The silk road did not start trading, but it greatly expanded its scope, and the connections made by many unknown merchants apparently changed the world more than any other political or religious leader. It was especially cool if you were rich, because in the end you had something you could spend your money on outside the temples. But even if you were not rich, Silk Road reorganized the lives of everyone living in Africa and Eurasia, as we will see today. Let's head to Bubble Thought. As mentioned earlier, the silk road was not a road. It is not uncommon for archaeologists working in Uzbekistan to find a plethora of harvest signs and baby booklets. It was an overseas route where traders carried merchandise. But there were actually two routes: One connecting the Mediterranean to East and Central Asia and the other from Central Asia to China. Other complexities, the Silk Road includes sea lanes:
Many shipments reached Rome via the Mediterranean, and goods from Central Asia found their way across the Pacific to Japan and even Java. So we should not think of Silk Road as it is but rather a network of trade routes. But in the meantime, goods were moving more and more than the people who were selling them: Very few traders went through the entire silk road: , and everyone marks prices along the way. So what do they sell? Silk Well, for the first time. For thousands of years, silk was produced exclusively in China. It is spun from the cocoons of mulberry tree-eating worm and the process of silk as well as the techniques of raising the worms were hidden guards, because the lion's share of China's wealth came from silk production. The Chinese use silk as a fishing line, to buy nomadic passengers to keep things quiet, and to write before they invent paper.
But as an exporter, silk was used extensively for clothing: Silk garments felt light in summer and warm in winter, and until we invented the designer's pre-printed jeans, silk was the # 1 way to show people that you were rich. Thanks, Bubble Thought. But the silk road was not everything about silk. The Mediterranean supplied sealed goods such as olives, olive oil, wine, and mustachioed pipes. China also exports materials such as jade, silver, and iron. India has exported fine cotton fabrics; ivory tusks that originated in East Africa crossed the Silk Road; And Arabia sent incense and spices and tortoise shells but with the growth of the silk road, nomadic peoples in Central Asia suddenly became more important in the history of the country. Most of Central Asia is not good at agriculture, but it is difficult to overcome it, unless you wait - the Mongols. It also lends itself well to breeding, and as the nomads are extremely mobile, they are also able to move items from Point A to Point B, making them ideal traders.
And all their travels made them more resistant to disease. One of these nomadic groups, Yuezhi, was humiliated in battle in the 2nd century BCE by its bitter rivals Xiongnu, who turned the skull of the Yuezhi king into a drinking cup. And after that Yuezhi moved to Bactria and established the Kushan regime in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although the silk street trade began more than a century before Jesus' birth, it really did begin in the second and third centuries CE, and the Cushan Empire became a major center of the silk trade. At that time, nomads were obscured by professional merchants who traveled the streets of the silk, often making huge profits, but those cities were founded by nomadic people who were very important. They kept growing, because most of the t4he work on Silk Road was in caravans, and those vans had to stand still, you know, like food and water and prostitutes. These cities were surprisingly wealthy: The other, Palmyra, was highly prized because all the incense and silk that went to Rome had to pass through Palmyra.
Silk was so popular among Roman emperors that the Roman Senate repeatedly tried to suppress it, complaining about the commercial inequality caused by silk trade and the silk trade. Quoting Seneca Jr., “I see silk garments, if things that do not cover the body, or human dignity, can be called clothes,” she also said of a woman who wears silk, “her husband has no more acquaintance than any foreigner or foreigner with his wife's body. "And then all attempts to ban silk have failed, talking about how much the ruling wealth was created in the ancient world. And by trade, there was a way to get rich without a king or a king taking part in what your citizens produce. something started
the tension we see today between wealth and politics.
Either way, you know, the companies that make the biggest donations or Vladimir Putin occasionally bond billions. Mr. Putin, I want to set a record that I did not mean that in any way, I was - Stan wrote that joke. Oh, it's time for an open book. A Book for Billions: But first, let's take a look at what the Secret Compartment of goods in Silk Road really does change only the lives of rich people. Has Silk Road affected us all? Yes, for at least three reasons. First, the broader impact. Very few people could afford to buy silk, but most people gave their lives in making that silk. And as the silk market grows, more and more people are choosing to go on to produce silk instead of doing something with their lives. Second, Silk Road is more than just a luxury trade. In fact, it is undoubtedly the most important thing sold along the Silk Road: ideas. For example, the Silk Road was a major means of spreading Buddhism. When we last saw the Buddha's Eight-Fold Path fleeing the cycle of suffering and human desire, it was beginning to decline in India.
But by interacting with other cultures and traditions, Buddhism grew and flourished as one of the world's major religious traditions. The roots of Buddhism that took root in China, Korea, Japan, and Central Asia are known as Mahayana Buddhism, and they differ from the original teachings of Buddhism in many ways, but which were fundamental. To the Mahayana Buddhists, the Buddha was divine. (I mean, we can - and religious historians - fight against the exact meaning of the deity, but in Mahayanna Buddhism, there is no doubt that the Buddha is highly esteemed. , there are many different heavens, each amazing more than the last. I hope that with the adoration of Buddha, or one of the many bodhisattvas - holy people who could attain nirvana but choose to live with us on Earth because they are so beautiful - one can have a good afterlife. strong monks who then became good channels for councilors.
And by providing monasteries, wealthy merchants would purchase some form of supernatural insurance; The monks who lived in the monasteries prayed for the success of the commercial machinery and for the health of its patrons. It was a win-win, especially considering that one of the materials used in Mahayana Buddhist traditions is silk. And the third reason why the silk road has changed our whole life is that human contact around the world has led to the spread of disease. Masles and Smallpox went with it, as did the bubonic plague, which traveled from East to West in 534, 750, and - most surprisingly - in 1346. This last plague — known as the Black Death — resulted in the most devastating massacre in human history, with nearly half the population of Europe dying within four years. Most people living in Italy died as did two-thirds of Londoners. And it certainly would not have happened without Silk Road. If you lived in London in the middle of the fourteenth century, you probably would not blame Silk Road for the destruction of your community, but you were involved. If you look at it that way, the connections promoted by Silk Road are affected in a way, in a way that more people than those rich enough to buy silk, just as today's global trade offers promise and threat to each of us.
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