Silk Road Research Paper
Silk Road
The Silk Road was many things: a connection for the East and West, a valuable empire building resource, focus of cultures colliding, and a strategic trade route. The most important of these is the connection between the East and West. Without this trade route cultures would have developed completely different, and the already distant lands would be in seemingly different universes.
Geography
The Silk Road is not just one road, but an interconnected series of trade routes stretching across the Eurasian continent. The routes travel roughly 5,000 miles from modern day Japan, through the Middle East, and into Europe on land and sea. As it extends westward from North China, the Silk Road divides into northern and southern routes to avoid the Tibetan Plateau.
The northern route passes through the Bulgar–Kypchak region. Its travelers …show more content…
Faster and better equipped ships were being built therefore sea travel became favored over land travel. However, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, under the Sung Dynasty, trade tremendously increased because of the country’s dependence on silk. The Mongols then took control of China and the trade stabilized (as seen above). Yet again though, trade declined and land travel became less secure. While the Chinese did still keep the fur-silk trade with Russia, the Silk Road was virtually not in use.
Foreign Greed
Although the Silk Road greatly impacted the economy of the Western and Middle Eastern countries, knowledge of it outside of China was very limited. Only towards the end of the nineteenth century did interest in the route emerged. At this time European countries were spreading and adding colonies to strengthen their empire. Britain and Russia sent agents to investigate the area. These two countries recognized the threat of the other and the power struggle for the area took
The Silk Road was many things: a connection for the East and West, a valuable empire building resource, focus of cultures colliding, and a strategic trade route. The most important of these is the connection between the East and West. Without this trade route cultures would have developed completely different, and the already distant lands would be in seemingly different universes.
Geography
The Silk Road is not just one road, but an interconnected series of trade routes stretching across the Eurasian continent. The routes travel roughly 5,000 miles from modern day Japan, through the Middle East, and into Europe on land and sea. As it extends westward from North China, the Silk Road divides into northern and southern routes to avoid the Tibetan Plateau.
The northern route passes through the Bulgar–Kypchak region. Its travelers …show more content…
Faster and better equipped ships were being built therefore sea travel became favored over land travel. However, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, under the Sung Dynasty, trade tremendously increased because of the country’s dependence on silk. The Mongols then took control of China and the trade stabilized (as seen above). Yet again though, trade declined and land travel became less secure. While the Chinese did still keep the fur-silk trade with Russia, the Silk Road was virtually not in use.
Foreign Greed
Although the Silk Road greatly impacted the economy of the Western and Middle Eastern countries, knowledge of it outside of China was very limited. Only towards the end of the nineteenth century did interest in the route emerged. At this time European countries were spreading and adding colonies to strengthen their empire. Britain and Russia sent agents to investigate the area. These two countries recognized the threat of the other and the power struggle for the area took