The Silk Road: Examining Trade Routes and Cultural Impacts

This assignment explores the Silk Road, an extensive network of trade routes connecting East and West. It covers the origins of the Silk Road, its naming by Ferdinand von Richthofen, and its peak during the Tang dynasty. The assignment highlights the importance of the Silk Road in facilitating trade, cultural exchange, and the spread of knowledge and technology. It also discusses the role of the Silk Road as a cultural bridge, connecting various civilizations, and its decline due to the rise of sea trade and political factors like the Ming dynasty's isolationist policies. The impact of the desert environment and tribal politics are also discussed. References from various historical sources are included to support the analysis.

Running head: SILK ROAD 1
Silk Road.
Student Name
Institution

SILK ROAD 2
Part 1
Qi
Silk Road refers to an extensive network of overland trade routes that connected south,
east and western Asia with the Mediterranean world. Europe and North Africa (Trade on the Silk
Road, 2002).It was a connection of many silk routes that combined to form the Silk Road.
Q2.
The name Silk Road came because the main trade that took place on the road was selling
and buying silk (Evans, 2000). It was named so by Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877.
Part 2
Q3.
The road began about 2000 years ago during the second century (Trade on the Silk Road,
2002).The reason for the growth of the road was increased demand for silk.
Q4.
Busiest period of the Silk Road was the mid-18th century during the Tang dynasty (Evans,
2000).
The reason for the peak was internal stability, peace and economic development by the rulers.
Q5.
Silk Road began in the capital city of Xian (Smith, 2006). After leaving China, the road is
divided into three routes.

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Part 3
Q6.
The importance of Silk Road was that it enabled people to trade and transport goods and
luxuries satin, diamond, rubies, musk, and pearls (Trade on the Silk Road, 2002).It also allowed
the exchange of religion and culture between countries. It also facilitated the spread of
knowledge and technology to and from India, China, and Asia.
Q7.
Silk and other goods got from China to Europe through the Silk Road but not from start
to the end. One merchant along the road would sell the silk to another merchant (Trade on the
Silk Road, 2002).The new owner of the dealer would then move and sell the silk to another
merchant, and the process continued until it reached Europe.
Q8.
Cultural bridge means the road acted as a connection between the cultures of India,
Arabia, China, Persia, Rome, and Greek (Evans, 2000). Religion was introduced to the many
nations that this road passed through. The other outcome of the culture bridge was moving of
different styles of the art along the famous Silk Road.
Q9.
Silk Road is referred to as information superhighway of its time because it facilitated
movement of technology and knowledge to move from west to east and from east to west
(Evans, 2000). Specific knowledge and technology that was passed were the Chinese inventions

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such as the gun powder and the compass from China to other parts of the world through the Silk
Road.
Part 4
Q10.
Significant events that occurred in 15th and 16th century were increased sea trade due to
development of silk route by sea (Best, 2010)The attitude of ruler China damaged the trade route
as they came up with policies that preferred foreign isolation and minimal contact. This led to
decline of the Silk Road as people preferred to use the sea route.
Q11.
The disadvantages of the land silk route were that it had many stops and this made prices
of goods go up. It was also affected by tribal politics (Best, 2010). The sea silk route had various
benefits which include that it had few stops and the prices of goods were lower.
Q12.
Desert environment affected the Silk Road in that the sand covered some of the towns
(Smith, 2006). It also made it hard to maintain good water supplies
Q13.
Chinese Ming dynasty politics affected the Silk Road as the rulers preferred foreign
policy isolation which led to decreased trade along the road as there was minimal contact
between the east and the west and this damaged the trade route.

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References
Best, G. The Silk Road’s Decline. Retrieved from
http://www.chinaguide.org
Evans, P. (2000). The Silk Road. Retrieved from
http://www.HistoryAsia.org
Smith, J. (2006). The Origins of the Silk Road. London: Pergamon
Trade on the Silk Road (2002). Retrieved from
http://TheBritishAcademy.org