An in-depth summary of the 'Silk road". All the necessary information from the prescribed reader as well as lecture slide have been incorporated, thus providing you with a perfect set of notes for semester tests and exams.
Silk Road Connections
● The silk road is an ancient route network that spanned across Central Asia, from
China to Europe.
● Although it is also a website on the dark web for the sale of illegal drugs, false
passports, spyware, etc.
The Historic Silk Road
● Silk Road is about 6 437 km and gets the name from the trade of Chinese silk
between Europe and Asia.
○ Route of transmission dates to approximately the third century BCE until
the 14th century CE.
● Tangible goods like Silk, furs, exotic animals, plants, gold and silver and
intangible goods like people, ideas, philosophies and religions travelled between
east and west.
○ Important factor in development of civilizations in Central Asia, India,
China and the Middle East.
● The silk road is a network of caravan trails with oases, settlements and markets
scattered over two continents.
○ Seen as a highway for the trade of goods, the migration of people, the
transmission of languages and the exchange of ideas and culture
● Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan lobbied UNESCO to include a stretch of the silk road
on the list of world heritage sites (2014).
, ● Empires and nations such as India, Persia, China, Turkey and Tibet tried to
control the silk road routes.
○ Control meant economic and political dominance.
The Trans-Sahara Route: Connecting Africa to the silk
road
● The Trans-saharan route connects Africa to
Europe via the Mediterranean sea.
○ Connects Africa to the overland Silk
Road.
● Sahara= Desert in Arabic.
● Date the Trans-Saharan route to the arrival
of Islam in Africa in the 7th century CE (600s
Common era).
○ However, Greek writer Herodotus mentions the route in the 5th
century CE (400s).
● The Sahara is the largest desert in the world (3.5 million square miles).
○ Only 25% is covered by sand, the rest is dry, gravelly and rocky terrain.
○ There are Numerous oases spread throughout the desert
■ Oases are resting places with shade and water and they were
there for buying goods such as dates, copper and salt.
● Camels were the primary mode of transportation until the arrival of the
Europeans in the 15th century. (They then built railway networks).
● The Trans-Sahara route connected people and trade goods as well as religions,
philosophies and cultures.
● 2 of the most important commodities that went north to the Mediterranean from
sub-Saharan Africa were gold, slaves and ivory.
○ In turn Europe traded cloth, glassware, arms, ceramic and salt.
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