Cultural Exchanges Along the Silk Routes

Ideas, Culture, Technology and Religion Traveled Along the Silk Road

Oct 19, 2009 Sanjiva Wijesinha

It was not only silk and spice that were carried by traders along these trade routes. They put far flung communities in contact - and kept them in touch with one another.

Over the centuries, many important scientific and technological innovations migrated to the West along the ancient trade routes which came to be known as the Silk Routes (derived from the German Die Seidenstrasse, a term coined by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877 )

It is traditionally believed that these trade routes - actually a network of caravan tracks connecting Xi'an on China's western border and the citis of Italy in the West - were first opened in the 2nd century before the Christian era as an initiative of the Chinese Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty.

These "Silk Routes" became a series of trade routes that connected Europe and Asia from these ancient times. Over land they stretched over 8,000 kilometres through the heart of Asia, from the Mediterranean to the China Sea, and crossed some of the most spectacular and dangerous places on Earth: the Pamir Mountains, the Hindu Kush and the notorius Taklamakan desert. Together with the Silk Routes of the Sea - sometimes referred to as the Spice Routes- these arteries of commerce served for over two millenia as a human highway linking East and West

Silk Trade

Probably the most prized items of commerce carried along these trade routes was silk, manufactured in China and treasured in Rome. The process by which silk is made, involving silk worm caterpillars fed on mulberry leaves, was kept secret from the west until the 6th century AD.

However, silk was just one of the many precious items carried by traders along the network of Silk Routes. Gold, frankincense, rugs, ivory and perfumes went east from Europe and Arabia - while from China and the Indies came jade, ceramics, lacquer craft and spices to the markets of Europe.

But in addition to these lucrative items of trade, the travellers and traders along the Silk Routes carried with them even more important items like ideas, technology, culture and religion. The scientific discoveries of the east such as gunpowder, the magnetic compass and the printing press were brought to Europe along with the silk and spice - and art, ideas and innovations crossed over from one land to another with the traders - who in effect became a conduit between cultures and communities.

Painting, Sculpture and Music

Eastern and Western string, wind and percussion instruments along with painters and sculptors traveled between regions and had strong influences on one another over time. Innovations were exchanged between so many cultures over so many hundreds of years that it is now difficult to identify the origins of numerous traditions that today's folk take for granted. For example, did Chinese noodles give rise to Italian spaghetti - or was it the other way round?

In addition to their function as routes of commerce, this network of roads covering Europe and Asia helped to spread ideas, values, cultures and knowledge during times during which there was no radio, television or internet - not even universal writing! The resulting interconnection led to the enrichment of far flung societies, thus contributing significantly to their technological progress and the flourishing of human civilization.

References:

Dani, Ahmad H. (2002 ) Significance of Silk Road to human civilization: Its cultural dimension. Journal of Asian Civilizations 25(1):72-79.

Wijesinha S.S. (1992) Stories of the Silk Route ISBN 5955. 9068 4 5

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