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Rebuilding the Silk Road
Rebuilding the Silk Road
The Silk Roads didn’t collapse after the fall of the Han Dynasty. They continued to tie together local networks and boost economic production across Asia.
As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
Think about the following questions as you watch the video
The term <em>Silk Road</em> is commonly used. Why does this video argue that the name is somewhat misleading?
What were some of the commonly traded items on the Silk Road?
How did the Han Dynasty “manage” the Silk Road? What were the economic impacts of this management?
What was the impact of the fall of the Han Dynasty on the Silk Road?
What is the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative?
: (music playing)
: EMAN ELSHAIKH: We've all learned that the Silk Road
: was the backbone of the greatest network
: of the ancient and medieval worlds,
: connecting vast parts of Europe and Asia.
: Things and ideas were produced on either end of this network,
: and then transported along the Silk Road to other areas.
: In your mind, you're probably picturing
: an ancient Eurasian superhighway,
: where silk was transported in caravans along vast distances.
: And you're mostly right, but you're also wrong.
: The thing is, the Silk Road
: is not really a very accurate term for a few reasons.
: First, the Silk Road wasn't really a road.
: Most routes on the Silk Road
: were unmarked, shifting, informal paths,
: connecting oasis towns and cities across land and sea.
: Much of it crossed deserts and mountains in central Asia,
: and travelers needed local guides to navigate it.
: Second, it wasn't a single path, like many of us imagine.
: It was really a network of routes
: going in different directions
: across Eurasia and even into Africa.
: And that's why some historians prefer to call it
: the "Silk Routes."
: And among the goods transported across this network,
: silk and other luxuries weren't the most common.
: Silk was highly sought after in the West,
: but by some accounts, ammonium chloride,
: which was used to make metals and treat leather,
: was the most commonly traded good across some routes.
: The Ammonium Chloride Road
: doesn't really have same ring to it though, does it?
: Some commonly traded goods included chemicals, spices,
: metals, lacquerware, saddles,
: leather goods, precious stones, glass, and paper.
: People moving along the Silk Road
: also brought technologies
: like paper, gunpowder, and the compass,
: which were invented in China.
: They even brought new ideas
: and belief systems, like Buddhism.
: Finally, people who lived along the Silk Road
: in the medieval era didn't say things like,
: "I live on the Silk Road."
: That term hadn't even been invented yet.
: Like many historical terms,
: the Silk Road is thoroughly modern.
: It was first used in 1877 by the German geographer and traveler
: Ferdinand von Richthofen,
: but it only became common during the 20th century.
: Instead, the road had many local names.
: Lots of people called the Silk Road
: the Road to Samarkand,
: which was a vibrant trading city in modern-day Uzbekistan.
: Some called it the road to...
: whatever the next major city was.
: Some people referred to it as a northern or southern route
: around the Taklamakan desert.
: The thing is, the Silk Road
: was both entirely new and somewhat familiar.
: For some of the locals who moved along segments of this network,
: it appeared very similar to the ancient trade pathways
: they'd always used.
: They may have had access
: to some different goods at different times,
: but in many ways it seemed like business as usual.
: On a bigger scale however,
: one can see that these smaller networks
: were being linked together into a massive web,
: which allowed for an unprecedented flow
: across much farther distances.
: This is partly because, for much of its history,
: some parts of the Silk Road were also more directly managed
: by powerful empires like Han Dynasty China.
: As they expanded westward in 130 BCE,
: the Han sought to protect valuable trade routes.
: They even extended the Great Wall
: to cover parts of it.
: They established settlements, purchased goods,
: and stationed troops in the central Asian segments
: of the Silk Road.
: Han influence created stability
: and ensured that the flow of goods
: was uninterrupted by raids and conflicts.
: Trade thrived as a result.
: Across Eurasia, the demand for luxury goods
: like silk and jade increased,
: further energizing the Silk Road.
: And when the Han Dynasty collapsed around 220 CE,
: economic activity took a hit.
: In China, devastating famines and natural disaster
: disrupted the flow of goods.
: But parts of the Silk Road still continued to thrive.
: Where?
: And what did that look like?
: Despite the collapse of the Han Dynasty around 220 CE,
: activity continued along the Silk Road
: in central and west Asia.
: In this era, very few merchants would have traveled across
: the entirety of central Asia.
: Andwe sometimes forget how huge this area is.
: For perspective, the distance between
: Xian in northwestern China and Samarkand is 2,000 miles.
: That's about as far as Chicago is from San Francisco.
: Instead, most people continued to travel
: in much smaller circuits,
: usually no more than the few hundred miles
: between their home towns and the next oasis.
: Goods were usually exchanged for other goods,
: not for currency,
: moving slowly from town to town.
: In fact, the long-distance caravans we usually imagine
: are mentioned only rarely in historical documents.
: At this time, much of the trade
: was carried out by people from central Asia.
: And these communities
: played an important role in world history.
: They were skilled at horse riding and herding animals.
: And by riding these animals from place to place,
: they could move quickly.
: By interacting with many people in those places,
: they could rapidly spread ideas.
: And because they interacted with so many people,
: they also had better immunity to diseases,
: making them more resilient travelers.
: So even though the Han weren't around
: to regulate trade in Central Asia,
: other powers were.
: Empires like the Kushan and Sassanid
: created stability across large areas of land.
: And non-imperial central Asian peoples, like the Sogdians,
: also continued to participate
: in vibrant trade along the Silk Road.
: The Sogdians were skilled merchants
: and Chinese figurines depict them as tradesman.
: So while the Han collapse did impact trade,
: it also continued in most places.
: While the Silk Road survived the collapse of the Han,
: it didn't really boom again until Tang Dynasty Golden Age,
: starting around 626 CE.
: Around this time, the Tang emperors and empresses
: encouraged exchange with China's neighbors
: and reestablished a military presence
: along the western edges of their territory.
: They even paid many of these soldiers in bolts of silk,
: which were considered currency at the time.
: The Tang also reestablished
: large-scale silk production.
: Women played a big role in the production
: of silk and other textiles,
: though they had little to do with its distribution
: along the Silk Road corridors.
: During this age of new empires,
: imperial networks got bigger
: and linked up to other big networks.
: While the Tang, for example, protected and encouraged trade
: in the eastern parts of the Silk Road,
: there was vibrant activity in the Muslim empires
: energizing the flow in the western parts.
: Even after these powers faded,
: the Mongol Empire protected huge areas of the Silk Road.
: Across these different empires,
: we can see that economic prosperity
: led to increased production and exports,
: as well as an increased demand for luxury goods.
: The Tang Golden Age totally energized the flow
: coming in and out of China, and it's not so different
: from what's happening today.
: In the midst of what some describe
: as yet another golden age,
: the Chinese government is working on
: bringing back the Silk Road,
: in the form of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.
: This initiative will create and reinforce trade routes
: to and from China.
: Through loans, investments,
: and the building of infrastructure,
: the Chinese government hopes
: to make imports and exports easier.
: It also hopes to exert political influence
: through this initiative as its projects stretch
: beyond China's borders.
: This is kind of like the Han and the Tang's investment
: in the Silk Road,
: but about a billion times bigger.
: It's a trillion-dollar project
: that involves over a hundred countries.
: But unlike the Han and the Tang,
: the Chinese government today is actively building things
: thousands of miles away to support trade.
: One of the biggest parts of its new trading system
: is the Eurasian Land Bridge,
: a rail transport route that's meant
: to run through dozens of countries,
: from the Pacific to western Europe.
: Is this new Silk Road
: a continuity of the ancient and medieval trading network?
: Are the two comparable?
: Only time can tell,
: but certainly its worth thinking about the historical roots
: of the modern-day resurgence of trade between China
: and its western neighbors.