The Silk Road: Past and Present
The Silk Road: Past and Present
Starting from the 2nd century BC, to the end of the 14th century AD, a great trade route stretched from Chang 'An in the East and ended at the Mediterranean at Antioch in the West, linking China and the Roman Empire. Ferdinand von Richthofen – a well-known German geographer, named it the Silk Road in 1877. The Silk Road has been one of the most important trade routes since the connection between Europe and Asia was established; however, what are the differences between its past and present forms? How can we compare today’s trade network with the ancient one? What makes the new network possible and how can we make it better today? There are some similarities between the old and the new; something was preserved through this long span of time. Globalization as well as avant-garde technology development together made this happen.
Zhang Qian in the Western Han Dynasty started the Silk Road and the routes were gradually formed throughout the Han Dynasty. With the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, which saw rapid economic development, the Silk Road reached its most prosperous stage in its history. During the reign of the Yuan Dynasty, it experienced its period of great prosperity. Meanwhile, silk and horses, as goods and transportation, played crucial and conspicuous roles in the origins of the Silk Road. “Traders first began to carry silk, a lustrous, smooth, supple yet tough textile, westward out of China in the second century BCE. Prior to this time silk had long been abundant in China and practically unknown outside its frontiers” (Xinru Liu and Lynda Norene Shaffer 2). Because silk was one of the first goods to be traded on a large scale between Europe and Asia, it became a symbol for the larger Eurasian trade network and in particular, what later came to be known as the Silk Road.
Around the same time, horses, common transportation from the XiongNu, started to become a means of trade. “As the Qin dynasty was
Starting from the 2nd century BC, to the end of the 14th century AD, a great trade route stretched from Chang 'An in the East and ended at the Mediterranean at Antioch in the West, linking China and the Roman Empire. Ferdinand von Richthofen – a well-known German geographer, named it the Silk Road in 1877. The Silk Road has been one of the most important trade routes since the connection between Europe and Asia was established; however, what are the differences between its past and present forms? How can we compare today’s trade network with the ancient one? What makes the new network possible and how can we make it better today? There are some similarities between the old and the new; something was preserved through this long span of time. Globalization as well as avant-garde technology development together made this happen.
Zhang Qian in the Western Han Dynasty started the Silk Road and the routes were gradually formed throughout the Han Dynasty. With the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, which saw rapid economic development, the Silk Road reached its most prosperous stage in its history. During the reign of the Yuan Dynasty, it experienced its period of great prosperity. Meanwhile, silk and horses, as goods and transportation, played crucial and conspicuous roles in the origins of the Silk Road. “Traders first began to carry silk, a lustrous, smooth, supple yet tough textile, westward out of China in the second century BCE. Prior to this time silk had long been abundant in China and practically unknown outside its frontiers” (Xinru Liu and Lynda Norene Shaffer 2). Because silk was one of the first goods to be traded on a large scale between Europe and Asia, it became a symbol for the larger Eurasian trade network and in particular, what later came to be known as the Silk Road.
Around the same time, horses, common transportation from the XiongNu, started to become a means of trade. “As the Qin dynasty was
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