The Silk Road

I find it very intriguing how cultures manage to imprint upon each other, it happens constantly, even in the smallest ways. For example, having a camp counselor from England, who called lunch dinner and dinner tea, so, instead of having breakfast, lunch and dinner, we had 'Breakie' as she put it, dinner and tea. While that example is just a small one, the Silk Road is one of larger consequence.

The Silk Road brought trade goods and culture across the region of the ancient Eurasia. According to this website, The Silk Road began in China at Chang'an under the Han Dynasty and is divided into three routes when it reaches Dunhuang:(Northern, Central and Southern). These three routes reach as far as the ancient Roman empire.It carries goods, ideas, and culture over land and sea.

According to the notes I took in class, the Silk Road was developed in the second century B.C.E when land routes were opened by China.
Beginning in the Han capital, travelers would head west toward the Tamaclain desert. Due the inhospitable environment, the road split and skirted around it, reforming near Cashgar. Continuing west into Bactria and the Kushan empire, travelers could head south out of Kushan and into Toxcilia, going farther into India. Travelers could also go west in to present day Iran, where ports on the Caspian and Persian sea were accessible. Eventually, the route would end near Constantinople where Roman Trade routes took over. Keep in mind also, that these routes had many branches off of the main routes in order to reach other places.

Since China was the only maker of silk at the time, it was traded often for other goods. This is how the routes became known as the Silk Road. During that time, silk was an important resource and many cultures used it in death rituals or to show nobility.

Each trading area had it's own unique items to trade.
From India, travelers could get pepper, cotton textiles, coral, pearls and ivory.
From Asia, things such as horses, jade, cloves and nutmeg were available.
Romans offered goods like glass jewelry, art, olive oil, wine, textiles, perfume and things of that nature.

As stated earlier, Goods were not the only things traded; Ideas and culture were as well.
Ideas like Mahayana Buddhism, Christianity, military and fighting tactics, and Islam, as well as many political ideas and other ways of living were transported along these routes.

Today, we find ourselves living in a Melting Pot of cultures. We are constantly surrounded by things that, until we look deeper, are taken at face value. We never stop to think where these things may have originated.
The silk road was a major influence on many household items we have today; the clothing and spices we have originated across the world, and without the use of trade, these items never would have been discovered.