Introduction

Today we know silk as a soft, shiny, fabric. It’s used for expensive clothing. Back in the first century CE, Emperor Tiberius ruled Rome. Silk was a much bigger deal then. The luxury fabric was imported at great cost from China. Among Romans, silk had become a symbol of wealth. Demand became greater than supply. Soon, merchants figured out how to unravel the silk they bought from China. They re-weaved it into more silk. But that made it much thinner. In fact, you could see through it. Since silk was used for clothing, this became a problem on the streets of Rome.

Seneca the Younger was a writer. He complained about people wearing silk. “I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one’s decency, can be called clothes.” In the year 14 CE, it even became against the law for men to wear silk.

Outlawing silk did not last. The demand for silk stuck among wealthy Romans. It continued to drive trade among the Roman Empire, China, India, and places in between. So, how did Chinese silk get to Rome anyway?

State power and the Silk Road

One cause of expanded trade was the growth of empires. Near the end of the second century BCE, the Han dynasty was led by Emperor Wu. It fought with roaming communities, called the Xiongnu. Xiongnu horsemen had raided Chinese settlements along the northern border for many years. Emperor Wu had frequently fought the Xiongnu. He decided if they were to win this fight, they needed a new way to get horses.

He sent a representative named Zhang Qian. The goal was to find people who could help fight the Xiongnu. Zhang returned to China and was eager to discuss the wonders he had seen in Ferghana. Today, we know it as Uzbekistan, in Central Asia. This region produced rice, wheat, and grapes. However, it was best known for its strong, “heavenly” horses.

These “heavenly horses” of Ferghana were as desired in China as silk was in Rome. China imported so many horses. The Dayuan people who controlled the Ferghana valley eventually said “no more!” Han China decided if they couldn’t buy the horses, they’d take the land. That led to a three-year conflict known as the War of the Heavenly Horses. By 101 BCE, the Ferghana valley belonged to Han China. But an interesting thing happened. Control of the Ferghana valley also opened a route to the West.

With a new supply of horses, Han China had increased its military strength throughout Asia. The growth of Han’s control led to the first Pax Sinica—or Chinese Peace. During this time, Chinese cities grew in size. There were more jobs and wealth. The government was stable. All this led to more demand for luxury goods from far-off places.

Meanwhile, the Roman Empire was expanding, too. Rome won the Punic Wars. It gave them control over the western Mediterranean Sea. Over the next few centuries, Rome expanded to control all of the Mediterranean shoreline.

The first century CE saw the beginning of the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. For about 200 years there were hardly any wars. As with Han China, a stable government brought more trade. Rome began to trade regularly on overseas routes to India, going through Egypt.

Although Rome and Han China expanded greatly, there was still a great distance between them. Central Asia is covered with mountains, deserts, and vast grasslands. People didn’t travel through it for fun. Traders had a good business reason to take these difficult trips. They created important linked networks between the Roman and Han empires.

Travel on the Silk Road

Traders had to find ways to move their goods smoothly. This is where camels come in. They were the best way to travel. Roaming peoples in Central Asia started raising camels as early as the second millennium BCE. For example, the Han Chinese used camels captured from the Xiongnu to carry military supplies. Camels were tough. They could handle the harsh desert conditions of Central Asia. Camels also could carry up to 500 pounds! Without pack animals, transporting goods over land on the Silk Road would not have been worth the trouble.

Land wasn’t the only way to travel. Traders used the ocean to transport goods, too. Sailors didn’t need camels. However, they did need to understand wind patterns and storm systems to successfully navigate the dangerous waters. Take the Indian Ocean for example. Monsoon winds blow from the northeast in the winter and from the southwest in the summer. The southwestern wind pushed merchants east. The winds allowed them to travel from the Red Sea between Egypt and Arabia to India in the summer. Then they would go back to the Red Sea in the winter. This essential information was exchanged among sailors. It soon traveled beyond the Indian Ocean.

The effects of exchange

There was one obvious effect of trade along the Silk Road, and for any long-distance trade: more goods were available in more places. Silk became hotly desired. In fact, it was used as money in central Asia. What was so special about silk? Unlike other fabrics, it was unusually soft. It always had an appealing shine. This is because silk is made from the cocoons of silkworms, not from plants. The Romans would have made their own silk if they knew how. But how to get from cocoon to fabric was a Chinese secret. They hid it all the way until the sixth century CE. The fact that China remained the only producer of silk meant that trade goods continued to travel across Asia. 

Women were in charge of silk harvesting and weaving. Their production of silk brought in much money from both the trade on the Silk Road networks and through the payment of taxes to the government. Women in this way greatly benefited the Han dynasty and its wealth.

Chinese silk was not the only item traded along these routes. China also exported ginger and lacquerware, a kind of glazed pottery. Spices came from the East Indies. Glass beads arrived from Rome. Furs came from animals of the Caucasian steppe, or grasslands. Unfortunately, the Silk Road also made it easier for enslaved peoples from many locations to be transported.

This massive movement of goods, people, and ideas had some major effects. The way of life changed for many. During the rule of the Tang dynasty of China, for example, sculptures of camels, the same that were frequently used in trade, were placed in graves. Clearly the animals mattered to them!

New trade routes often spread two other things without even trying: ideas and diseases. Both would greatly affect the communities along the sea lanes and camel routes of Silk Road networks. Toward the end of the second century, a plague crushed the Roman Empire. The deadly disease killed 10 percent of the population. Historians think this plague first appeared in China before following the trade routes to the Near East where Roman soldiers were stationed.

As for the exchange of ideas, Buddhism came to China through trade with India. The Sogdians of Central Asia often acted as traders between India and China. Sogdians also translated Sanskrit sutras (short holy texts) into Chinese. They spread the Buddhist faith as they traded. Other faiths, such as Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Christianity, also traveled along the sea and land routes. These religions developed and changed as they were accepted in new areas. 

So now we can see the conditions that enabled Chinese silk to make its way to Roman markets. Both the Han Chinese and Roman Empires controlled vast territories. They kept them relatively peaceful. The Han conquered their way into Central Asia. From there, roaming traders carried goods farther west or south.

Trade brought new ideas, new diseases, and new goods to new places. They would be forever changed by the Silk Road.