Cross-Cultural Exchanges
The Silk Roads
Long Distance Trade & the Silk Roads
Network
Trade Networks of the Hellenistic Era
• Road construction, bridges & establishment of
imperial states improved conditions
– Merchants could more easily travel
• This increased volume and accessibility of exotic goods
throughout the eastern hemisphere
• Greek merchants & bankers were attracted east
– Ptolemies in Egypt maintained routes into Africa
• Learned monsoon rhythms to navigate Indian Ocean
– Established links between Arabia, India, east Africa & Egypt
– Huge economic by back despite the expense to maintain &
protect
The Silk Roads - Structure
• The overland trade routes known as the Silk Roads were
anchored across Eurasia by
– Han Dynasty: controlled China & central Asia
– Parthian Empire: ruled Persia & Mesopotamia
– Roman Empire: held the Mediterranean world
– Kushan Empire: provided protection & stability in
northern India
• Silk Roads also included water routes & sea lanes that link the
eastern hemisphere
– Used a series of ports along the Asian & African coasts
from the South China Sea to the Red Sea
The Silk Roads - Trade
• Wide variety of manufactured & agricultural
goods traveled the road
– Silk from China
• Chinese guarded the secret of production
– Spices from China & central Asia
• Served as condiments, as well as ingredients in
medicines, perfumes & magical potions
– Cotton textiles, pearls, coral & ivory went west
– Glassware, jewelry, wool & linen went east
– High quality jade from central Asian & horses
were prized in both the east & west
The Silk Roads – Changes &
Continuities
• Merchants did not travel the entire length of
the roads
– Small merchant communities developed along
the silk roads & coastlines
• Trade occurred in stages
– Governments guarded the movement of
merchants within their empires
• Wanted to ensure collection of taxes & tariffs on the
goods crossing their territories
Cultural & Biological Exchanges
along the Silk Roads
The Spread of Buddhism:
Religious Development
• Buddhism was the most prominent faith of the
silk roads merchants from 200 BCE- 700 CE
– Promoted by Emperor Ashoka it was spread with
merchants to Ceylon, Bactria, Iran, central Asia,
southeast Asia & China
The Spread of Buddhism:
Changes & Continuities
• Did not take hold in China until monks used
the 5th century Chinese unrest as a springboard
• Quickly took hold in China, Japan & Korea
The Spread of Hindusim:
Religious Development
• Merchants took Hinduism along the sea lanes
– Spread to Java, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, parts
of modern Vietnam and Cambodia
The Spread of Hinduism:
Changes & Continuities
• Many areas adopted the cults of Shiva and
Vishnu
• Sanskrit writing became the written means of
communication in many of these areas
The Spread of Christianity:
Religious Development
• Early Roman persecution was the result of
Christian refusal to follow state prescribed
religious ceremonies
– Christian missionaries were perceived as violent &
disruptive
• Missionaries capitalized on ease of travel &
communication provided by the roads
– By the end of the 3rd century Christian communities flourished
along the Mediterranean, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt,
across northern Africa & into southwest Asia
The Spread of Christianity:
Changes & Continuities
• Christian practices were influenced by converts
in Mesopotamia & Iran
– Asceticism & withdrawal from secular socieity
became a dominant aspect
• Influenced the development of monasteries & separate
communities in the western Mediterranean
• Nestorian Christianity developed in the east
– Greek theologian, Nestorius, stressed the human
side of Jesus over the divine
• Mediterranean Christians opposed this & the Nestorians
moved eastward
Spread of Manichaeism:
Religious Development The
• The spread of Manichaeism relied on the trade routes
of the classical world
– Developed in the 3rd century by Mani
• Based in Zoroastrianism with a dash of Christianity & a pinch of
Buddhism
– Mani believed that syncretism would meet the changing
needs of the new cosmopolitan world
• The faith promoted a strict ascetic
– Turned away from the physical temptations of the classical
world
– Promised salvation & eternal association w/light & good
The Spread of Manichaeism:
Changes & Continuities
• Empires throughout the eastern hemisphere
saw Manichaeism as a danger to public order
– Wanted to exterminate the followers
• Roman & Sasanid emperors were largely
successful
– Still survived in the plains of central Asia
• Readily adopted by nomadic Turkish peoples who traded
along the silk roads
The Spread of Epidemic Diseases:
Demographics
• Pathogens for disease traveled easily along the
silk roads
– Small pox, measles, and bubonic plague
• Both the Roman & Han empires lost about 25%
of their populations to disease carried along the
silk roads
The Spread of Epidemic Diseases:
Changes & Continuities
• Demographic changes impacted the economy
– Both empires moved away from international trade
• Focused on regional exchange of goods
• Demographic changes impacted society
– Cities became less desirable places to live
• Demise of both empires can be linked to the
spread of disease along the silk roads
China
After the Han Dynasty
Internal Decay of the Han State:
Political Structures
• Main problems for the last Han Emperors:
– Land distribution
– Conflicting factions in the Imperial household
• Widespread unrest
– Yellow Turban Rebellion was a secret peasant
revolutionary group
• Wiley generals stepped in to take control
Internal Decay of the Han State:
Changes & Continuities
• China was eventually divided in 3 sections
– Wei
– Wu
– Shu
• Northern nomads grabbed northern China
– Controlled it for the next 300 years
Cultural Change in Post-Han China:
Religious Development
• After the fall of the Han China was filled with
nomadic invasions and war
– Population was decreased
– People migrated from the cities
• Nomadic tribes populated China
– Eventually settled & intermarried with Chinese
– In time the nomads became Chinese in character
• This is sinicization: invaders are assimilated into
Chinese culture
Cultural Change in Post-Han China:
Change & Continuity
• Religious change also resulted from the fall of
the Han Dynasty
– Confucianism, used to justify the Han, lost
creditability as the chaos made it irrelevant
• Daoism offered hope
– Elixirs & potions for health became popular
• Buddhism increased popularity
– Had already been embraced by northern nomads
– Laid foundation for new political unity
Fall of the Roman Empire
Internal Decay in the Roman Empire:
Political Structure
• Size of the Empire was a major problem
– “Barracks Emperors” attempted to seize &
hold power
• Almost all died violently as another took over
• Epidemics weakened the empire
– Many areas moved from commercial
economies to self-sufficient economies
Internal Decay in the Roman Empire:
Change & Continuity
• Diocletian attempted to restructure the
empire by dividing it
• Constantine moved the capital to the
wealthier eastern part of the empire
– Byzantium (renamed: Constantinople) was more
strategically located & easier to defend
– Finally only the western half of the empire fell
Germanic Invasions:Political Structure
• Migratory Germanic people brought down
the western half of the empire in the 5th c.
– Eastern half remained until the 15th century
• Pressure from the Huns of the steppes west of
China pushed the Germans into the empire
– Visigoths had lived on Rome’s border for
centuries
• Had adopted agriculture & Christianity - fought as
mercenaries for Rome
Germanic Invasions:
Change & Continuity
• Visigoths had lived on Rome’s border for
centuries
– Had adopted agriculture & Christianity - fought
as mercenaries for Rome
• Attila the Hun pushed the Visigoths,
Ostrogoths, Vandals & Franks into the Empire
– At first settled in less densely populated areas
• Eventually dominated Spain, France, Britain and north
Africa
• By 476 CE they controlled Rome
Cultural Change in the Late Roman
Empire: Developments
• Christianity & the Roman Empire changed
– Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan
• Gave legal protection to Christians
– Emperor Theodosius made it the official religion
of the empire
• Augustine of Hippo reconciled Christianity
with Greek & Roman philosophy
– Made it more appealing to the educated, rather
than the working-class, slaves & women
Cultural Change in the Late Roman
Empire: Changes & Continuities
• Growth of the church created a need for
standardization of the faith & development of a
structural hierarchy
– Council of Nicaea & Council of Chalcedon
• Proclaimed Jesus human & divine
• Established hierarchy: Bishop of Rome (pope), Patriarchs of
Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria & Constantinople
• After the fall of the western empire the importance
of the Pope grew
– Power of the patriarchs was subordinate to the emperor of
the eastern empire