Silk Road 54253 226184839 2008-07-17T05:56:29Z Escarbot 1554195 robot Adding: [[bn:সিল্ক রোড]] {{otheruses}} [[Image:Silk Route extant.JPG|right|thumb|300px|The Silk Road extending from Southern [[Europe]] through [[Arabia]], [[Somalia]], [[Egypt]], [[Persia]], [[India]] and [[Java]] till it reaches [[China]].]] The '''Silk Road''', or '''Silk Route''', refers to a trade route through regions of the Asian continent connecting East and West Asia. Geographically, it is an interconnected series of ancient trade routes connecting [[Chang'an]] (today's [[Xi'an]]) to [[Europe]] and the [[Near East]]. It was central to cultural transmission by linking traders, merchants, [[pilgrim]]s, [[monk]]s, soldiers, [[nomad]]s and urban dwellers from [[China]] to the [[Mediterranean Sea]] for thousands of years.<ref> {{cite web |url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml |title=ANCIENT SILK ROAD TRAVELLERS |publisher=www.silk-road.com |accessdate=2008-07-02}}</ref> The route enabled people to transport trade goods, especially luxuries such as silk, satins, musk, rubies, diamonds, pearls and rhubarb<ref name=wood>{{cite book | first=Francis | last=Wood | year= 2002 | title= The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia | edition= | publisher= University of California Press | location=Berkeley, CA | pages= pp. 9, 13-23 | id= ISBN 978-0-520-24340-8}}</ref> from different parts of the country in [[China]], [[India]], and [[Asia Minor]] to the [[Mediterranean]], extending over 8,000 km (5,000 miles). Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great [[civilization]]s of [[China]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Persia]], [[Arabs|Arabia]], [[Indian subcontinent|India]], [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], and [[Byzantium]] and helped to lay the foundations for the modern world in several respects. Although the term, the Silk Road, implies a continuous journey, very few travelers traveled the route from end to end. For the most part, goods were transported by a series of agents on varying routes and trade took place in the bustling mercantile markets of the oasis towns.<ref name=wood/> The Central Asian part of the trade route was initiated around 114 BC by the [[Han Dynasty]]<ref>{{cite book | last = Elisseeff | first = Vadime | authorlink = | title = The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce | publisher = UNESCO Publishing / Berghahn Books | date = 2001 | pages = 332 pages | doi = | isbn = 978-92-3-103652-1 }}</ref> largely through the missions and explorations of [[Zhang Qian]]<ref name="boulnois">{{cite book |first=Luce |last=Boulnois |year=2005 |title=Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants |edition= |publisher=Odyssey Books |location=Hong Kong |pages=p. 66 |id=ISBN 962-217-721-2}}</ref> although earlier trade across the continents had already existed. In the late Middle Ages, use of the Silk Road declined as sea trade increased.<ref> {{cite web |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18006 |title=The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map: Silk Road, North China [Northern Silk Road, North Silk Road] Ancient Trackway |publisher=www.megalithic.co.uk |accessdate=2008-07-05 |last=Hogan |first= C. Michael }} </ref> ==Etymology== The first person who used the terms "Seidenstraße" and "Seidenstraßen" or "Silk Road(s)" and "Silk Route(s)", was the [[Germany|German]] geographer [[Ferdinand von Richthofen]] in 1877.<ref >"Approaches Old and New to the Silk Roads" Vadime Eliseeff in: ''The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce''. Paris (1998) UNESCO, Reprint: Berghahn Books (2000), pp. 1-2. ISBN 92-3-103652-1; ISBN 1-57181-221-0; ISBN 1-57181-222-9 (pbk)</ref ><ref >Waugh, Daniel. (2007). "Richtofen's "Silk Roads": Toward the Archeology of a Concept." ''The Silk Road''. Volume 5, Number 1, Summer 2007, p. 4.</ref > == Routes taken== [[Image:Transasia trade routes 1stC CE gr2.png|right|thumb|250px|The [[Silk]] Road in the 1st century.]] {{details|Cities along the Silk Road}} As it extends westwards from the commercial centers of [[North China and South China|North China]], the continental Silk Road divides into north and south routes to avoid the great Central Asian deserts, the [[Taklamakan Desert]], the [[Gobi Desert]] and [[Lop Nur]]. '''The northern route''' travels northwest through the Chinese province of [[Gansu]], and splits into three further routes, two of them passing north and south of the Taklamakan Desert (through modern day [[Kyrgyzstan]] and [[Xinjiang]]) to rejoin at [[Kashgar]]; and the other going north of the [[Tien Shan]] mountains through [[Turfan]], [[Talgar]] and [[Almaty]] (in what is now southeast [[Kazakhstan]]). All routes join up at [[Kokand]] in the [[Fergana Valley]], and the roads continue west across the [[Karakum Desert]] towards [[Merv]], joining the southern route briefly. One of these routes turns northwest along the [[Amu Darya]] river to [[Bukhara]] and [[Samarkand]], the center of Silk Road trade, to the [[Aral Sea]] then through ancient civilizations under the present site of [[Astrakhan]], and on to the [[Crimean peninsula]]. From there it crosses the [[Black Sea]], the [[Marmara Sea]] and the [[Balkans]] to [[Venice]]; another route crosses the [[Caspian Sea]] and proceeds across the Caucasus to the [[Black Sea]] in Georgia, and thence to [[Constantinople]]. Yet another route starts at [[Xi'an]], passes through the Western corridor beyond the [[Yellow River]]s, Xinjiang, [[Fergana]] (in present-day eastern [[Uzbekistan]]), [[Persia]] ([[Iran]]), and Tajik ([[Iraq]]), before joining the western boundary of the [[Roman Empire]]. A route for caravans, the northern Silk Road brought to China many goods such as "dates, saffron powder and pistachio nuts from Persia; frankincense, aloes and myrrh from [[Somalia]]; sandalwood from [[India]]; glass bottles from [[Egypt]], and other expensive and desirable goods from other parts of the world." In exchange, the caravans sent back bolts of silk brocade, lacquer ware and porcelain.<ref>Ulric Killion, ''A Modern Chinese Journey to the West: Economic Globalization And Dualism'', (Nova Science Publishers: 2006), p.66</ref> '''The southern route''' is mainly a single route running through northern [[India]], then the [[Turkestan]]–[[Khorasan]] region into [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Anatolia]]; having southward spurs enabling the journey to be completed by sea from various points. It runs south through the [[Sichuan Basin]] in [[China]] and crosses the high mountains into northeast [[India]], probably via the [[Ancient tea route]]. It then travels west along the [[Brahmaputra]] and [[Ganges]] river plains, possibly joining the [[Grand Trunk Road]] west of [[Varanasi]]. It runs through northern [[Pakistan]] and over the [[Hindu Kush]] mountains, into [[Afghanistan]], to rejoin the northern route briefly near [[Merv]]. It then follows a nearly straight line west through mountainous northern [[Iran]] and the northern tip of the [[Syrian Desert]] to the [[Levant]]. From there, [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] trading ships plied regular routes to [[Italy]], and land routes went either north through [[Anatolia]] or south to [[North Africa]]. Another branch road travels from [[Herat]] through [[Susa]] to [[Charax Spasinu]] at the head of the Persian Gulf and across to [[Petra]] and [[Alexandria]] where ships carried the cargoes to Rome and other Mediterranean ports. {{Trade route}} ===Railway=== The last available link on the Silk Road was completed in 1994, when the international railway between [[Almaty]] in [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Urumqi]] in [[Xinjiang]] opened. === Sea === As much as fourteen hundred years ago, during China's [[Eastern Han Dynasty]], the sea route although not part of the formal Silk Route, led from the mouth of the [[Red River (Vietnam)|Red River]] near modern [[Hanoi]], through the [[Malacca Straits]] to Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and India, and then on to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea [[kingdom of Axum]] and eventual Roman ports. From ports on the Red Sea goods, including silks, were transported overland to the Nile and then to Alexandria from where they were shipped to Rome, Constantinople and other Mediterranean ports.<ref >Casson, Lionel. 1989. The ''Periplus Maris Erythraei.'' Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04060-5.</ref > Another branch of these sea routes led down the East African coast (called "Azania" by the Greeks and Romans and "Zesan" by the Chinese) at least as far as the port known to the Romans as "Rhapta," which was probably located in the delta of the [[Rufiji River]] in modern [[Tanzania]].{{Dead link|date=July 2008}}<ref>"The Egypto-Graeco-Romans and Paanchea/Azania: sailing in the Erythraean Sea" by Felix A. Chami. 2002. Dead link|date=July 2008[http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/ane/fullpapers.doc]</ref > The Silk Road extends from [[Northern and southern China|southern China]] to present day [[Brunei]], [[Thailand]], [[Malacca]], [[Ceylon]], [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[the Philippines]], and [[Iran]]. In [[Europe]] it extends from [[Israel]], [[Lebanon]] (Collectively, the [[Levant]]), [[Egypt]], and [[Italy]] (Historically [[Venice]]) in the [[Mediterranean Sea]] to <!-- What French and British and German nobles had no use for silk and spices? Tisk tisk! [[Portugal]] and [[Sweden]]. -->other European ports or caravan routes such as the great [[Hanseatic League]] fairs via the [[Spanish road]] and other Alpine routes.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} == Prehistory== ===Cross-continental journeys=== As the [[domestication]] of [[pack animal]]s and the development of [[shipping]] technology both increased the capacity for [[prehistory|prehistoric]] peoples to carry heavier loads over greater distances, [[culture|cultural exchange]]s and [[trade]] developed rapidly. In addition, grassland provides fertile grazing, water, and easy passage for [[Caravan (travellers)|caravan]]s. The vast grassland [[steppes]] of Asia enable [[merchant]]s to travel immense distances, from the shores of the [[Pacific]] to [[Africa]] and deep into [[Europe]], without trespassing on agricultural lands and arousing hostility. ===Evidence for ancient transport and trade routes=== The ancient peoples of the [[Sahara]] imported domesticated animals from [[Asia]] between 6000 BC and 4000 BC. Foreign [[Cultural artifact|artifact]]s dating to the 5th millennium BC in the [[Badarian]] culture of [[Predynastic Egypt|Egypt]] indicate contact with distant [[Syria]]. In [[predynastic Egypt]], by the 4th millennium BC [[shipping]] was well established, and the [[donkey]] and possibly the [[dromedary]] had been domesticated. Domestication of the [[Bactrian camel]] and use of the [[horse]] for [[transport]] then followed. Also by the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, [[ancient Egyptian]]s in [[Maadi]] were importing [[pottery]]<ref>[http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/neolithic/maadi.html Maadi Culture<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> as well as [[construction]] ideas from [[Canaan]]. By the second half of the 4th millennium BC, the gemstone [[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 3rd millennium BC, the [[lapis lazuli]] trade was extended to [[Harappa]] and [[Mohenjo-daro]] in the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] (Ancient India) of modern day [[Pakistan]] and northwestern [[India]]. The Indus Valley was also known as [[Meluhha]], the earliest [[Indian maritime history|maritime]] trading partner of the [[Sumer]]ians and [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadians]] in Mesopotamia. Routes along the [[Persian Royal Road]], constructed in the 5th century BC by [[Darius I of Persia]], may have been in use as early as 3500 BC. Charcoal samples found in the tombs of [[Nekhen]], which were dated to the [[Naqada]] I and II periods, have been identified as [[cedar]] from [[Lebanon]].<ref> {{cite web |url=http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/hierakonpolis.htm |title=Egypt: Hierakonpolis, A Feature Tour Egypt Story |publisher=www.touregypt.net |accessdate=2008-07-09 |last=Parsons |first=Marie }} </ref> In 1994 excavators discovered an incised ceramic [[sherd|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]]. The ancient harbor constructed in [[Lothal]], [[India]], around 2400 BC may be the oldest [[shipbuilding|seafaring]] harbour known. {{Fact|date=May 2008}} ===Egyptian maritime trade=== [[Image:FuneraryPaddlingBoatW-TombOfMeketre MetropolitanMuseum.png|thumb|right|200px|Model of a paddling funerary boat from the tomb of [[Meketre]]. From the time of the [[Twelfth dynasty of Egypt]], early in the reign of [[Amenemhat I]], circa 1931&ndash;1975 BC.]] The [[Palermo stone]] mentions King [[Sneferu]] of the [[Fourth dynasty of Egypt|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 of Egypt|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 [[cartouche]]s were found in Lebanon stone vessels. Other scenes in his temple depict [[Syria]]n bears. The [[Palermo stone]] also mentions expeditions to [[Sinai Peninsula|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 [[Twelfth dynasty of Egypt|12th-Dynasty]] [[Pharaoh]] [[Senusret III]] had a [[Suez Canal|"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. In the 15th century BC, [[Nehsi]] conducted a very famous expedition for Queen [[Hatshepsut]] 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. [[Image:PazyrikHorseman.JPG|thumb|160px|A [[Scythian]] horseman from the general area of the [[Ili river]], [[Pazyryk]], c.[[300 BCE]].]] ===Iranian and Scythian connections=== The expansion of [[Scythians|Scythian]] [[Iranians|Iranian]] cultures stretching from the Hungarian plain and the [[Carpathian Mountains|Carpathian]]s to the Chinese [[Kansu]] Corridor and linking Iran, and the Middle East with Northern India and the [[Punjab region|Punjab]], undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road. Scythians accompanied the [[Assyria]]n [[Esarhaddon]] on his invasion of Egypt, and their distinctive triangular arrowheads have been found as far south as [[Aswan]]. These nomadic peoples were dependent upon neighbouring settled populations for a number of important technologies, and in addition to raiding vulnerable settlements for these commodities, also encouraged long distance merchants as a source of income through the enforced payment of tariffs. [[Soghdians|Soghdian]] Scythian merchants played a vital role in later periods in the development of the Silk Road. ===Chinese and Central Asian contacts=== From the 2nd millennium BC [[nephrite]] [[jade]] was being traded from [[mining|mines]] in the region of [[Yarkent County|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.[[Image:ChineseJadePlaques.JPG|thumb|250px|Chinese [[jade]] and [[steatite]] plaques, in the [[Scythian]]-style animal art of the steppes. 4th&ndash;3rd century BC. [[British Museum]].]] The [[Tarim mummies]], Chinese mummies of non-Mongoloid, apparently Caucasoid, individuals, have been found in the [[Tarim Basin]], 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 languages|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 "[[Silk#Wild Silks|wild silk]]," which might have come from the [[Mediterranean]] region or the [[Middle East]]. Following contacts of metropolitan China with nomadic western border territories in the 8th century BC, [[gold]] was introduced from [[Central Asia]], and Chinese [[jade]] carvers began to make imitation designs of the [[steppe]]s, 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 Empire|Persian]] [[Royal Road]] ran some 2,857 km from the city of [[Susa]] on the lower [[Tigris]] to the port of Smyrna (modern [[İzmir]] in [[Turkey]]) on the [[Aegean Sea]].{{Fact|date=July 2008}}<ref>Please refer to [[Royal Road]].</ref> It was maintained and protected by the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (c.500&ndash;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 I of Persia|Xerxes]] (485&ndash;465 BC). ==History== ===Hellenistic era=== <gallery> Image:EuthydemusI.jpg|Coin depicting the [[Greco-Bactrian]] king [[Euthydemus]] (230–200 BC) Image:UrumqiWarrior.jpg|Probable Greek soldier in the [[Sampul tapestry]], woollen wall hanging, 3rd–2nd century BC, Sampul, [[Urumqi]] [[Xinjiang]] Museum. </gallery> The first major step in opening the Silk Road between the East and the West came with the expansion of [[Alexander the Great]]'s empire into [[Central Asia]]. In August 329 BC, at the mouth of the [[Fergana Valley]] in [[Tajikistan]] he founded the city of [[Alexandria Eschate]] or "Alexandria The Furthest".<ref>Prevas, John. (2004). ''Envy of the Gods: Alexander the Great's Ill-Fated Journey across Asia'', p. 121. De Capo Press, Cambridge, Mass. ISBN 0-306-81268-1.</ref> This later became a major staging point on the northern Silk Route. In 323 BC, [[Alexander the Great]]’s successors, the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]], took control of Egypt. They actively promoted trade with [[Mesopotamia]], [[India]], and [[East Africa]] through their [[Red Sea]] ports and over land. This was assisted by a number of intermediaries, especially the [[Nabataean]]s and other [[Arab]]s. The [[Greeks]] remained 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 continued to expand eastward, especially during the reign of [[Euthydemus]] (230–200 BC) who extended his control beyond [[Alexandria Eschate]] to [[Sogdiana]]. 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 ''"they extended their empire even as far as the [[Seres]] (China) and the Phryni."'' <ref>http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+11.11.1 Strabo XI.XI.I. </ref> ===Chinese exploration of Central Asia=== {{main|Sino-Roman relations}} <gallery> Image:ZhangQianTravels.jpg|'''Zhang Qian''' leaving emperor [[Han Wudi]], for his expedition to [[Central Asia]] from 138 to 126 BC, [[Mogao Caves]] mural, [[Dunhuang]], 618–712. Image:Trade in silkroad.jpg|Trade on the Silk Road ([[Dunhuang]], [[China]]) </gallery> 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]]<ref>[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18006 ''Silk Road, North China'', C.M. Hogan, the Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham]</ref> (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the [[Yuezhi]] against the [[Xiongnu]]). The Chinese Emperor [[Emperor Wu of Han China|Wu Di]] 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-Hsia]]) 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]]). [[Image:HanHorse.jpg|thumb|left|215px|A horse of the Late [[Han Dynasty]] (1st–2nd century)]] 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 occasions, 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. R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy suggest that in 36 B.C., a "Han expedition into central Asia, west of Jaxartes River, apparently encountered and defeated a contingent of Roman legionaries. The Romans may have been part of [[Antony]]'s army invading [[Parthia]]. [[Sogdiana]] (modern [[Bukhara]]), east of the Oxus River, on the [[Polytimetus]] River, was apparently the most easterly penetration ever made by Roman forces in Asia. The margin of Chinese victory appears to have been their crossbows, whose bolts and darts seem easily to have penetrated Roman shields and armor."<ref>R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy, ''The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present'', Fourth Edition (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993), 133.</ref> The Roman historian [[Florus]] also describes the visit of numerous envoys, included ''[[Seres]]'' (Chinese), to the first Roman Emperor [[Caesar Augustus|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 [[India]]ns 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, [[Parthian]]s and [[Bactria]]ns further west. The [[Han Dynasty]] Chinese army regularly policed the [[trade]] route against nomadic bandit forces generally identified as the [[Xiongnu|Xiongnu/Huns]]. Han general [[Ban Chao]] led an army of 70,000 [[mounted infantry]] and [[light cavalry]] troops in the 1st century AD to secure the [[trade]] routes, reaching far west across central Asia to the doorstep of Europe, and setting up base on the shores of the [[Caspian Sea]] in cooperation with the Parthian Kingdom under [[Pacorus II of Parthia]]. 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 [[Ancient Rome|Roman]]-controlled ports in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and the [[Nabataean]] territories on the northeastern coast of the [[Red Sea]]. ===The Roman Empire=== <gallery> Image:Menade.jpg|Maenad in silk dress, [[Naples]] National Museum. Image:Textile0001.jpg|[[Sassanid]] silk twill textile of a [[Simurgh|Senmerv]] in a beaded surround, 6–7th century </gallery> Soon after the [[Ancient Rome|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. The party of [[Maes Titianus|Maës Titianus]] became the travellers who penetrated farthest east along the Silk Road from the Mediterranean world, probably with the aim of regularizing contacts and reducing the role of middlemen, during one of the lulls in Rome's intermittent wars with [[Parthia]], which repeatedly obstructed movement along the Silk Road. 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, organized, and protected by the 'Great Powers.' Intense [[Roman commerce|trade with the Roman Empire]] followed soon, confirmed by the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] craze for Chinese [[silk]] (supplied through the [[Parthians]]), even though the Romans thought silk was obtained from trees. This belief was affirmed by [[Seneca the Younger]] in his [[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]] and by [[Virgil]] in his [[Georgics]]. Notably, [[Pliny the Elder]] knew better. Speaking of the ''bombyx'' or silk moth, he wrote in his [[Natural Histories]] "They weave webs, like spiders, that become a luxurious clothing material for women, called silk."<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural Histories]]'' 11.xxvi.76</ref> The [[Roman Senate|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]]. ===Medieval era=== <gallery> Image:YangzhouKatarinaVilioniTomb1342.jpg|1342 tomb of [[Katarina Vilioni]], member of an Italian trading family in [[Yangzhou]]. Image:ForeignMerchant.jpg|A foreign merchant, 7th century, [[Tang Dynasty]]. </gallery> [[Image:Cernuschi Museum 20060812 150.jpg|thumb|right|150px|A Westerner on a camel, [[Northern Wei Dynasty]] (386&ndash;534)]] [[Image:ForeignerWithWineskin-Earthenware-TangDynasty-ROM-May8-08.png|thumb|right|150px|A ''[[sancai]]'' statue of foreigner with a [[wineskin]], Tang Dynasty.]] The main traders during Antiquity were the Indian and Bactrian traders, then from the 5th to the 8th century CE the Sogdian traders, then afterwards the Persian traders. The unification of Central Asia and Northern India within [[Kushan]] empire in the first to third centuries reinforced the role of the powerful merchants from [[Bactria]] and [[Taxila]].<ref name= "Iranica"> Sogdian Trade, ''Encyclopedia Iranica'', (retrieved [[15 June]] [[2007]]) <http://www.iranica.com/newsite> </ref> 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 [[Bagram|archeological site of Begram]]. The heyday of the Silk Road corresponds, on its west end, to the [[Byzantine Empire]], [[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 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]], [[Armenia]]ns, and [[China|Chinese]].<br clear=left>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 [[Sogdian]]s dominated the East-West trade after the 4th century CE up to the 8th century CE, with [[Suyab]] and [[Taraz|Talas]] ranking among their main centers in the north. They were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia. Their commercial interests were protected by the resurgent military power of the [[Göktürks]], whose empire has been described as "the joint enterprise of the [[Ashina]] clan and the Soghdians".<ref>Wink, André. Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Brill Academic Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0391041738.</ref><ref name= "Iranica"/> Their trades with some interruptions continued in the 9th century within the framework of the [[Uighur Empire]], which until 840 extended across northern Central Asia and obtained from China enormous deliveries of silk in exchange for horses. At this time caravans of Sogdians traveling to Upper Mongolia are mentioned in Chinese sources. They played an equally important religious and cultural role. Part of the data about eastern Asia provided by Muslim geographers of the 10th century actually goes back to Sogdian data of the period 750-840 and thus shows the survival of links between east and west. However, after the end of the Uighur Empire, Sogdian trade went through a crisis. What mainly issued from Muslim Central Asia was the trade of the [[Samanids]], which resumed the northwestern road leading to the Khazars and the Urals and the northeastern one toward the nearby Turkic tribes.<ref name= "Iranica"/> [[Image:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg|thumb|150px|Central Asian ([[Tocharian]]?) and East-Asian Buddhist monks, [[Bezeklik]], Eastern [[Tarim Basin]], 9th-10th century.]] 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 [[Khazaria|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 (palace)|Karakorum]] in central Mongolia, [[Sarmakhand]] in [[Transoxiana]], [[Tabriz]] in Northern Iran, [[Sarai (city)|Sarai]] and [[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 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. For much of the Middle Ages, the Islamic [[Caliphate]] in Persia often had a monopoly over much of the trade conducted across the [[Old World]] (see [[Islamic economics in the world#Age of discovery|Muslim age of discovery]] for more details). ===Mongol era=== :''See main article, [[Mongol Empire#Silk Road|Mongol Empire: Silk Road]].'' The [[Mongol invasions|Mongol expansion]] throughout the Asian continent from around 1215 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-establish the Silk Road (via [[Karakorum (palace)|Karakorum]]). The Chinese Mongol diplomat [[Rabban Bar Sauma]] visited the courts of Europe in 1287-1288 and provided a detailed written report back to the [[Mongols]]. Around the same time, the [[Venice|Venetian]] explorer [[Marco Polo]] became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to [[China]], and his tales, documented in ''[[Ptolemaic dynasty]]'', opened Western eyes to some of the customs of the Far East. He was not the first to bring back stories, but he was one of the widest-read. He had been preceded by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as [[William of Rubruck]], [[Benedykt Polak]], [[Giovanni da Pian del Carpine]], and [[Andrew of Longjumeau]]. Later envoys included [[Odoric of Pordenone]], [[Giovanni de' Marignolli]], [[John of Montecorvino]], [[Niccolò Da Conti]], or [[Ibn Battuta]], a [[Morocco|Moroccan]] [[Muslim]] traveller, who passed through the present-day [[Middle East]] and across the Silk Road from [[Tabriz]], between 1325-1354.<ref>[http://www.silk-road.com/artl/paxmongolica.shtml The Pax Mongolica], by Daniel C. Waugh, University of Washington, Seattle</ref><ref>[http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Three.html Battuta's Travels: Part Three - Persia and Iraq]</ref> The 13th century also saw attempts at a [[Franco-Mongol alliance]], with exchange of ambassadors and (failed) attempts at military collaboration in the [[Holy Land]] during the later [[Crusades]], though eventually the Mongols in the [[Ilkhanate]], after they had destroyed the [[Abbasid]] and [[Ayyubid]] dynasties, eventually themselves converted to Islam, and signed the 1323 [[Treaty of Aleppo]] with the surviving Muslim power, the Egyptian [[Mamluk]]s. ===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 part 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.{{Fact|More likely 1453, and the Ottoman supremacy at Constantiople. Ottomani rulers of the day were anti-western, remembering the crusades, and aware of the reconquesta of Spain, so expressed their displeasure by embargoing trade with the west. Things had eased a bit ca a century later, and Venice was able to cut an uneasy deal with the Ottomans, regaining for a time, some of their economic clout as middlemen. In any event, a bare date sans rationale or explanation is insufficient.|'''[[User:Fabartus|Fra]]'''<font color="green">[[User talk:Fabartus|nkB]]</font>|date=June 2008}} ===The great explorers: Europe reaching for Asia=== 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. [[Image:Mid15thCenturyPotteryNorthernItaly.jpg|thumb|left|Italian pottery of the mid-15th century was heavily influenced by [[Chinese ceramics]]. A ''[[Sancai]]'' ("Three colors") plate (left), and a [[Ming dynasty|Ming]]-type blue-white vase (right), made in Northern Italy, mid-15th century. [[Musée du Louvre]].]]When he went West in 1492, [[Christopher Columbus]] reportedly wished to create yet another Silk Route to China. It was initially a great disappointment to have found a continent "in-between" before recognizing the potential of a "New World." In 1594 [[Willem Barents]] left [[Amsterdam]] with two ships to search for the [[Northern Sea Route|Northeast passage]] north of Siberia, on to eastern Asia. He reached the west coast of [[Novaya Zemlya]], and followed it northward, being finally forced to turn back when confronted with its northern extremity. By the end of the 17th century, the Russians reestablished a land trade route between Europe and China under the name of the [[Great Siberian Road]]. 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. [[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz]], echoing the prevailing 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."'' 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:<ref>"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 carcass 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]]).</ref> : China has been long been 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 as travellers in the present time describe them. 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. ==Cultural exchanges on the Silk Road== [[Image:StandingBuddha.jpg|thumb|120px|Standing [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], [[Gandhara]], 1st century.]] {{see also|Silk Road transmission of Buddhism}} 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 '''Silk Road transmission of Buddhism''' to [[China]] started in the 1st century CE with a semi-legendary account of an embassy sent to the West by the Chinese Emperor [[Emperor Ming of Han|Ming]] (58 &ndash; 75 CE). Extensive contacts however started in the 2nd century CE, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the [[Kushan]] empire into the Chinese territory of the [[Tarim Basin]], with the missionnary efforts of a great number of Central Asian [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] monks to Chinese lands. The first missionaries and translators of Buddhists scriptures into Chinese were either [[Parthia]]n, Kushan, [[Sogdian]] or [[Kuchean]]. From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel to [[India]], the origin of [[Buddhism]], by themselves in order to get improved access to the original scriptures, with [[Fa-hsien]]'s pilgrimage to India (395&ndash;414), and later [[Xuan Zang]] (629&ndash;644). The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia. ===Artistic transmission=== {{main|Silk Road transmission of art}} Many artistic influences transited along the Silk Road, especially through the [[Central Asia]], where [[Hellenistic]], [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]], [[India]]n and [[China|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 [[Gautama Buddha|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, Kanagawa|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.[[Image:WindGods.JPG|thumb|left|350px|Iconographical evolution of the Wind God. '''Left:''' Greek Wind God from [[Hadda]], 2nd century. '''Middle:''' Wind God from [[Kizil (Tarim Basin)|Kizil]], [[Tarim Basin]], 7th century. '''Right:''' Japanese Wind God [[Fujin]], 17th century.]] ====Wind god==== The name of the [[west wind]] in [[Latin]] is [[Zephyr]]. 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 [[Japan]]ese [[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, Nara|Nara]] temple building tiles, some of them exactly depicting [[vine]]s and [[grape]]s. ===Technological transfer=== [[Image:FraMauroMap.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Fra Mauro map]], [[Venice]], 1459.]][[Image:FraMauroShips.JPG|thumb|200px|[[China|Chinese]] [[junk (sailing)|junk]] and [[Atlantic]] and [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] [[ship]]s. Depicted in [[Fra Mauro map]], image above.]] {{main|Medieval technology}} The period of the [[High Middle Ages]] in Europe and East Asia saw major [[technology|technological]] advances, including the diffusion through the Silk Road of the precursor to movable type [[printing]], [[gunpowder]], the [[astrolabe]], and the [[compass]]. Korean maps such as the [[Kangnido]] and Islamic mapmaking seem to have influenced the emergence of the first european practical world maps, such as those of [[De Virga world map|De Virga]] or [[Fra Mauro map|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 [[junk (sailing)|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 [[crossbow]]s, 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]]). ==See also== *[[Karakoram Highway]] *[[Cities along the Silk Road]] *[[Incense Road]] *[[History of silk]] *[[Hippie trail]] *[[Mount Imeon]] ==Line notes== {{reflist}} ==References== <div class="references-small"> * 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 962-217-721-2 softback. * Hopkirk, Peter: ''Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia''. The University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1980, 1984. ISBN 0-87023-435-8 * Huyghe, Edith and Huyghe, François-Bernard: "La route de la soie ou les empires du mirage", Petite bibliothèque Payot, 2006, ISBN 2-228-90073-7 * Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. ''China in Central Asia: The Early Stage [[125 BC]] – [[23]]: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty''. E. J. Brill, Leiden. * [[János Harmatta|Harmatta, János]], ed., 1994. ''History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: [[700 BC]] to [[250]]''. Paris, UNESCO Publishing. * Juliano, Annettte, L. and Lerner, Judith A., et al. 2002. ''Monks and Merchants: Silk Road Treasures from Northwest China: Gansu and Ningxia, 4th-7th Century''. Harry N. Abrams Inc., with The Asia Society. ISBN 0-8109-3478-7; ISBN 0-87848-089-7 softback. * Klimkeit, Hans-Joach, im. 1988. ''Die Seidenstrasse: Handelsweg and Kulturbruecke zwischen Morgen- and Abendland.'' Koeln: DuMont Buchverlag. * Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim. 1993. '''''Gnosis on the Silk Road''': Gnostic Texts from Central Asia''. Trans. & presented by Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 0-06-064586-5. * Knight, E. F. 1893. ''Where Three Empires Meet: A Narrative of Recent Travel in: Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit, and the adjoining countries''. Longmans, Green, and Co., London. Reprint: Ch'eng Wen Publishing Company, Taipei. 1971. *Li, Rongxi (translator). 1995. ''A Biography of the Tripiṭaka Master of the Great Ci’en Monastery of the Great Tang Dynasty''. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. Berkeley, California. ISBN 1-886439-00-1 *Li, Rongxi (translator). 1995. ''The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions''. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. Berkeley, California. ISBN 1-886439-02-8 * [[Boris Anatol'evich Litvinsky|Litvinsky, B. A.]], ed., 1996. ''History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: [[250]] to [[750]]''. Paris, UNESCO Publishing. * Liu, Li, 2004, ''The Chinese Neolithic, Trajectories to Early States'', Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press * Liu, Xinru, 2001. "Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies." ''[[Journal of World History]]'', Volume 12, No. 2, Fall 2001. University of Hawaii Press, pp. 261–292. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jwh/]. * McDonald, Angus. 1995. ''The Five Foot Road: In Search of a Vanished China''. HarperCollins''West'', San Francisco. * Malkov, Artemy. 2007. The Silk Road: A mathematical model. ''History & Mathematics'', ed. by [[Peter Turchin]] et al. Moscow: KomKniga. ISBN 978-5-484-01002-8 * Mallory, J. P. and Mair, Victor H., 2000. ''The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West''. Thames & Hudson, London. * Osborne, Milton, 1975. ''River Road to China: The Mekong River Expedition'', 1866–73. George Allen & Unwin Lt. * Puri, B. N, 1987 ''Buddhism in Central Asia'', Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi. (2000 reprint). * Ray, Himanshu Prabha, 2003. ''The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-80455-8 (hardback); ISBN 0-521-01109-4 (paperback). * [[Viktor Sarianidi|Sarianidi, Viktor]], 1985. ''The Golden Hoard of Bactria: From the Tillya-tepe Excavations in Northern Afghanistan''. Harry N. Abrams, New York. * Schafer, Edward H. 1963. ''The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of T’ang Exotics''. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1st paperback edition: 1985. ISBN 0-520-05462-8. * [[Marc Aurel Stein|Stein, Aurel M]]. 1907. ''Ancient Khotan: Detailed report of archaeological explorations in Chinese Turkestan'', 2 vols. Clarendon Press. Oxford.[http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/] * Stein, Aurel M., 1912. ''Ruins of Desert Cathay: Personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China'', 2 vols. Reprint: Delhi. Low Price Publications. 1990. * Stein, Aurel M., 1921. ''Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China'', 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980.[http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/] * Stein Aurel M., 1928. ''Innermost Asia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran'', 5 vols. Clarendon Press. Reprint: New Delhi. Cosmo Publications. 1981. * Stein Aurel M., 1932 ''On Ancient Central Asian Tracks: Brief Narrative of Three Expeditions in Innermost Asia and Northwestern China''. Reprinted with Introduction by Jeannette Mirsky. Book Faith India, Delhi. 1999. * von Le Coq, Albert, 1928. Buried Treasures of Turkestan. Reprint with Introduction by Peter Hopkirk, Oxford University Press. 1985. * Whitfield, Susan, 1999. ''Life Along the Silk Road.'' London: John Murray. * Wimmel, Kenneth, 1996. ''The Alluring Target: In Search of the Secrets of Central Asia''. Trackless Sands Press, Palo Alto, CA. ISBN 1-879434-48-2 * Yan, Chen, 1986. "Earliest Silk Route: The Southwest Route." Chen Yan. ''China Reconstructs'', Vol. XXXV, No. 10. Oct. 1986, pp. 59–62. * Ming Pao. ''Hong Kong proposes Silk Road on the Sea as World Heritage'', [[August 7]] [[2005]], p. A2. </div> ==Further reading== * Bulliet, Richard W. 1975. ''The Camel and the Wheel''. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-09130-2. * Choisnel, Emmanuel : ''Les Parthes et la route de la soie'' ; Paris [u.a.], L' Harmattan [u.a.], 2005, ISBN 2-7475-7037-1 * de la Vaissière, E., Sogdian Traders. A History, Leiden, Brill, 2005, Hardback ISBN 90-04-14252-5 [http://www.brill.nl], French version ISBN 2-85757-064-3 on [http://www.deboccard.com] * de la Vaissière, E., Trombert, E., Les Sogdiens en Chine, Paris, EFEO, 2005 ISBN 2-85539-653-0 [http://www.efeo.fr/publications/vdp.shtml] * Elisseeff, Vadime. Editor. 1998. '''''The Silk Roads:''' Highways of Culture and Commerce''. UNESCO Publishing. Paris. Reprint: 2000. ISBN 92-3-103652-1 softback; ISBN 1-57181-221-0; ISBN 1-57181-222-9 softback. * Foltz, Richard C. 1999. ''Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century.'' New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-21408-1. * Hill, John E. 2004. ''The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu.'' Draft http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/hou_han_shu.html] * Hill, John E. 2004. ''The Peoples of the West from the Weilüe'' 魏略 ''by Yu Huan'' 魚豢'': A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between [[239]] and [[265]].'' Draft annotated English translation. [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html] * [[Peter Hopkirk|Hopkirk, Peter]]: ''The Great Game: the Struggle for Empire in Central Asia''; Kodansha International, New York, 1990, 1992. * Il Milione by Marco Polo * Kuzmina, E. E. ''The Prehistory of the Silk Road''. (2008) Edited by Victor H. Mair. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia. ISBN 978-0-8122-4041-2. * Liu, Xinru, and Shaffer, Lynda Norene. 2007. ''Connections Across Eurasia: Transportation, Communication, and Cultural Exchange on the Silk Roads''. McGraw Hill, New York. ISBN 978-0-07-284351-4. * Miller, Roy Andrew (1959): ''Accounts of Western Nations in the History of the Northern Chou Dynasty''. University of California Press. * Hallikainen, Saana : ''Connections from Europe to Asia and how the trading was affected by the cultural exchange'' (2002) * Thubron, C., ''The Silk Road to China'' (Hamlyn, 1989) ==External links== {{commons|Silk Road|Silk Road}} * [http://www.cnto.org/silkroad.asp China National Tourist Office] * [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/maps/maps.html Silk Road Atlas (University of Washington)] * [http://www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html The history of the Silk Road by Oliver Wild] * [http://www.ciolek.com/owtrad.html Old World Traditional Trade Routes Project] * [http://www.studyrussian.com/seidenstrasse/silkroad/index.htm Travel report incl. photos along the Silk Road] * [http://www.silk-road.com/ Silkroad Foundation] * [http://www.silkroadproject.org/ Silk Road Project] * [http://www.travelthesilkroad.org/ Silk Road Society] * [http://montgomery.cas.muohio.edu/silkroad Miami University Silk Road Project] * [http://wiki.wsu.edu/wsuwiki/Silk_Road Destruction of Silk Road(Phase 3)] * [http://www.ourorient.com/articles/relations/hanandrome.htm The Great Handclasp -- The Han Empire and the Roman Empire] * [http://wiki.wsu.edu/wsuwiki/Silk_Road Silk Road] {{Trade route 2}} [[Category:Silk Road| ]] {{Link FA|hr}} {{Link FA|pt}} {{Link FA|zh}} <!--interwiki--> [[ar:طريق الحرير]] [[ast:Ruta de la seda]] [[bn:সিল্ক রোড]] [[br:Hent ar seiz]] [[bg:Път на коприната]] [[ca:Ruta de la Seda]] [[cv:Пурçăн çул]] [[cs:Hedvábná stezka]] [[da:Silkevejen]] [[de:Seidenstraße]] [[es:Ruta de la seda]] [[eo:Silka Vojo]] [[fa:جاده ابریشم]] [[fr:Route de la soie]] [[gl:Ruta da seda]] [[hak:Sṳ̂-chhù-chṳ̂-lu]] [[ko:실크로드]] [[hi:रेशम मार्ग]] [[hr:Put svile]] [[id:Jalur Sutra]] [[it:Via della seta]] [[he:דרך המשי]] [[ka:აბრეშუმის დიდი გზა]] [[kk:Жібек Жолы]] [[sw:Barabara ya hariri]] [[lv:Zīda ceļš]] [[lb:Seidestrooss]] [[lt:Šilko kelias]] [[hu:Selyemút]] [[mn:Торгоны зам]] [[nl:Zijderoute]] [[ja:シルクロード]] [[no:Silkeveien]] [[pl:Jedwabny szlak]] [[pt:Rota da Seda]] [[ro:Drumul mătăsii]] [[ru:Великий Шёлковый Путь]] [[simple:Silk Road]] [[sk:Hodvábna cesta]] [[sr:Пут свиле]] [[fi:Silkkitie]] [[sv:Sidenvägen]] [[tl:Daang Seda]] [[ta:பட்டுப் பாதை]] [[th:เส้นทางสายไหม]] [[vi:Con đường tơ lụa]] [[tr:İpek Yolu]] [[uk:Великий шовковий шлях]] [[zh:丝绸之路]]