not have known that it would change the course of history. Many more things than just silk travelled down the silk road, spices did too, and ideas. Everyone benefitted from the trade agreement, and the world is much better off thanks to it.