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Cultural Diffusion Of The Silk Road

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Cultural Diffusion Of The Silk Road
John Ray III

Mr. Lee

9 Honors World History

27 October 2015

Silk Road

The Silk Road was a very important and prosperous trading route that began around 138 B. C. These were routes that were paramount to the exchanges and interactions between civilizations. These routes connected the west and east by monks, soldiers, merchants, pilgrims, also nomads. The Route traveled through china, the highlands of the Pamir and Tian Shan ranges, the Tarima basin, and onto, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Iran and to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This route insisted travel by either land or sea. Extending about 6,000 kilometers the Silk Road gets its name from the main attraction on this route being the Chinese silk. On the Silk Road, …show more content…
As trade along the Silk Road grew, Chinese weavers wanted to design silks that would appeal to other cultures. (Cultural Diffusion & the Silk Route of Ancient China) Some examples of this are the silk rugs called “ The Tree of Life,” that reflected upon the Persian culture. This rug contained the roundel animal symbol and scenes of saddled horsemen. They used thread wrapped in gold, influenced by India, and the two headed eagle design, which was influenced by the Assyrians. The Egyptians even created a method of weaving silk by using a loom and it made its way along the Silk Road to Iran and …show more content…
One, They exchanged cultural motifs which influenced other cultures to imitate their style and would possibly prevented inventions such as the loom, Second, the exchanged artistic ideas, which influenced many cultures to express their art in similar yet different ways, and third they exchange of the bubonic plague is a huge example of cultural diffusion that caused millions of death all around the Silk Route traders. Cultural diffusion (the spread of customs from one civilization to another) occurs in many different ways including war, migration, and trade with societies that are diverse. The Silk Road of ancient China is an example of cultural diffusion occurring as a result of trade. Although the route began in about 138 B.C. for the sole reason of China selling silk fabric -- a rare and valuable fabric-- trade along the Silk Road greatly influenced the exchange of ideas, practices and products between Western and Oriental
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