the silk road Essay -- essays research papers

The Silk Road is the most well-known trading route of superannuated Chinese civilization. Trade in silk grew under the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC - AD 220) in the first and second centuries ADOriganally, the Chinese trade silk internally, within the empire. Caravans from the empires interior would show silk to the western edges of the region. Often small Central Asian tribes would attack these caravans hoping to capture the traders valuable commodities. As a result, the Han Dynasty extended its military defenses further into Central Asia from one hundred thirty-five to 90 BC in order to protect these caravans.Chan Chien, the first known Chinese traveler to make contact with the Central Asian tribes, later came up with the idea to expand the silk trade to include these lesser tribes and therefore forge alliances with these Central Asian nomads. Because of this idea, the Silk Road was born.The route grew with the rise of the Roman Empire because the Chinese initially gave silk to the Rom an-Asian governments as gifts. The 7000 mile route spanned China, Central Asia, Northern India, and the Parthian and Roman Empires. It connected the Yellow River Valley to the Mediterranean Sea and passed through places such(prenominal) as Chinese cities Kansu and Sinkiang and present-day countries Iran, Iraq and Syria.Northwestern Indians who lived near the Ganges River played prominent roles as middlemen in the China-Mediterranean silk trade because as early as the third...