The Silk Road

The Silk Road is a series of ancient trade routes linking China, India and the Mediterranean world
through Central Asia. Traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers used the Silk
Road to transport supplies such as ceramics, glass, silk, paper, gunpowder, precious metals, ivory, gems, exotic
animals and slaves. The Silk Road covered more than 6,437 kilometres and was in use from about the 2
nd

century BCE to the 15
th
and 16
th
centuries AD. The term the Silk Road came from Romes historical
connection to the trade route and their love of silk.
As the Silk Road extended for 6437km, travelling from one end to the other was difficult. The Silk Road navigated
through many towns which allowed the tradesmen to sell their items to a nearby town, that towns tradesmen
then would sell their goods to the next nearby town (making the price more expensive for a bit of profit) and so
on from one end of the Silk Road to the other. The Silk Road allowed a variety of goods to be traded throughout
many countries and along with the valuables came the transfer of new ideas, religions, medical knowledge,
scientific and technological innovations
Three of the more significant features of the Silk Road are that: it provided an economic boost to the region, ideas
and innovations were exchanged and diseases such as the Black Death were spread from one country to the
other.
People profited from trade along the Silk Road by selling unique goods to other people who werent
familiar with them which would provide more income than selling the goods locally. Also, retailers along
the route would profit by the transport of goods. Some traders soon became rich and were gathering more
money. From the increase in trade more money was being collected and everyone was getting paid more in their
job creating an economic boost as a result of the Silk Road.
As well as trading goods on the Silk Road there were ideas and inventions that were passed along the Silk Road
leading to communities developing faster. From the countries to the West, China acquired; harnesses, saddles
and stirrups, construction-methods for bridges and roads, knowledge of medicinal plants and poisons
and cultivation of cotton. The West acquired from Asia; medical techniques, science and mathematics
(algebra, astronomy), the use of passports, military techniques and strategies and architectural styles
and devices. Chinese technology also became widely spread throughout the existence of the Silk Road.
New inventions such as the use of paper money, the abacus and the use of coal for fuel came from the
Chinese along the Silk Road.
The Silk Road also had some disadvantages such as diseases. Many diseases were transported and
transferred on the Silk Road; one catastrophic disease that travelled the Silk Road was the Black Death.
The Black Death is thought to have arrived in Constantinople by way of the Silk Road and it decimated
the Byzantine Empire. The Black Death took millions of lives throughout the area of the Silk Road. Many
traders were diagnosed with the Black Death which led to a short supply of tradesmen which meant the
value of goods were increased because of the minimum amount of cargo so the profits of the Silk Road
decreased.
Travelling the Silk Road also became a high risk due to theft and robberies. As regular valuable supplies
travelled along the same route thieves would hold up the carts and take the supplies. Many traders
travelled by sea to avoid the robbery of their goods. The number of robberies and loss of goods was one
of the reasons for the eventual closure of the Silk Road and the use of the sea by traders to trade their
goods.

In the second century BCE to the 16
th
century if something was needed along the Silk Road trade routes,
it could take up to two years to achieve transportation of those goods. First a request had to be made;
this could take up to a year of travelling and passing the message onto the next courier (in this time no
modern technology or transportation was available like phones and planes). The actual transport of the
goods along the Silk Path could also take up to a year. Today as technology has evolved the internet or
phone allows us to order something from a person in another country immediately. Payment can also
be made over the internet by credit card which prevents cash being stolen such as on the Silk Road.
Once an order has been made goods can be transported from anywhere around the world in under
three days by plane, boat or truck.
The Silk Road has been of critical importance to many people and communities. Two significant benefits
of the Silk Road were the increase in trading creating an economic boost and the exchange of new ideas
and technology. One of the detriments of the Silk Road was the spreading of diseases that were
transported from one place to the other. Today, our transport and marketing systems for goods have
been greatly changed by the introduction of new technologies.


Atticus Plath