The Silk Road is well-known for the transportation of trading items like silk, different metals, and many other goods. Religion was also moved from place to place. When the Silk Road was opened; monks and other religion leaders were free to travel to different cities. Through the Silk Road Buddhism was adopted from other countries.
Buddhism first originated in India and then it spread to China and other cities found along different branches of the Silk Road. The only evidence of Buddhism was in the ancient Indian language, Pali. Buddhism gradually developed in northwestern India during the 6th century BCE and then it spread to China through the Silk Road. Indian traders and Buddhist monks traveled the Silk Road and some leaders supported the transition from their current religion to Buddhism. The monks brought their religion to the trans-Eurasian trade routes and were welcomed to many of the cities, but Persian Zoroastrianism blocked Buddhism. Many cities in central Asia converted to Buddhism and so did the majority of Northern China.
There are many different religions present in the world today. Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and many others can be found all over the world. The main religion in the United States is Christianity. Religion was spread throughout the world through trade and migrations. The spread of different religions in the modern world was very similar to the spread of Buddhism in the ancient world. Unlike the spread of Buddhism, the modern day spread of religion happed internationally and it carried over the oceans.
My information is from http://www.silk-road.com/artl/buddhism.shtml and Ways of The World By:Robert W. Strayer.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Cross Cultural Transmission -- Gold, Spices, and the Plague
Trade, which was influential in the development of civilizations, became easier and more prevalent in 300 B.C.E. with the introduction of the Silk Road. The Silk Road, which two of my classmates have already talked about, was a set of trade routes that connected Eurasia, starting in China and ending as far as Egypt. Through these trade routes, it became easier to send goods back and forth. Some of these included silk, paper, fur, amber, copper, cotton, spices, nuts, gold, glass, and wool among other goods.
The things I have listed above were the most commonly traded goods when the Silk Road was at its height, but aside from those things, the trade routes also transmitted diseases from culture to culture. One such disease was the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death.
This plague, which occurred between 1346 and 1350, is said to have come from China to Europe via trade routes that passed through the Mongol Empire. During the period, Mongol covered a large mass of land within the area of the trade routes, so many goods went through the area and were subject to the disease.
When the disease came to areas where the people had not built immunities to it, many people became infected and consequently died. In Europe alone, the effects were horrendous. The population decreased by a third due to the plague.
Although the plague is not the only disease that had been transferred through cultures by way of trade routes, the devastating number of victims intrigued me. The still exists today, but it is cured by antibiotics which were not available during the time period I have talked about. There are not nearly as many deaths from it and it is far less talked about than the European outbreak. The topic also interested me because diseases today spread much like the plague did, through trade or transfer of goods. The plague may not take as many lives, but the vehicle used to spread disease and illness has not changed a whole lot.
http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/fleas/bdeath/Black.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire#Silk_Road\Strayer, Robert. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History, Vol. I, First Edition (Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2007). P. 224
The things I have listed above were the most commonly traded goods when the Silk Road was at its height, but aside from those things, the trade routes also transmitted diseases from culture to culture. One such disease was the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death.
This plague, which occurred between 1346 and 1350, is said to have come from China to Europe via trade routes that passed through the Mongol Empire. During the period, Mongol covered a large mass of land within the area of the trade routes, so many goods went through the area and were subject to the disease.
When the disease came to areas where the people had not built immunities to it, many people became infected and consequently died. In Europe alone, the effects were horrendous. The population decreased by a third due to the plague.
Although the plague is not the only disease that had been transferred through cultures by way of trade routes, the devastating number of victims intrigued me. The still exists today, but it is cured by antibiotics which were not available during the time period I have talked about. There are not nearly as many deaths from it and it is far less talked about than the European outbreak. The topic also interested me because diseases today spread much like the plague did, through trade or transfer of goods. The plague may not take as many lives, but the vehicle used to spread disease and illness has not changed a whole lot.
http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/fleas/bdeath/Black.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire#Silk_Road\Strayer, Robert. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History, Vol. I, First Edition (Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2007). P. 224
Trade Around the Ancient World: By Sea
Trade among countries have always played a major role in their development. Whether merchants traded ideas, customs, items or religions; it all shaped the way we know the world today. In the beginning, early trade was done by foot. Merchants would go to major cities and trade with each other and the citizens. One of the most famous routes by foot was the Silk Road was a connection of trading routes where everything from silk to spices were sold. Soon, another form of trade began to become popular, especially among more developed countries. This was trade by sea.
Trade by sea was desirable for merchants traveling from China to Africa. It was easier and cost less because of the amount of cargo that the ship was able to carry and because it was able to carry heavier cargo. The Indian Ocean became an important trading route especially for trade between Africa and Asia. The Mediterranean Sea was a popular trading area during the days of the Greeks and Romans and the Egyptians traded along the Red Sea. Sea trade was not as common at first but it slowly gain popularity.
Waterway and trade by foot are no longer the only ways to trade merchandise, ideas and beliefs. Trade has grown and expanded. It is faster and more efficient. It is important to look at trade in the past especially since it influence the past so much that it changed the future.
Ways of the World, Robert W. Sayer
Trade by sea was desirable for merchants traveling from China to Africa. It was easier and cost less because of the amount of cargo that the ship was able to carry and because it was able to carry heavier cargo. The Indian Ocean became an important trading route especially for trade between Africa and Asia. The Mediterranean Sea was a popular trading area during the days of the Greeks and Romans and the Egyptians traded along the Red Sea. Sea trade was not as common at first but it slowly gain popularity.
Waterway and trade by foot are no longer the only ways to trade merchandise, ideas and beliefs. Trade has grown and expanded. It is faster and more efficient. It is important to look at trade in the past especially since it influence the past so much that it changed the future.
Ways of the World, Robert W. Sayer
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Benifits & Consequences of the Silk Road
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The Silk Road began as a way to transport good from culture to culture, across various land masses. Imagine today having no cars, trains, buses, no plains or efficient way to get across waters…imagine this, and one may imagine the ways in which the Silk Road helped cultures trade, and exchange cultural views.
The process by which the Silk Road succeeded lasted somewhere around two thousand years, with no vehicles or anything reminiscent of modern day transport, trade became a very lengthy process. The “Silk Road” was actually a complex network of several major routes which led across Eurasia. The different routes touched on all the major cities of the time and helped goods, ideas, and technology diffuse from one culture to the next.
The road was named because one of the main goods transported across the lands was silk from China, which also contributed other goods such as bamboo, gunpowder, paper, and ginger among other items. Other main contributors were Siberia and Central Asia, India, the Middle Easy, and the Mediterranean Basin[1].
Aside from the obvious benefits of cultures beginning to expand because of a growing exchange of goods, the intermingling which occurred also began an exchange of ideas and views. For example, cultures from Rome might adopt ideas from China. Sometimes the ideas would include religious aspects, such the diffusion of Buddhism across Eurasia, other time there would be noticeable culture changes in areas such as architecture or city layout.
The Silk Road was a blessing and a curse, while there were substantial benefits to the exchange of goods, people often suffered from disease, which was also transported from area to area across the continent. Diseases such as smallpox and measles are just two examples of transported illness which devastated cultures.
I would go as far as to say that without the development of the Silk Road the World today would not be as is. This was in amazing achievement for its time which helped communities and civilizations from all over Eurasia expand their cultures in most ways, a positive fashion. With the development of a high class road network across such a large landmass, most anything became plausible, interestingly enough, our road network today work in much a similar way…
[1] Robert Strayer, Ways of the World, a Brief Global History (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009) p. 221.
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