10.05.2003
Examine the establishment of the Silk Roads. How did increased trade along these routes influence the participating societies?
The silk roads that went from Rome to China did numerous things, it brought into contact the great empires and dynasties of the time, it brought wealth to many, it allowed people to become specialized in certain trades, it brought new technologies to the people and also the merchants and travelers journeying on the roads brought their culture and religion along with the hidden hitch-hiker, disease. Han Wudi, the emperor of China, took the initiative of starting the silk roads by clearing central China of Xiongnu control. With this development the emperor did not have to go with his original plan of going through India. With intelligence from Zhang Qian the Chinese established a trade route to the western world.
The silk roads were not exclusively on land, the routs also went through the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Arabian Sea. During the earlier times of the silk roads the classical societies had a hard time ensuring the safety of traders passing through because of being stretched out too thin. Bandits or pirates sometimes intercepted the merchants which led to a price hike in the transactions over the roads. Two main things stimulated the long distance trade; first, rulers involved with the silk roads invested in constructing roads and bridges, secondly, conquest by empires expanded extended the reach of the classical empires therefore expanding the amount of protected lands. With the increases of safety the cost of trading went down while the quantity of goods being transacted went up.
Not only goods traveled across the roads, there were also religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and also Christianity. Buddhism, which was well established in northern India attracted merchant converts that spread their faiths too oases that served as resting spots; most of the merchants traveling the silk roads became Buddhist. Hinduism also traveled through the Silk Roads but was not as prominent. Christianity spread from Rome to the Mediterranean basin even reached out to India. Mani regarded Zarathustra as the prophet as Persia, Buddha as the prophet of India and Jesus as the prophet of the Mediterranean world; he saw a need for a unified religion so he mixed all of these religions and came up with his own religious faith. Manichaeism quickly spread by efficiently the silk roads trading network.
Pathogens were the side-effect of long-distanced trade, the diseases found new opportunities to spread to societies that have no inherited or acquired immunities. Epidemics spread like wildfire and took millions of lives. Small pox, measles and possible the bubonic plague flourished in China and Rome. The diseases brought down the economies and caused a social �make-over.� The Chinese and Roman empires contracted and turned to self-support; the pathogens weakened these empires beyond repair and helped bring down the Han dynasty and the western Roman empire.
The silk roads brought great change to most of the world, ideas and goods were spread like never before. The roads helped build up empires and spread new ideas and religions but it also weakened many of the interacting countries because of deadly diseases.
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The silk roads that went from Rome to China did numerous things, it brought into contact the great empires and dynasties of the time, it brought wealth to many, it allowed people to become specialized in certain trades, it brought new technologies to the people and also the merchants and travelers journeying on the roads brought their culture and religion along with the hidden hitch-hiker, disease. Han Wudi, the emperor of China, took the initiative of starting the silk roads by clearing central China of Xiongnu control. With this development the emperor did not have to go with his original plan of going through India. With intelligence from Zhang Qian the Chinese established a trade route to the western world.
The silk roads were not exclusively on land, the routs also went through the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Arabian Sea. During the earlier times of the silk roads the classical societies had a hard time ensuring the safety of traders passing through because of being stretched out too thin. Bandits or pirates sometimes intercepted the merchants which led to a price hike in the transactions over the roads. Two main things stimulated the long distance trade; first, rulers involved with the silk roads invested in constructing roads and bridges, secondly, conquest by empires expanded extended the reach of the classical empires therefore expanding the amount of protected lands. With the increases of safety the cost of trading went down while the quantity of goods being transacted went up.
Not only goods traveled across the roads, there were also religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and also Christianity. Buddhism, which was well established in northern India attracted merchant converts that spread their faiths too oases that served as resting spots; most of the merchants traveling the silk roads became Buddhist. Hinduism also traveled through the Silk Roads but was not as prominent. Christianity spread from Rome to the Mediterranean basin even reached out to India. Mani regarded Zarathustra as the prophet as Persia, Buddha as the prophet of India and Jesus as the prophet of the Mediterranean world; he saw a need for a unified religion so he mixed all of these religions and came up with his own religious faith. Manichaeism quickly spread by efficiently the silk roads trading network.
Pathogens were the side-effect of long-distanced trade, the diseases found new opportunities to spread to societies that have no inherited or acquired immunities. Epidemics spread like wildfire and took millions of lives. Small pox, measles and possible the bubonic plague flourished in China and Rome. The diseases brought down the economies and caused a social �make-over.� The Chinese and Roman empires contracted and turned to self-support; the pathogens weakened these empires beyond repair and helped bring down the Han dynasty and the western Roman empire.
The silk roads brought great change to most of the world, ideas and goods were spread like never before. The roads helped build up empires and spread new ideas and religions but it also weakened many of the interacting countries because of deadly diseases.
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