The translation of the preface for the korean edition. It was called the silk road because silk was traded along it. The silk road was a network of trade routes that linked asia with europe. An ancient caravan route linking china with the west, used from roman times onwards and taking its name from the silk that was a major chinese export. If i were just starting my silk road research id first read peter frankopans the silk roads, a new history of the world, and follow that with peter hopkirks foreign devils on the silk road. Short and sweet lasting barely three years, silk road triggered the largest cybercriminal manhunt in history. Buddhism spread from india to central asia and china via an overland network of major and minor routes popularly called the silk road. The belt means the roads and railway tracks on land. There are many thousands of scholarly and entertainment books and articles from and about the silk road. The silk road primarily refers to the land routes connecting east asia and southeast asia with south asia, persia, the arabian peninsula, east africa and southern europe. The silk roads continue to capture the imagination of the public, and, in 2014, a section of the land routes was designated a world heritage site by unesco.
The silk road is as iconic in world history as the colossus of rhodes or the suez canal. This book is not as advertised a new history of the world, but rather a view of the economic impact of trade on the western world. Very large well organized database on manuscripts and art from dunhuang in gansu province, formerly one of the richest. The silk road in world history the new oxford world history epdf. Chinas belt and road initiative bri, sometimes referred to as the new silk road, is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever conceived. China also received nestorian christianity and buddhism from india via the route. Belt and road initiative simple english wikipedia, the free. Although the silk road may appear as a single road, it is a network of centuriesold trade routes which enabled traders to travel from xian in china, to istanbul in turkey. The road means sea routes at first, it was called one belt, one.
The belt and road initiative bri, also known as the new silk road, is a plan by the government of the peoples republic of china to build infrastructure for transportation, from china to other countries in asia, europe, and africa. The silk road may have formally opened up trade between the far east and europe during the han dynasty, which ruled china from 206 b. Recommended by numerous educational institutions recommend us, including oxford university, michigan state university, and university of minnesota. Silk has been found in the mummies of egypt around bc, german graves dated to 700 bc, and 5th century greek tombs. This network connected buddhist centers in northwest india, western central asia, the tarim basin, and china during the first millennium c. The caravan route across central asia, known as the silk road, took chinese silk to syria and on to rome. It broadly describes the ancient trading routes stretching across the eurasian continent from china to europe. The silk road in world history the new oxford world historythe silk road in world history xinru liu1 2010 3 oxf. Wholly it includes a total of 439 entries, including 28 overview. The more than 2,000 entries in this encyclopedia explore all the exchanges that occurred between civilizations as a direct result of the silk road, showing artifacts and written records to track the paths of such exchange along the silk road and its neighboring regions.
The silk road was an ancient network of trade routes, formally established during the han dynasty of china, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between bce1453 ce. It is our aim to provide educational information on what has been called the silk road, or silk routes. A new history of the world by peter frankopan, empires of the silk. The silk road not only earned china a lot of money, but all along the route cities prospered and. Silk road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market, best known as a platform for selling illegal drugs.
None in stock transaral railway wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 479 b. A north road skirted the northern edge of the taklimakan desert before heading westwards into turkestan and thence to the levant, while a south road followed a. Today, a small part of the old route is a paved highway between pakistan and china. It conjures up a hazy image of a caravan of camels laden with silk on a dusty desert track, reaching from china to rome. Silk road transmission of buddhism encyclopedia of buddhism. Indeed, some argue that it continues to the present day. The following is only a short and very incomplete list i have used and enjoyed for.
Silk weaving became a major industry and one of chinas chief exports in the han dynasty. In the 4th century bce the greek philosopher aristotle mentioned that sericulture was practiced on the island of kos, but the art was evidently lost. Silk roads by susan whitfield university of california press. The silk road 731 making up only 5% of the total world trade and it was not going through anatolia on its path. Instead, a complex network of trade routes spanned afroeurasias mountains, plains, deserts, and seas. This let china trade with the middle east and the mediterranean world. China also received nestorian christianity and buddhism from india via. The silk road was a network of trade routes which connected the east and west, and was central to the economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these regions from the 2nd century bce to the 18th century. Silk road, ancient trade route, linking china with the west, that carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of rome and china.
Pdf encyclopedia of the silk road eastern region xinjiang. The silk road and transeurasian exchange, co mparative studies of south asia, africa and the middle east 30. The 4,000mile 6,400kilometer road, actually a caravan tract, crossed mountains and deserts before reaching the mediterranean sea in the west. As part of the dark web, it was operated as a tor hidden service, such that online users were able to browse it anonymously and securely without potential traffic monitoring. Access to silk road was via the tor browser, and all transactions used bitcoins. The silk road, a transeurasian network of trade routes connecting east and southeast asia to central asia, india, southwest asia, the mediterranean, and northern europe, which flourished from. Although the silk road may appear as a single road, it is a network of centuriesold trade routes which enabled traders to travel from xian in china, to istanbul in. They traded goods such as silk, spices, tea, ivory, cotton, wool, precious metals, and ideas. The international network for the silk road online platform. From there, the reader will have to follow his or her own interests, but at least a good foundation will have been laid. The easternmost edge of the silk road began at sian, china, in the eastcentral portion of the country. The silk road primarily refers to the land routes connecting east asia and southeast asia with south asia, persia, the. While silk was clearly one of the earliest and most important commodities traded along the route, precious metals and.
The disappearance of the silk road following the end of the mongols was one of the main factors that stimulated the europeans to reach the prosperous chinese empire through another route, especially by sea. The silk road is a semiannual publication of the silkroad foundation. Theres a good probability that ancient languages can be learned in history and archeology departments as well. Silk road simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Travel and commerce led to the diffusion of languages, religions, inventions e. Permission is granted to copy, distribute andor modify this document under the terms of the gnu free documentation license, version 1.
Branded as the anonymous market and launched in 2011, silk road was shut down by the fbi in october 20, and founder ross ulbricht, who used the. Journal of the institute of silk road studies, kamakura, volume 10, 2004 the hirayama ikuo silk road museum foundation international dunhuang project idp. This road also functioned as a bridge in between people and cultures for centuries. We read here about his expedition but no analysis relating to the silk road at all. The silk road did not end with dong baode in the tenth century. The silk road illustration ancient history encyclopedia. As the silk road was not a single thoroughfare from east to west, the term silk routes has become increasingly favored by historians, though silk road is the more common and recognized name. The silk road was a group of trade routes that went across asia to the mediterranean sea. Belt and road initiative simple english wikipedia, the. In the near future i will be writing to many asking about this, as the paucity of ancient language university programs i was able to easily find wasis somewhat. It was difficult to find programs in other silk road ancient languages. Or perhaps how the silk road brought buddhism to the west and. Silk road research short bibliography with brief notes compiled from various sources note.
The silk road was an ancient network of trade routes, formally established during the han dynasty of china, which linked the regions of the. Merchants on the silk road transported goods and traded at bazaars or caravanserai along the way. At the time, silk was only made in china, and it was a valuable material. This book offers concrete evidence for what he was really carrying and where he was heading, looking at the key sites along the multiple silk roads, using newly discovered documents preserved in the sands of the taklamakan desert. The silk road stopped serving as a shipping route for silk around 1400. Silk road crossing asia from eastern china to the mediterranean, the silk road was pioneered by the chinese in the 2nd century bc. The investment guide to the silk roadis an integral part of unctads work in the silk road region, which comprises the states of kazakhstan, kyrgyzstan, tajikistan, turkmenistan, uzbekistan and the four western chinese provinces of gansu, ningxia, shaanxi and xinjiang. The european explorer marco polo 125424 ce traveled on these routes and described them in depth in his famous work but he is not credited with. Shadow of the silk road by colin thubron, the silk roads. This book is more than just a series of dictionarystyle definitions for words related to the silk road. Pdf read the silk roads online download read online free. For example, how does columbus come to bear on the silk road. My contribution to encyclopedia of the silk road, eastern region of xinjiang china, published by national research institute of cultural heritage p. Silk road article about silk road by the free dictionary.
Majority of the nomads travelled primarily for trade purposes, where majority of their traded belonged to exchanging of their herds for other vital commodities and they soon started to settle along favourable terrains on the silk road, developing into societies, one of the largest out of them was the mongol pastoral society in the th century. China and islamic civilization silk road foundation. Soon after, diabolus market, another dark website, renamed itself silk road 3. The silk road transmission of buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of islam in central asia. Traders and travelers began using the silk road more than 2,000 years ago.
Brills encyclopedia of buddhism aims to fill that gap with a comprehensive work, presented in two phases. Beckwith, ch, 2009, empieres of the silk road, princeton and oxford. Bactrian camels carried many goods besides silk on the silk road, but only a small proportion of the goods, and few merchants, ever travelled its whole length. Pdf on jan 11, 2017, heonjoo sohn and others published an invitation to the silk road. Buddhism in central asia began to decline in the 7th century in the course of the muslim conquest of transoxiana. By this route christianity and from india buddhism reached china. It has been evident for many years that no authoritative, reliable, and uptodate reference work on buddhism yet exists in any language. Silk road was a major trade route of its time that retained its importance for 2,000 years. The silk road was a network of trade routes, formally established during. The silk road, a series of trade routes connecting the mediterranean with the far east for several millennia, was at its height from the first to twelfth centuries ce. Silk road 1 an underground website for purchasing a huge assortment of merchandise, including electronics, jewelry and especially drugs, both legal and illegal. The silk road encyclopedia, by jeong suil, 2016, seoul selection, 1086 pages, isbn. Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including oxford university, michigan state university, and university of minnesota. The silk road conjures up an image of a traveler carrying silk as he sits atop a camel and moves along a desert highway.
I thought we would learn of the earliest use of the silk road in trade between sumeria and what is now northern afganistan based on the early trade in lapis and how this led to the later creation of faience. Author is respected expert on the early silk roads. The ancient history encyclopedia logo is a registered eu trademark. A new history of the world 1st edition, kindle edition. Kris along the silk road archeology and history of ancient trade a growing mass of archaeological evidence suggests that the silk road may have been in use long before zhang qians diplomatic journey. Beckwith, ch, 2009, empieres of the silk road, princeton and oxford addeddate. Institute of silk road studies, silk road art and archaeology.
16 592 356 547 799 727 826 1276 1513 906 409 154 415 842 955 67 1549 1117 352 995 965 810 581 487 1043 1478 1041 1127 1394 1026 1334 1245 1157 282 378 874 1064 161 1496