Silk Road Research Paper

Humanities
Heather
Idol
2/27/15
The Silk Road
      From the earliest human history, when tribes of people lived in isolated communities to our interconnection, global society today, humans have made many incredible changes. People have formed hundreds of different languages for communicating; people have created different religions to build spiritual beliefs; people have invented many revolutionary products to make everyone’s life more comfortable and convenient. However, the world is huge and in ancient times most of the places with different cultures were far from each other. At the time when people found out the importance of sharing ideas and trading, the changes began with the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a web that connected the people from Europe and Asia to share their culture and products. It started from Xi’an in China, because the emperor of Han dynasty wanted to get horses from the western region, then the routes of the Silk Road grown worldwide and it reached the whole way to Istanbul. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant development of the culture of China, India, Persia, Europe, and Arabia. People shared culture on the Silk Road to make the countries in the world understand each other better; people traded products on the Silk Road to share the life between different nationalities; people traded languages on the Silk Road to make the world smaller and to make everyone become a family. Caravans have traveled on the Silk Road to explore the outlandish differences between different cultures and bring them back to their hometowns, therefore shaped the world into a unified society.
      One of the most important cities on the Silk Road that is full of special culture is Istanbul. It was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, empire has the biggest city in Turkey and it also has the biggest harbor in Turkey. It is also the western end of the Silk Road. It is located at the northwest of Turkey. There are almost no mountains around the city, so the weather is often nice and sunny; it is an ideal place the products that was traded through the Silk Road. The north, the east and the south side of the city are surrounded by water, so it’s very good for water transportation. The north is the black sea. The south is connected to the Sea of Marmara and will finally converge into the Mediterranean Sea, which was a very important route of trading, but the city water area of the city is very complicated. There are many big waves at the area of the Aegean Sea and the Ionian Sea, that make Istanbul becomes the world famous place for diving and fishing. Istanbul is well known for its Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, but its buildings reflect the people and empires that have ruled the city. Those mosques in Istanbul used to be Christian churches in the Byzantine Empire, after the Byzantine falls and religion slowly becomes Muslim, the churches has been constructed into different mosques. If you go to Istanbul today, there are still over 2900 mosques that are still active. Many mosques has become museums nowadays. But every year, millions of people come and visit these great work of religion. They share ideas about religious culture, Istanbul is the bridge that connects them together.

When the Byzantine Empire flourished, Chinese silk was the most important product that was traded between Istanbul and China on the Silk Road, also, The Byzantine Empire can afford high prize in order to get more silk, Asian culture has been added to the culture of Istanbul. At first, many western people coveted Chinese silk more than other jewelries and luxury. Theoverland trade route between China and the Mediterranean was called the "Silk Road" because China exported so much of this fabric to the West. When the Byzantine Empire was under the rule of Justinian, the wearing of silk was limited. Only royal ladies were permitted to wear silk if they purchased it in the Crown’s saleroom. Irene, the mother of Justinian saw the enormous economic value of Chinese silk, created large imperial controlled industries, the silk-weaving shops built around the new palace called the Eleutherios that was monitoring the small silk factories. The Silk Road helped the spreading of the Chinese culture, and brought the world closer. Chinese caravans traveled to the western empire, and taught them this great skill of producing silk. In the fashion week of Istanbul nowadays, most of the fashion designs are still made of silk. They are in many wonderful colors, those silk clothes dressed on those pretty models. People can see the culture between Europe and Asia, the culture bridge was built when people started to admire art.
      One of the biggest the invention from China besides paper and silk that travelled through the Silk Road from the east to the west is gunpowder. Gunpowder appeared and was first recorded in 850 A.D. Ancient Chinese alchemists discovered this and they described as three powders that would “fly and dance”. They created this dangerous chemical element accidentally when they were seeking for the elixir of immortality. The alchemists heated the saltpeter, sulfur and carbon of charcoal with honey. The smoke that was created by them burned their body and their house. After gunpowder was noticed by the emperor, it was quickly in the use of military to fight against the Mongols. Gunpowder first used for military purpose was recorded in 919 A.D. Chinese people also invented and introduced explosion bombs filled with gunpowder and fired by catapults.
      The technique of the using of gunpowder remained as a secret in China until the 13th century, and then the secret had gotten out by the scientists who had traveled along the Silk Road. The people in the Islamic Empire and then the Eastern Roman Empire started to understand how gunpowder is suitable for weapons. The Chinese traded silk with the Roman Empire and then with Byzantium. In return they received such items as wool, glass, and asbestos. Then the European Countries discovered out how to use gunpowder. There’s no written evidence about how they found out, but it might have something to do with the Third Crusade. The invention of gunpowder by Chinese people can be used not only in military. It was also used to celebrate festivals by doing fireworks. Fireworks bring families together to celebrate the holidays together. The New Year in Dubai this year, the huge fireworks gathered millions of people all over the world.
      The Silk Road contributed well to the cultural exchange between China and the West. From the second century BC to the fifteenth century AD, awesome civilizations in China, India, Greece, Persia and Rome were exchanged along this famous trade route, making the route a great "Cultural Bridge" between Asia and Europe. Another important "product" which was traded on the silk road besides economic products and political, was religion. Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Manicheism, Nestorianism and Islam were spiritual treasure of the ancient west, which were given by China during the old times. Buddhism is one of the most valuable religions. In 1 BC, Buddhism was introduced into Yutian (Now Hetian). From there, it quickly spread throughout the vast Western Regions. At the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism infiltrated the inland of China. After that, monks played super important roles on building Buddhism into a more integrated religion. They traveled on the route to ancient India to study sutras, contributed greatly to the propagation of Buddhism. Now Buddhism is a worldwide religion, 6 percent of the world population believe and agree the existence of Buddhism. People started to share ideas when they believed in the same religion, people started to think about the world in the same way after they agreed with same idea that their mind had told them. The world became smaller and more like a family.
      The Silk Road was a bridge, it connected the culture between the eastern country and the western country. It was a culture bridge. The Silk Road was a web. People traded the products from their own culture between each other. They ignored the disadvantages of culture differences and helped by building it more colorful. It was a communication web. The Silk Road was a compass, it pointed to the same destination where people can finally find their same interests and build their relationships between each other, and it was a compass of love. No matter how big the world is, no matter how big the gap is between different countries, if we know each other well just like brothers, if we develop together just like the trees in the forest, there will be no dispute in this big family.