The Silk Road was a network of trade routes between Asia and Europe that stretched from Chang'an (now Xi'an) in China, Antioch in Syria and Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) at the gates of Europe and as far to the Hispanic kingdoms in the fifteenth century.
The term "Silk Road" was created by the German geographer Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen, who introduced him in his Old and new approaches to the Silk Road in 1877.
It owes its name to the prestigious commodity circulating in her silk, which was developing a secret that only the Chinese knew, although the Romans became great fans after learning that secret before the beginning of our era through the birth : they then organized trade. Many products transiting these routes: stones and precious metals, fabrics of wool or linen, amber, ivory, lacquer, spices, glass, manufactured materials, coral, etc.
Origin
It is said that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in 138 BC decided C. forging alliances with the kingdoms of the west and northwest, enemies of the tribes Xiang-Nu, and suffering increasingly frequent invasions, more violent and less content, featuring nomadic tribes located northwest of its borders (the Huns). Tribes whose military superiority was a direct result of the skillful handling of a cavalry fort, slim and lightweight, best suited for war than the Chinese, whose horses were quite unsuitable for any activity requiring quick movement. And for that reason, General Zhang Qian entrusted this mission, giving one hundred of his best warriors and present invaluable to seal military and political alliance.
Thirteen years later, having been harassed for ten years by the Huns, General Zhang Qian returned to the Han imperial court with only one member of the party. Although he had not succeeded in establishing not one of military alliances of his mission, General Zhang informed the court of the existence of thirty-six realms, actual trading powers in the western borders of China. In fact, when Emperor Wu Di was captive got much information from the tribes of Central Asia and countries such as Nag-Si (Persia), Tiaozhi (Chaldean) and Li-Qian (Roman Empire). In the 126 a. C., returned to the Chinese capital Chang'an in 119 and launched an offensive against the Huns and contacts were established between the Han and the countries of the region. Thus, General Zhang was the magnificent horses of the plains of the Ferghana Valley in Central Asia (now Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), much stronger and faster than Chinese horses, with which the cavalry could face Han Empire Huns in better condition.
Later, diplomatic missions and trade with the kingdoms of the Ferghana Valley could not ensure the safety and deepen trade, as China prepared a full-scale invasion, but was the second attack in the year 102 a. C. China succeeded in conquering all the lands within its own borders and the Realms of the Ferghana Valley. Thus, the Chinese not only managed to secure the import of the famous horses of the steppes, but established their own products in the markets of these realms. In addition, the emperor Qian Zhang received information on Rome and found in some reports as the "history of the Han Hou Hanshu those of Sima Qian and Ban Gu and documents sent to the emperor Wu Di. Fifty years later, when Marcus Licinius Crassus crossed the Euphrates to conquer Parthia in the year 53 a. C., was shocked to see a bright, soft and wonderful new tissue. The emperor Wu Di sent a delegation to King Mithridates II at 110 a. C. and that was when it started the Silk Road. A few decades later, the wealthiest families in Rome were amazed to wear the most precious fabric: silk.
Transport
It was very common the use of animals in the route, especially the camel and elephant. Ancient Sahara desert and were imported domesticated animals from Asia between 7500 a. C. and 4000 a. C. Objects dating from the 5th millennium BC C., found in the Egyptian Predynastic Badari time, indicate relationships with distant places, like Syria. Since the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, the ancient Egyptian Maadi imported ceramic and wood for the construction of Canaan.
The trade in lapis lazuli comes from a single source known in the ancient world, Badakshan, located in northwestern Afghanistan, a place distant from the great cultures, such as the Mesopotamian and Egyptian. From the 3rd millennium BC C., lapis lazuli trade was extended to Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, both in Indus Valley.
-Shipping
The recent discovery of the Chinese ship Nanhai I prove the existence of a Marine Silk Road that would have originated 200 years before the land route.
Large network of culture
Although Baron von Richthofen was baptized in 1870, this important commercial network as (in German) Seidenstraße, or Silk Road, it is important to note that silk was not the only thing that was traded far and wide thereof. China imported mainly gold, silver, precious stones, ivory, crystal, perfumes, dyes, and other textiles from Europe and the kingdoms along which the route and those nearby kingdoms that had their own trade routes that linked, in some point, just as the Silk Road. The Middle Kingdom (China) mostly exported: silk, leather, ceramics, porcelain, spices, jade, bronze, lacquer and iron.
It was not uncommon for traders to cross the Silk Road throughout its length and width. The merchants were trying to find the best price across the markets of their own territory or venturing into the borders of other realms, where they sold their wares, and buyers, in turn, extended the property by his own kingdom, or taking them to the borders of the closest in search of better profits. This exchange, obeying the laws of the market, was sending goods and merchandise from Chang'an (now Xi'an) to Antioch in Syria, and thence to Constantinople, where they hoped to lead the Venetian ships this huge amount of goods and wealth, not only from China but also of all the kingdoms Asian and Middle Eastern.
The Rome-Chang'an marked the beginning and end of a chain whose links that linked trade to territories that now belong to Turkey with Syria, Iraq to Persia, the Caucasus to the borders of India and China, and whose shopping centers, which were made the last and the first transactions, depending on whether they moved toward Changan or to the Caspian, were the cities near the Fergana Valley (Bukhara, Khiva and Samarkand) or those in the inhospitable desert Takla-Makan, whose oases were well known by drivers of caravans, especially those in cities Tashkurgan, Kashgar, Yarkand and Hotan (or Jotham) in which, by the imperatives of climate, were forced to stop for a period of always uncertain time to reach the western boundary of the real China at the time: Loulan Gate.
Kashgar (Kashi current), a meeting point for caravans from India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, was the other end of the Silk Road in the Chinese territory and, therefore, the first direct meeting for goods , ideas and religions between China, West and South Asia. The city of Yarkand, visited by Marco Polo on two occasions (in 1271 and 1275), remains one of the most important commercial enclaves of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and one of the most important Muslim centers in the PRC.
For the Silk Road did not run only merchants with goods from all kingdoms, but also attackers, thieves and rascals, so that the roads were not completely safe. Thus, the worst thing that could happen was that in those canyons and glaciers tumble down a camel lose the animal and its precious cargo, and also their manure, which they used as fuel. Even worse, if the lost camel carrying groceries. Almost 80% of the route, there are no trees, only ice, snow and glaciares.Algunas caravans never reached its destination. Some were assaulted by fierce bands of murderers, who to seize the goods, did not hesitate to kill, and sometimes, the caravanners died in accidents or diseases. In each town they stopped to rest, had to provide food for a month, at least. Not surprisingly, Pliny the Elder to say that Chinese silk was very expensive ("huge costs").
While merchants with thugs, the Silk Road was also an avenue where Buddhism spread throughout Asia. Indian Buddhist missionaries carried the Buddha's teachings from India to Taxila, Taxila to Tibet, Tibet to Dunhuang, where he entered China. Cutting-edge knowledge of the era, typical of Buddhist Universities of Nalanda, Vikramasila, Odantapuri, Vilabhi and Ratnagiri, among others, also circulated from one kingdom to another together with the pilgrims, monks, teachers and students who traveled in search of knowledge or bring wisdom to the monasteries of Tibet, Dunghuang or complex of monasteries in the Mogao Grottoes in China. Also, monks of all the kingdoms were on pilgrimage to India in missions to find original manuscripts and Buddhist texts to be translated into vernacular languages from their regions and bring new knowledge in the fields of Buddhist philosophy, medicine and astronomy.
Parallel to Buddhist monks, coming and going also to the V century this route Cristiano Nestorian monks and missionaries who established several missions along the way making a special hit with the Khitan Mongols, and even a mission in the western capital of China, and Xi'an cited (Singanfu wake) and Manichaean missionaries who converted the Turkish Uighurs of Turfan.
Later, with the height of Islam under the Umayyad Dynasty (661-750), who wanted to control the most important business lines in China, took the western half of the Silk Road, and this was interrupted, stifling trade other nations with high prices and high rates. This was the beginning of the end.
The most important commercial network for this route is the role of intermediary traders who practiced Islam. They are aware of the economic benefits that allowed this commercial racking, do not allow the entry of European and Asian traders on the route, becoming the elements that made the system work. The caravans from Syria and Mesopotamia, crossed the entire continent of Asia to buy "cheap" products that later sold at exorbitant prices, "traders or European intermediaries, to do, the caravans had used a network of shelters caravanserais called overnight, protected and provided.
For the Islamic world, the route was an excellent source of income which became the basis of its economy. For Europe, an economic drain waived (the products were irreplaceable).
Decay
A new political situation in China, (the one starring the Tang, Song and Yuan, from the seventh century until the mid-fourteenth century), and a new economic and cultural reality in the West made it possible to restore new relationships between the two worlds through which, together with the goods, also began to exchange ideas, knowledge, art, languages and religions. Since then, the Silk Road routes were no longer exclusive to the merchants and the military, and began to be driven more and more often by intellectuals and monks of the major religions of the world, who knew too, as if they were hungry spirit merchants, exchange them the teachings of Buddha, Confucius, Jesus and Muhammad.
East and West began thus to need each other, despite that the enemy always lurking from the north, this time from Mongolia. And although the intensity of trade grew steadily from the eighth century, so did an equal or greater proportion of robberies, looting, confiscation and mass murder perpetrated by northern nomadic hordes, tribes, after being united by Genghis Khan early thirteenth century, showed that they were invincible.
By the fifteenth century with the rise of navigation and the new commercial maritime routes, and the height of the Arab Empires, the Mongol Empire and Turkish (Seljuk and Ottoman, both equally in different time periods) was languishing slowly the importance of the Silk Road as the main commercial artery between east and west, and some of the most flourishing and impressive cities along its route, were declining in importance and influence, and forgotten by the outside world, became a vague shadow what they were.
At that time the travel highlights of Europeans Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and Marco Polo.
Qian Zhang
Zhang Qian (张 骞) was an imperial envoy in the second century BC, during the Former Han Dynasty or Western. It was the first official diplomatic provide reliable information on Central Asia to the Chinese imperial court in Chang'an, then under the reign of Emperor Wudi, considered a pioneer in the Chinese conquest and colonization of the region that currently corresponds to the Autonomous Region Xinjiang and the opening of the Silk Road. Zhang Qian's account of his explorations in Central Asia are detailed in the first Chinese historical chronicles, "Shiji" or "historical memory", compiled by Sima Qian in the first century BC
The primary mission of Zhang Qian to the west
The mission began in 138 B.C. with the strategic objective of achieving military alliances with the heads of the enemies of the Xiongnu tribes in order to organize a common front to curb their power and aggression. A confederation of nomadic Xiongnu tribes constantly threatening the security of China, despite the Great Wall, making raids to plunder the riches of his neighbors, mostly farmers. The Xiongnu infringed and the alliance system that had been established with the Chinese, whereby in exchange for the shipment from China to the heads of princesses Xiongnu and the annual delivery of presents, either party could cross the Great Wall . The wars against the tribes had caused many deaths until Emperor Wudi attempted to carry out an operation by sending a diplomatic envoy to the territory of the Yuezhi, who had been defeated by the Xiongnu and forced to flee the region where they lived in Gansu around, and migrate thousands of miles west to Daxia, ancient Bactria, in the current Tajikistan. Taking advantage of the mission, Zhang Qian had gathered information from the countries through which they passed, establishing alliances with them.
Zhang Qian was a young officer of the palace guard, which was about 30 years, and who was from the east of the modern city of Hanzhong in Shaanxi province, China. It says it was an honest man with great physical strength, stubborn and determined, especially suited for driving the 98 men who accompanied him. Among these men had a goalkeeper called Ganfu Xiongnu. He had been taken prisoner by the Han Chinese and intended as a servant to an aristocratic family in Shandong. When he was released, entered the Chinese military. It was very clever and was angry with his country after being expelled and robbed him, a fact that led him to participate in the mission making a guide to Zhang Qian.
First step: start the expedition. Captured
From the imperial capital Chang'an, Zhang Qian and his men went to the northwest through the south of Gansu and crossing the Yellow River along the corridor of Gansu Hexi or the foot of the Qilian Shan mountains. But shortly after leaving the Great Wall, were wrong road and were intercepted by a large detachment of Xiongnu riders that made prisoners. They were taken to the residence of the Xiongnu leader and, after being mistreated, Zhang Qian was sent as a slave in an aristocratic family Xiongnu. Spent eleven years doing the pastor of a huge flock of sheep and married a Xiongnu slave with whom he had a son.
Phase Two: Escape. Check the kingdom of Dayuan
But it presented an opportunity to flee to Qian and a group of his men took advantage. It is unknown how many men escaped, but the truth is that only they could move forward and Ganfu Zhang Qian. They decided to continue the mission and headed west, traveling for a few days suffering from hunger and thirst. After a long ride on the orientation of the sun, moon and stars to reach an immense salt lake, Lake Lop Nor. Therefore, had entered the ancient kingdom of Loulan, occupied at the time by soldiers Xiongnu. Along came the Tarim Basin to cross up to eight different city-oasis, such as the kingdom of Weili, Qiuci and Shule, until finally they reached the kingdom of Dayuan. On the inhabitants of this kingdom is said that made a people devoted to sedentary agriculture, which was in the Fergana Valley. Cultivated rice, wheat and wine and its population had very good horses, which states that "sweated blood." It was a prosperous kingdom made up of several cities and fortified houses. Zhang Qian and Ganfu were very well received by Dayuan and their king gave them a group of translators and guides to lead them to the territory of the Yuezhi. Before contact with the latter people, Zhang Qian visited yet another area, the kingdom of Kangju, a nomadic state in the northwest of Dayuan.
Third stage: the Yuezhi. Way back
Finally, the expedition reached the Yuezhi territory they occupied at the time, in the area of Daxia, in ancient Bactria. The limited Yuezhi Dayuan east to west with Ansi (Parthia) and north had the Kangju. They were a nomadic people with habits like those of the Xiongnu. Qian Zhang could not persuade to unite against the Xiongnu. However, Qian Zhang remained in this region for about a year, probably in the hope of persuading the king to end Yuezhi. This is where the diplomat has noted that Chinese products were sold by these territories, a fact which led him to reflect on existing commercial routes unknown to the imperial court that could have been in southern China, to India (Shendu) until the kingdoms of central Asia. Qian Zhang finally decided to take the path back to Chang'an, surrounding the south the depression of Tarim River and across the current province of Qinghai. Bad luck again as they were again caught by Xiongnu horsemen, of whom managed to escape after one year, taking advantage of the confusion and chaos that occurred around the year 126 BC with the death of King Xiongnu at the time. When he came back to the Chinese imperial court, even under the reign of Emperor Wudi, there was a commotion, because 13 years had elapsed since his departure and was given a high-ranking dignitary.
The second mission of Zhang Qian. Search a route to the southwest
Zhang Qian met in his report submitted to Wudi lot of information on those who had visited Central Asian regions, and among other details, pick up the existence of two alternative routes that could exist between China and the kingdoms of the west. The first, in the north, through the Gansu corridor, the Taklamakan Desert and the Pamir Mountains, the South, through which products such as bamboo and silk in the present province of Sichuan circulated through Yunnan to Burma, northern India (Shendu) to reach the area of Afghanistan. Seeing the difficulties that still had the northern route, which constantly threatened the Xiongnu, Zhang Qian proposed to seek an alternative route that was not blocked by the Xiongnu, just send an expedition to the southwest to find this trade route to the south that was bound exist. By the year 135 B.C. an officer, Tang Meng, had succeeded in persuading the government have to send an exploratory expedition into the area, as it had reports on the important business of those territories. The Chinese settled there and control a series of trade routes from the capital. However, business was suspended by the local dissent and the concentration of efforts have been against the Xiongnu in the north. The interest of the resurfaced area from 126 BC thanks to the reports of Zhang Qian. Several expeditions were sent from the current south Sichuan. It was fairly easily to Yibin (now Yunnan), but from that point would struggle to continue, as they found the road. After several failed attempts and the high cost of travel, withdrew, but the interest in those territories did not disappear, and years later there have expanded their control.
Third mission. The possible alliance with the Wusun
Zhang Qian's report had described the internal history of the Wusun, a nomadic people who lived in an area of the Ili River valley. Proposed to seek an amicable agreement with the Wusun the same guy who wanted to get with the Yuezhi to fight the Xiongnu. In a military campaign of the year 121 B.C. had defeated the Xiongnu, who were temporarily displaced to the north, a fact that made the journey west was free of the threat and safer. Chang'an court accepted his proposal and again about Zhang Qian was sent around 115 BC in a diplomatic dispatch to the west with 300 men, well loaded with presents of value, like gold and silk, which were given to the rulers of the kingdoms that went over and those who also wanted to establish diplomatic relations. In the same way as happened with the Yuezhi, the Wusun not want to participate militarily against the Xiongnu alliance with the Han Chinese, but friendly relations were established between them. Zhang Qian gave Chinese present the king of the Wusun and back to Chang'an was Wusun guides and interpreters, ambassadors, along with valuable horses in order to strengthen the alliance. Of the 300 men who accompanied him, he sent some to the various Central Asian kingdoms had previously visited, like those of Dayuan Kangju, Yuezhi, Daxia and others. Later delegations from these regions come to the Chinese court and so would begin a back and forth official missions between these states.
Finally, Zhang Qian died in the year 113 B.C.
And even here with the Silk Road. On another occasion I speak of Marco Polo.
The term "Silk Road" was created by the German geographer Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen, who introduced him in his Old and new approaches to the Silk Road in 1877.
It owes its name to the prestigious commodity circulating in her silk, which was developing a secret that only the Chinese knew, although the Romans became great fans after learning that secret before the beginning of our era through the birth : they then organized trade. Many products transiting these routes: stones and precious metals, fabrics of wool or linen, amber, ivory, lacquer, spices, glass, manufactured materials, coral, etc.
Origin
It is said that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in 138 BC decided C. forging alliances with the kingdoms of the west and northwest, enemies of the tribes Xiang-Nu, and suffering increasingly frequent invasions, more violent and less content, featuring nomadic tribes located northwest of its borders (the Huns). Tribes whose military superiority was a direct result of the skillful handling of a cavalry fort, slim and lightweight, best suited for war than the Chinese, whose horses were quite unsuitable for any activity requiring quick movement. And for that reason, General Zhang Qian entrusted this mission, giving one hundred of his best warriors and present invaluable to seal military and political alliance.
Thirteen years later, having been harassed for ten years by the Huns, General Zhang Qian returned to the Han imperial court with only one member of the party. Although he had not succeeded in establishing not one of military alliances of his mission, General Zhang informed the court of the existence of thirty-six realms, actual trading powers in the western borders of China. In fact, when Emperor Wu Di was captive got much information from the tribes of Central Asia and countries such as Nag-Si (Persia), Tiaozhi (Chaldean) and Li-Qian (Roman Empire). In the 126 a. C., returned to the Chinese capital Chang'an in 119 and launched an offensive against the Huns and contacts were established between the Han and the countries of the region. Thus, General Zhang was the magnificent horses of the plains of the Ferghana Valley in Central Asia (now Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), much stronger and faster than Chinese horses, with which the cavalry could face Han Empire Huns in better condition.
Later, diplomatic missions and trade with the kingdoms of the Ferghana Valley could not ensure the safety and deepen trade, as China prepared a full-scale invasion, but was the second attack in the year 102 a. C. China succeeded in conquering all the lands within its own borders and the Realms of the Ferghana Valley. Thus, the Chinese not only managed to secure the import of the famous horses of the steppes, but established their own products in the markets of these realms. In addition, the emperor Qian Zhang received information on Rome and found in some reports as the "history of the Han Hou Hanshu those of Sima Qian and Ban Gu and documents sent to the emperor Wu Di. Fifty years later, when Marcus Licinius Crassus crossed the Euphrates to conquer Parthia in the year 53 a. C., was shocked to see a bright, soft and wonderful new tissue. The emperor Wu Di sent a delegation to King Mithridates II at 110 a. C. and that was when it started the Silk Road. A few decades later, the wealthiest families in Rome were amazed to wear the most precious fabric: silk.
Transport
It was very common the use of animals in the route, especially the camel and elephant. Ancient Sahara desert and were imported domesticated animals from Asia between 7500 a. C. and 4000 a. C. Objects dating from the 5th millennium BC C., found in the Egyptian Predynastic Badari time, indicate relationships with distant places, like Syria. Since the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, the ancient Egyptian Maadi imported ceramic and wood for the construction of Canaan.
The trade in lapis lazuli comes from a single source known in the ancient world, Badakshan, located in northwestern Afghanistan, a place distant from the great cultures, such as the Mesopotamian and Egyptian. From the 3rd millennium BC C., lapis lazuli trade was extended to Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, both in Indus Valley.
-Shipping
The recent discovery of the Chinese ship Nanhai I prove the existence of a Marine Silk Road that would have originated 200 years before the land route.
Large network of culture
Although Baron von Richthofen was baptized in 1870, this important commercial network as (in German) Seidenstraße, or Silk Road, it is important to note that silk was not the only thing that was traded far and wide thereof. China imported mainly gold, silver, precious stones, ivory, crystal, perfumes, dyes, and other textiles from Europe and the kingdoms along which the route and those nearby kingdoms that had their own trade routes that linked, in some point, just as the Silk Road. The Middle Kingdom (China) mostly exported: silk, leather, ceramics, porcelain, spices, jade, bronze, lacquer and iron.
It was not uncommon for traders to cross the Silk Road throughout its length and width. The merchants were trying to find the best price across the markets of their own territory or venturing into the borders of other realms, where they sold their wares, and buyers, in turn, extended the property by his own kingdom, or taking them to the borders of the closest in search of better profits. This exchange, obeying the laws of the market, was sending goods and merchandise from Chang'an (now Xi'an) to Antioch in Syria, and thence to Constantinople, where they hoped to lead the Venetian ships this huge amount of goods and wealth, not only from China but also of all the kingdoms Asian and Middle Eastern.
The Rome-Chang'an marked the beginning and end of a chain whose links that linked trade to territories that now belong to Turkey with Syria, Iraq to Persia, the Caucasus to the borders of India and China, and whose shopping centers, which were made the last and the first transactions, depending on whether they moved toward Changan or to the Caspian, were the cities near the Fergana Valley (Bukhara, Khiva and Samarkand) or those in the inhospitable desert Takla-Makan, whose oases were well known by drivers of caravans, especially those in cities Tashkurgan, Kashgar, Yarkand and Hotan (or Jotham) in which, by the imperatives of climate, were forced to stop for a period of always uncertain time to reach the western boundary of the real China at the time: Loulan Gate.
Kashgar (Kashi current), a meeting point for caravans from India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, was the other end of the Silk Road in the Chinese territory and, therefore, the first direct meeting for goods , ideas and religions between China, West and South Asia. The city of Yarkand, visited by Marco Polo on two occasions (in 1271 and 1275), remains one of the most important commercial enclaves of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and one of the most important Muslim centers in the PRC.
For the Silk Road did not run only merchants with goods from all kingdoms, but also attackers, thieves and rascals, so that the roads were not completely safe. Thus, the worst thing that could happen was that in those canyons and glaciers tumble down a camel lose the animal and its precious cargo, and also their manure, which they used as fuel. Even worse, if the lost camel carrying groceries. Almost 80% of the route, there are no trees, only ice, snow and glaciares.Algunas caravans never reached its destination. Some were assaulted by fierce bands of murderers, who to seize the goods, did not hesitate to kill, and sometimes, the caravanners died in accidents or diseases. In each town they stopped to rest, had to provide food for a month, at least. Not surprisingly, Pliny the Elder to say that Chinese silk was very expensive ("huge costs").
While merchants with thugs, the Silk Road was also an avenue where Buddhism spread throughout Asia. Indian Buddhist missionaries carried the Buddha's teachings from India to Taxila, Taxila to Tibet, Tibet to Dunhuang, where he entered China. Cutting-edge knowledge of the era, typical of Buddhist Universities of Nalanda, Vikramasila, Odantapuri, Vilabhi and Ratnagiri, among others, also circulated from one kingdom to another together with the pilgrims, monks, teachers and students who traveled in search of knowledge or bring wisdom to the monasteries of Tibet, Dunghuang or complex of monasteries in the Mogao Grottoes in China. Also, monks of all the kingdoms were on pilgrimage to India in missions to find original manuscripts and Buddhist texts to be translated into vernacular languages from their regions and bring new knowledge in the fields of Buddhist philosophy, medicine and astronomy.
Parallel to Buddhist monks, coming and going also to the V century this route Cristiano Nestorian monks and missionaries who established several missions along the way making a special hit with the Khitan Mongols, and even a mission in the western capital of China, and Xi'an cited (Singanfu wake) and Manichaean missionaries who converted the Turkish Uighurs of Turfan.
Later, with the height of Islam under the Umayyad Dynasty (661-750), who wanted to control the most important business lines in China, took the western half of the Silk Road, and this was interrupted, stifling trade other nations with high prices and high rates. This was the beginning of the end.
The most important commercial network for this route is the role of intermediary traders who practiced Islam. They are aware of the economic benefits that allowed this commercial racking, do not allow the entry of European and Asian traders on the route, becoming the elements that made the system work. The caravans from Syria and Mesopotamia, crossed the entire continent of Asia to buy "cheap" products that later sold at exorbitant prices, "traders or European intermediaries, to do, the caravans had used a network of shelters caravanserais called overnight, protected and provided.
For the Islamic world, the route was an excellent source of income which became the basis of its economy. For Europe, an economic drain waived (the products were irreplaceable).
Decay
A new political situation in China, (the one starring the Tang, Song and Yuan, from the seventh century until the mid-fourteenth century), and a new economic and cultural reality in the West made it possible to restore new relationships between the two worlds through which, together with the goods, also began to exchange ideas, knowledge, art, languages and religions. Since then, the Silk Road routes were no longer exclusive to the merchants and the military, and began to be driven more and more often by intellectuals and monks of the major religions of the world, who knew too, as if they were hungry spirit merchants, exchange them the teachings of Buddha, Confucius, Jesus and Muhammad.
East and West began thus to need each other, despite that the enemy always lurking from the north, this time from Mongolia. And although the intensity of trade grew steadily from the eighth century, so did an equal or greater proportion of robberies, looting, confiscation and mass murder perpetrated by northern nomadic hordes, tribes, after being united by Genghis Khan early thirteenth century, showed that they were invincible.
By the fifteenth century with the rise of navigation and the new commercial maritime routes, and the height of the Arab Empires, the Mongol Empire and Turkish (Seljuk and Ottoman, both equally in different time periods) was languishing slowly the importance of the Silk Road as the main commercial artery between east and west, and some of the most flourishing and impressive cities along its route, were declining in importance and influence, and forgotten by the outside world, became a vague shadow what they were.
At that time the travel highlights of Europeans Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and Marco Polo.
Qian Zhang
Zhang Qian (张 骞) was an imperial envoy in the second century BC, during the Former Han Dynasty or Western. It was the first official diplomatic provide reliable information on Central Asia to the Chinese imperial court in Chang'an, then under the reign of Emperor Wudi, considered a pioneer in the Chinese conquest and colonization of the region that currently corresponds to the Autonomous Region Xinjiang and the opening of the Silk Road. Zhang Qian's account of his explorations in Central Asia are detailed in the first Chinese historical chronicles, "Shiji" or "historical memory", compiled by Sima Qian in the first century BC
The primary mission of Zhang Qian to the west
The mission began in 138 B.C. with the strategic objective of achieving military alliances with the heads of the enemies of the Xiongnu tribes in order to organize a common front to curb their power and aggression. A confederation of nomadic Xiongnu tribes constantly threatening the security of China, despite the Great Wall, making raids to plunder the riches of his neighbors, mostly farmers. The Xiongnu infringed and the alliance system that had been established with the Chinese, whereby in exchange for the shipment from China to the heads of princesses Xiongnu and the annual delivery of presents, either party could cross the Great Wall . The wars against the tribes had caused many deaths until Emperor Wudi attempted to carry out an operation by sending a diplomatic envoy to the territory of the Yuezhi, who had been defeated by the Xiongnu and forced to flee the region where they lived in Gansu around, and migrate thousands of miles west to Daxia, ancient Bactria, in the current Tajikistan. Taking advantage of the mission, Zhang Qian had gathered information from the countries through which they passed, establishing alliances with them.
Zhang Qian was a young officer of the palace guard, which was about 30 years, and who was from the east of the modern city of Hanzhong in Shaanxi province, China. It says it was an honest man with great physical strength, stubborn and determined, especially suited for driving the 98 men who accompanied him. Among these men had a goalkeeper called Ganfu Xiongnu. He had been taken prisoner by the Han Chinese and intended as a servant to an aristocratic family in Shandong. When he was released, entered the Chinese military. It was very clever and was angry with his country after being expelled and robbed him, a fact that led him to participate in the mission making a guide to Zhang Qian.
First step: start the expedition. Captured
From the imperial capital Chang'an, Zhang Qian and his men went to the northwest through the south of Gansu and crossing the Yellow River along the corridor of Gansu Hexi or the foot of the Qilian Shan mountains. But shortly after leaving the Great Wall, were wrong road and were intercepted by a large detachment of Xiongnu riders that made prisoners. They were taken to the residence of the Xiongnu leader and, after being mistreated, Zhang Qian was sent as a slave in an aristocratic family Xiongnu. Spent eleven years doing the pastor of a huge flock of sheep and married a Xiongnu slave with whom he had a son.
Phase Two: Escape. Check the kingdom of Dayuan
But it presented an opportunity to flee to Qian and a group of his men took advantage. It is unknown how many men escaped, but the truth is that only they could move forward and Ganfu Zhang Qian. They decided to continue the mission and headed west, traveling for a few days suffering from hunger and thirst. After a long ride on the orientation of the sun, moon and stars to reach an immense salt lake, Lake Lop Nor. Therefore, had entered the ancient kingdom of Loulan, occupied at the time by soldiers Xiongnu. Along came the Tarim Basin to cross up to eight different city-oasis, such as the kingdom of Weili, Qiuci and Shule, until finally they reached the kingdom of Dayuan. On the inhabitants of this kingdom is said that made a people devoted to sedentary agriculture, which was in the Fergana Valley. Cultivated rice, wheat and wine and its population had very good horses, which states that "sweated blood." It was a prosperous kingdom made up of several cities and fortified houses. Zhang Qian and Ganfu were very well received by Dayuan and their king gave them a group of translators and guides to lead them to the territory of the Yuezhi. Before contact with the latter people, Zhang Qian visited yet another area, the kingdom of Kangju, a nomadic state in the northwest of Dayuan.
Third stage: the Yuezhi. Way back
Finally, the expedition reached the Yuezhi territory they occupied at the time, in the area of Daxia, in ancient Bactria. The limited Yuezhi Dayuan east to west with Ansi (Parthia) and north had the Kangju. They were a nomadic people with habits like those of the Xiongnu. Qian Zhang could not persuade to unite against the Xiongnu. However, Qian Zhang remained in this region for about a year, probably in the hope of persuading the king to end Yuezhi. This is where the diplomat has noted that Chinese products were sold by these territories, a fact which led him to reflect on existing commercial routes unknown to the imperial court that could have been in southern China, to India (Shendu) until the kingdoms of central Asia. Qian Zhang finally decided to take the path back to Chang'an, surrounding the south the depression of Tarim River and across the current province of Qinghai. Bad luck again as they were again caught by Xiongnu horsemen, of whom managed to escape after one year, taking advantage of the confusion and chaos that occurred around the year 126 BC with the death of King Xiongnu at the time. When he came back to the Chinese imperial court, even under the reign of Emperor Wudi, there was a commotion, because 13 years had elapsed since his departure and was given a high-ranking dignitary.
The second mission of Zhang Qian. Search a route to the southwest
Zhang Qian met in his report submitted to Wudi lot of information on those who had visited Central Asian regions, and among other details, pick up the existence of two alternative routes that could exist between China and the kingdoms of the west. The first, in the north, through the Gansu corridor, the Taklamakan Desert and the Pamir Mountains, the South, through which products such as bamboo and silk in the present province of Sichuan circulated through Yunnan to Burma, northern India (Shendu) to reach the area of Afghanistan. Seeing the difficulties that still had the northern route, which constantly threatened the Xiongnu, Zhang Qian proposed to seek an alternative route that was not blocked by the Xiongnu, just send an expedition to the southwest to find this trade route to the south that was bound exist. By the year 135 B.C. an officer, Tang Meng, had succeeded in persuading the government have to send an exploratory expedition into the area, as it had reports on the important business of those territories. The Chinese settled there and control a series of trade routes from the capital. However, business was suspended by the local dissent and the concentration of efforts have been against the Xiongnu in the north. The interest of the resurfaced area from 126 BC thanks to the reports of Zhang Qian. Several expeditions were sent from the current south Sichuan. It was fairly easily to Yibin (now Yunnan), but from that point would struggle to continue, as they found the road. After several failed attempts and the high cost of travel, withdrew, but the interest in those territories did not disappear, and years later there have expanded their control.
Third mission. The possible alliance with the Wusun
Zhang Qian's report had described the internal history of the Wusun, a nomadic people who lived in an area of the Ili River valley. Proposed to seek an amicable agreement with the Wusun the same guy who wanted to get with the Yuezhi to fight the Xiongnu. In a military campaign of the year 121 B.C. had defeated the Xiongnu, who were temporarily displaced to the north, a fact that made the journey west was free of the threat and safer. Chang'an court accepted his proposal and again about Zhang Qian was sent around 115 BC in a diplomatic dispatch to the west with 300 men, well loaded with presents of value, like gold and silk, which were given to the rulers of the kingdoms that went over and those who also wanted to establish diplomatic relations. In the same way as happened with the Yuezhi, the Wusun not want to participate militarily against the Xiongnu alliance with the Han Chinese, but friendly relations were established between them. Zhang Qian gave Chinese present the king of the Wusun and back to Chang'an was Wusun guides and interpreters, ambassadors, along with valuable horses in order to strengthen the alliance. Of the 300 men who accompanied him, he sent some to the various Central Asian kingdoms had previously visited, like those of Dayuan Kangju, Yuezhi, Daxia and others. Later delegations from these regions come to the Chinese court and so would begin a back and forth official missions between these states.
Finally, Zhang Qian died in the year 113 B.C.
And even here with the Silk Road. On another occasion I speak of Marco Polo.
