Addie Brown
CLASSICAL PERIOD/PERIOD 2: 600 B.C.E.-600 C.E.
OBJECTIVE ONE: Describe long distance trade along the silk roads. Be sure to the describe the geography of the trade route.[ECON, ENV]
All information on this page came from the WHAP textbook
This image shows a caravan of camels crossing the dessert trying to reach a town to trade in along the silk roads.
"Redirect Notice." Redirect Notice. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
"Redirect Notice." Redirect Notice. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
Long Distance Trade Along the Silk Roads
- Ancient societies were small and compact making further regions beyond their control. Trade between societies was susceptible to interception by robbers or pirates. That risk increased the costs of long-distance trade in ancient times.
- Rulers built expensive road and bridges primarily for military and administrative reasons, but the roads also encouraged trade within individual societies and exchanges between different societies.
- Classical societies built large imperial states that would expand to the point that they bordered one another. The campaigns of Alexander of Macedon brought Hellenistic and Indian societies into direct contact, and only small states separated the Roman and Parthian empires. Due to this, merchants did not face such great risk as in previous eras, the costs of long-distance trade dropped, and its volume rose dramatically.
This image demonstrates that the affect of the silk roads was global and many people traveled far for the trading opportunities.
The Silk Roads." YouTube.com. N.p., 12 Oct. 2013. Web. 8 Sept. 2016.
The Silk Roads." YouTube.com. N.p., 12 Oct. 2013. Web. 8 Sept. 2016.
Trade Networks of the Hellenistic Era
- The tempo of long-distance trade increased highly during the Hellenistic era
- Partially due to new colonies established by Alexander of Macedon and the Seleucid rulers in Persia and Bactria.
- Attracted Greek merchants and bankers who linked the recently conquered lands to the Mediterranean basin.
- Ptolemies carefully maintained land and sea trade routes
- They built several new ports, Berenice on the Red Sea and Alexandria were the most important and the two served as their principal window on the Mediterranean.
- Merchant seamen established regular routes by way of the Red Sea between India and Arabia in the east and Egypt and the Mediterranean basin in the west.
- Long-distance trade stimulated economic development within the Hellenistic realms themselves
- Brought benefits to local economies throughout the empires.
- Hellenistic rulers closely supervised foreign trade and levied taxes on it, therefore deriving income from even foreign products.
- Port of Rhapta sprouted as the principal commercial center on the east African coast.
- Merchants of Rhapta imported iron goods such as spears, axes, and knives from southern Arabia and the eastern Mediterranean region in exchange for ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, and slaves obtained from interior regions.
- groups of professional merchants and entrepreneurs emerged
- The silk roads brought coins and a stronger economy to Africa
- Commercial networks of the Hellenistic era fostered economic organization and the emergence of states in the distant lands that they brought into interaction.
The Silk Roads
This image on the left from our WHAP textbook, shows the different routes taken by traders along the Silk Road. There were both land routes and sea routes taken by merchants.
The image on the right shows a map more specifically focused on the silk rand spice trade routes.
" SILK ROAD Dialogue, Diversity & Development." About the Silk Road. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
The image on the right shows a map more specifically focused on the silk rand spice trade routes.
" SILK ROAD Dialogue, Diversity & Development." About the Silk Road. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
- India lacked a strong imperial state which meant they favored long distance trade.
- As the classical empires expanded, merchants and travelers created an extensive network of trade routes that linked much of Eurasia and north Africa.
- Historians refer to these routes collectively as the silk roads, since high-quality silk from China was one of the principal commodities exchanged over the roads.
- GEOGRAPHY OF THE OVERLAND TRADE ROUTES
- The overland silk roads took caravan trade from China to the Roman empire, connecting the ends of the Eurasian landmass.
- From the Han capital of Chang’an, the main silk road went west until it arrived at the Taklamakan desert, also known as the Tarim Basin.
- This desert is one of the most dangerous and inhospitable regions of the earth.
- The silk road then split into two main branches that went around the desert and passed through towns that brought it to the north and south.
- The branches came together at Kashgar (now known as Kashi, located in the westernmost corner of modern China).
- From there the reunited road went west to Bactria, where a branch went off to offer access to Taxila and northern India, while the principal route continued across northern Iran.
- There it joined with roads to ports on the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf and proceeded to Palmyra (in modern Syria), where it met roads coming from Arabia and ports on the Red Sea.
- Continuing west, it terminated at the Mediterranean ports of Antioch (in modern Turkey) and Tyre (in modern Lebanon).
- GEOGRAPHY OF WATER TRADE ROUTES
- The silk roads also included a network of sea-lanes that sustained maritime commerce throughout much of the eastern hemisphere.
- From Guangzhou in southern China, sea-lanes through the South China Sea connected the east Asian seaboard to the mainland and the islands of southeast Asia.
- Routes connecting southeast Asia with Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) and India were especially busy during classical times.
- From India, sea-lanes passed through the Arabian Sea to Persia and Arabia, and through the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea they offered access to land routes and the Mediterranean basin, which already possessed a well-developed network of trade routes.
- WHAT WAS TRADED?
- A wide variety of manufactured products and agricultural commodities traveled over the silk roads.
- Silk and spices traveled west from producers in southeast Asia, China, and India to consumers in central Asia, Iran, Arabia, and the Roman empire (including Egypt and north Africa as well as the European regions of the empire).
- Mediterranean wine, olive oil, jewelry, and works of art made their way to Persia and Bactria.
- Throughout the region from India to the Mediterranean, merchants conducted a brisk trade in slaves, largely kidnapping victims or prisoners of war.
- Silk came mostly from China, the only land in classical times where cultivators and weavers had developed techniques for producing high-quality silk fabrics.
- The fine spices—cloves, nutmeg, mace, and cardamom—all came from southeast Asia.
- Ginger came from China
- Cinnamon from China and southeast Asia
- Pepper from India
- Sesame oil from India, Arabia, and southwest Asia.
- Spices were extremely important in classical times because they had many more uses than they do in the modern world. They served not only as condiments and flavoring agents but also as drugs, anesthetics, aphrodisiacs, perfumes, aromatics, and magical potions.
- India also exported cotton textiles and valuable exotic items such as pearls, coral, and ivory. Central Asian and Mediterranean lands traded a variety of manufactured goods and other goods for the silks and spices that they imported
- Central Asia produced large, strong horses and high-quality jade, prized in China by stone carvers.
- glassware, jewelry, works of art, decorative items, perfumes, bronze goods, wool and linen textiles, pottery, iron tools, olive oil, wine, and gold and silver bullion all came from the Roman Empire
- Mediterranean merchants and manufacturers often imported raw materials such as uncut gemstones, which they made into expensive jewelry and decorative items and exported them as finished products.
- WHO DOMINATED TRADE WHERE?
- On the caravan routes between China and Bactria,Chinese and central Asian nomadic people dominated trade
- Parthians took advantage of their power and geographic position to control overland trade within their boundaries and to reserve it for their subjects.
- Once it got to Palmyra, merchandise passed mostly into the hands of Roman subjects such as Greeks, Jews, and Armenians, who were especially active in the commercial life of the Mediterranean basin.
- On the seas, other people became involved in long-distance trade.
- From south China to Ceylon and India, the most important figures were Malay and Indian mariners.
- In the Arabian Sea, Persians joined Egyptian and Greek subjects of the Roman empire as the most prominent trading figures.
- The Parthian empire controlled trade in the Persian Gulf
- Ptolemaic dynasty and later the Roman empire dominated exchanges in the Red Sea.
- Roman subjects carried on light trade between India and the Mediterranean.
- The Greeks reported that as many as 120 ships departed annually from the Red Sea for India.
- Romans also had dominated both the eastern and the western regions of mare nostrum, the Mediterranean.
- It is impossible to determine the quantity or value of trade that passed over the silk roads in classical times, but it clearly had a deep effect on contemporaries.
- Long-distance trade stimulated local economies. Commercial trade encouraged cultural and biological exchanges, some of which had large implications for classical societies.
This photos shows an artist's collage and their rendition of what different cultures looked like while traveling along the Silk Road.
Grove, Angela N. "Overland on the Ancient Silk Road." Angelanealworld.com. Http://my.studiopress.com/themes/genesis/, 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 8 Sept. 2016.
Grove, Angela N. "Overland on the Ancient Silk Road." Angelanealworld.com. Http://my.studiopress.com/themes/genesis/, 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 8 Sept. 2016.
Helpful Video
https://www.youtube.com/v/vfe-eNq-Qyg?autoplay=1&start=380&end=554&controls=1&version=3
This video talks about the global effects of the Silk Road and how it impacted the world and changed our lives. If the embed code wont load clink on the following link to access the video. Sorry for the difficulty! www.youtubecutter.com/watch/06d4a983/
Handmade Item
This comic strip made by me shows a conversation between a trader and a bandit trying to rob him. Trade interception happened frequently before the Silk Road was built. (See Long Distance Trade Along the Silk road)