Silk Road

{{Silk Road}}The Silk Road (Traditional Chinese: 絲綢之路; Simplified Chinese: 丝绸之路; pinyin: sī chóu zhī lù, Persian راه ابریشم Râh-e Abrisham) was an interconnected series of routes through Southern Asia traversed by caravan and ocean vessel, and connecting Chang'an (today's Xi'an), China, with Antioch, Syria, as well as other points. Its influence carried over into Korea and Japan.

Mongol era

:See main article, .

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The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 1215 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-establish the Silk Road (vis-à-vis Karakorum). In the late 13th century, a Venetian explorer named Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China. Westerners became more aware of the Far East when Polo documented his travels in Il Milione. He was followed by numerous Christian missionnaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck, Giovanni da Pian del Carpini, Andrew of Longjumeau, Odoric of Pordenone, Giovanni de Marignolli, Giovanni di Monte Corvino, and other travellers such as Ibn Battuta or Niccolo Da Conti. Luxury goods were traded from one middleman to another, from China to the West, resulting in high prices for the trade goods.

Related Topics:
1215 - 1360 - Karakorum - Venetian - Marco Polo - China - Il Milione - William of Rubruck - Giovanni da Pian del Carpini - Andrew of Longjumeau - Odoric of Pordenone - Giovanni de Marignolli - Giovanni di Monte Corvino - Ibn Battuta - Niccolo Da Conti

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Technological transfer to the West

Main article:Medieval technology

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Many technological innovations from the East seem to have filtered into Europe around that time. The period of the High Middle Ages in Europe saw major technological advances, including the adoption through the Silk Road of printing, gunpowder, the astrolabe, and the compass, in many ways sustaining the development of Renaissance Europe and the Age of Exploration.

Related Topics:
High Middle Ages - Technological - Printing - Gunpowder - Astrolabe - Compass - Renaissance - Age of Exploration

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Chinese maps such as the Kangnido and islamic mapmaking seem to have influenced the emergence of the first practicle world maps, such as those of De Virga or Fra Mauro. Ramusio, a contemporary, states that Fra Mauro's map is "an improved copy of the one brought from Cathay by Marco Polo".

Related Topics:
Kangnido - De Virga - Fra Mauro

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Large Chinese junks were also observed by these travelers and may have provided impetus to develop larger ships in Europe. ships were also observed

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:"The ships, called junks, that navigate these seas carry four masts or more, some of which can be raised or lowered, and have 40 to 60 cabins for the merchants and only one tiller." (Text from the Fra Mauro map, 09-P25)

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:"A ship carries a complement of a thousand men, six hundred of whom are sailors and four hundred men-at-arms, including archers, men with shields and crossbows, who throw naphtha... These vessels are built in the towns of Zaytun (a.k.a Zaitun; today's Quanzhou; 刺桐) and Sin-Kalan. The vessel has four decks and contains rooms, cabins, and saloons for merchants; a cabin has chambers and a lavatory, and can be locked by its occupants. (Ibn Battuta)

Related Topics:
Crossbow - Naphtha - Quanzhou - Ibn Battuta

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Disintegration

However, with the disintegration of the Mongol Empire also came discontinuation of the Silk Road's political, cultural and economic unity.

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Turkmeni marching lords seized the western end of the Silk Road - the decaying Byzantine Empire. After the Mongol Empire, the great political powers along the Silk Road became economically and culturally separated. Accompanying the crystallization of regional states was the decline of nomad power, partly due to the devastation of the Black Death and partly due to the encroachment of sedentary civilizations equipped with gunpowder.

Related Topics:
Byzantine Empire - Black Death - Gunpowder

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The effect of gunpowder and early modernity on Europe was the integration of territorial states and increasing mercantilism; whereas on the Silk Road, gunpowder and early modernity had the opposite impact: the level of integration of the Mongol Empire could not be maintained, and trade declined (though partly due to an increase in European maritime exchanges).

Related Topics:
Gunpowder - Modernity - Europe - Mercantilism

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The Silk Road stopped serving as a shipping route for silk around 1400.

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