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.

Origins

Cross-continental travel

As accomplished waterway shipping and domestication of efficient pack animals both increased the capacity for prehistoric peoples to carry heavier loads over greater distances, cultural exchanges and trade developed rapidly. For example, shipping in predynastic Egypt was already established by the 4th millennium BC along with domestication of the donkey, with the dromedary possibly having been domesticated as well. Domestication of the Bactrian camel and use of the horse for means of transport then followed (see Domestication of the horse).

Related Topics:
Shipping - Domestication - Pack animal - Prehistoric - Cultural exchange - Trade - Predynastic Egypt - 4th millennium BC - Donkey - Dromedary - Bactrian camel - Horse - Transport - Domestication of the horse

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Just as waterways provide easy means for distant transport, broad stretches of grasslands -- all the way from the shores of the Pacific to Africa and deep into the heart of Europe -- provide fertile passage for grazing, plus water and fuel for caravans. These waterway and overland routes allowed passage that avoided trespassing on agricultural lands, presenting ideal conditions for caravans, merchants and warriors to travel immense distances without arousing the hostility of more settled peoples.

Related Topics:
Pacific - Africa - Europe - Caravan - Merchant - Warrior

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While goods and religious ideas may have communicated greater distances, ancient trade was probably conducted over only sections of the routes. The Silk Road is unlikely to have been travelled in entirety -- between Africa, Europe or the Middle East and China -- by land.

Related Topics:
Goods - Religious - Africa - Europe - Middle East - China

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Ancient transport

The ancient peoples of the Sahara had already imported domesticated animals from Asia between 7500 and 4000 BC (see '). Foreign artifacts dating to the 5th millennium BC in the Badarian culture of Egypt indicate contact with distant Syria http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/badari/trade.html. By the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, ancient Egyptians in Maadi were importing pottery http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/neolithic/maadi.html as well as construction ideas from Canaan http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/maadi.htm.

Related Topics:
Sahara - Asia - 7500 - 4000 BC - Artifact - 5th millennium BC - Badarian - Egypt - Syria - 4th millennium BC - Ancient Egyptian - Maadi - Pottery - Construction - Canaan

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Lapis lazuli was being traded from its only known source in the ancient world – Badakshan, in what is now northeastern Afghanistan – as far as Mesopotamia and Egypt by the second half of the 4th millennium BC. By the third millennium BC lapis lazuli trade was extended to Harappa and Mohenjo-daro in the Indus valley.

Related Topics:
Lapis lazuli - Badakshan - Afghanistan - Mesopotamia - Egypt - 4th millennium BC - Third millennium BC - Harappa - Mohenjo-daro - Indus valley

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Routes along the Persian Royal Road (constructed 5th century BC) may have been in use as early as 3500 BC. There is evidence that Ancient Egyptian explorers may have originally cleared and protected some branches of the Silk Road.

Related Topics:
Royal Road - 5th century BC - 3500 BC - Ancient Egyptian - Explorers

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Between 1979 and 1985, charcoal samples found in the tombs of Nekhen, which were dated to the Naqada I and II periods, were identified as cedar from Lebanon http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/hierakonpolis.htm.

Related Topics:
Nekhen - Naqada - Cedar - Lebanon

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In 1994 excavators discovered an incised ceramic shard with the serekh sign of Narmer, dating to circa 3000 BC. Mineralogical studies reveal the shard to be a fragment of a wine jar exported from the Nile valley to Israel (see Narmer).

Related Topics:
Shard - Serekh - Narmer - 3000 BC - Nile - Israel

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The ancient harbor constructed in Lothal, India, may be the oldest sea-faring harbor known.

Related Topics:
Lothal - India - Sea-faring

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Egyptian maritime trade

The Palermo stone mentions King Sneferu of the 4th Dynasty sending ships to import high-quality cedar from Lebanon (see Sneferu). In one scene in the pyramid of Pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty, Egyptians are returning with huge cedar trees. Sahure's name is found stamped on a thin piece of gold on a Lebanon chair, and 5th dynasty cartouches were found in Lebanon stone vessels. Other scenes in his temple depict Syrian bears. The Palermo stone also mentions expeditions to Sinai as well as to the diorite quarries northwest of Abu Simbel.

Related Topics:
Palermo stone - Sneferu - 4th Dynasty - Cedar - Lebanon - Sahure - Fifth Dynasty - Cartouche - Syria - Sinai - Diorite - Abu Simbel

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The oldest known expedition to the Land of Punt was organized by Sahure, which apparently yielded a quantity of myrrh, along with malachite and electrum. The 12th-Dynasty Pharaoh Senusret III had a "Suez" canal constructed linking the Nile River with the Red Sea for direct trade with Punt. Around 1950 BCE, in the reign of Mentuhotep III, an officer named Hennu made one or more voyages to Punt. A very famous expedition was conducted by Nehsi for Queen Hatshepsut in the 15th century BCE to obtain myrrh; a report of that voyage survives on a relief in Hatshepsut's funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri. Several of her successors, including Thutmoses III, also organized expeditions to Punt.

Related Topics:
Land of Punt - Myrrh - Malachite - Electrum - 12th-Dynasty - Pharaoh - Senusret III - "Suez" canal - Nile River - Red Sea - Mentuhotep III - Hennu - Nehsi - Hatshepsut - 15th century BCE - Relief - Deir el-Bahri - Thutmoses III

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British tin

Britain had large reserves of tin in the areas of Cornwall and Devon in what is now southwest England. By around 1600 BC the southwest of Britain was experiencing a trade boom, as mined British tin was being exported across Europe (see Prehistoric Britain). When the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age around the Mediterranean the shipping of tin ended between 1200 and 1100 BC. No land route has ever been found between ancient Britain and Mediterranean civilizations.

Related Topics:
Britain - Tin - Cornwall - Devon - England - 1600 BC - Trade - Europe - Prehistoric Britain - Bronze Age - Iron Age - 1200 - 1100 BC - Ancient Britain - Mediterranean - Civilizations

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Chinese and Central Asian contacts

From the 2nd millennium BC nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region of Yarkand and Khotan to China. Significantly, these mines were not very far from the lapis lazuli and spinel ("Balas Ruby") mines in Badakhshan and, although separated by the formidable Pamir mountains, routes across them were, apparently, in use from very early times.

Related Topics:
2nd millennium BC - Nephrite - Jade - Mines - Yarkand - Khotan - China - Lapis lazuli - Spinel - Badakhshan - Pamir

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The Tarim mummies, Chinese mummies of an Indo-European type, have been found in the Tarim Basin, such as in the area of Loulan located along the Silk Road 200 kilometers east of Yingpan, dating to as early as 1600 BC and suggesting very ancient contacts between East and West. It has been suggested that these mummified remains may have been the work of the ancestors of the Tocharians whose Indo-European language remained in use in the Tarim Basin (modern day Xinjiang) of China until the 8th century CE.

Related Topics:
Tarim mummies - Indo-European - Tarim Basin - Loulan - Kilometers - 1600 BC - Tocharians - Indo-European language - Xinjiang - China - 8th century CE

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Some remnants of what was probably Chinese silk have been found in Ancient Egypt from 1070 BC. Though the originating source seems sufficiently reliable, silk unfortunately degrades very rapidly and we cannot double-check for accuracy whether it was actually cultivated silk (which would almost certainly have come from China) that was discovered or a type of "wild silk," which might have come from the Mediterranean region or the Middle East.

Related Topics:
Silk - Ancient Egypt - 1070 BC - Wild silk - Mediterranean - Middle East

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Following contacts of metropolitan China with nomadic western and northwestern border territories in the 8th century BC, gold was introduced from Central Asia, and Chinese jade carvers began to make imitation designs of the steppes, adopting the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes (descriptions of animals locked in combat). This style is particularly reflected in the rectangular belt plaques made of gold and bronze with alternate versions in jade and steatite.

Related Topics:
8th century BC - Gold - Central Asia - Jade - Steppe - Scythian - Bronze - Steatite

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Persian Royal Road

By the time of Herodotus (c. 475 BC) the Persian Royal Road ran some 2,857 km from the city of Susa on the lower Tigris to the port of Smyrna (modern Izmir in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea. It was maintained and protected by the Achaemenid empire (c.700-330 BC) and had postal stations and relays at regular intervals. By having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages the entire distance in 9 days, though normal travellers took about three months. This Royal Road linked into many other routes. Some of these, such as the routes to India and Central Asia, were also protected by the Achaemenids, encouraging regular contact between India, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. There are accounts in Esther of dispatches being sent from Susa to provinces as far out as India and Cush during the reign of Xerxes (485-465 BC).

Related Topics:
Herodotus - 475 BC - Royal Road - Susa - Tigris - Izmir - Turkey - Aegean Sea - Achaemenid - Achaemenids - Esther - Cush - Xerxes

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Roman and Egyptian transatlantic voyages

In 1975 two intact amphorae were recovered from the bottom of Guanabara Bay, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1981 archeologist Robert Marx discovered thousands of pottery fragments in the same locality, including 200 necks from amphorae. The amphorae have been shown to be of Roman make, from the 2nd Century BC. Also, tests done on internal tissue samples from ancient Egyptian mummies have revealed traces of chemicals only found in the Americas in antiquity, such as tobacco and coca. Because the samples taken from sundry Egyptian mummies were of internal tissues, the likelihood for contamination is smaller (see Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact).

Related Topics:
1975 - Amphorae - Guanabara Bay - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil - Robert Marx - Roman - 2nd Century BC - Ancient Egyptian - Mummies - America - Tobacco - Coca - Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact

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