Impacts of the Silk Road

Impacts of the Silk Road

One of the earliest signs of globalization was the advent of the Silk Route. It influenced the awareness of other cultures to already great civilizations. It lead to the vast amounts of trade between the great civilizations of Asia and later on the whole of Asia and the areas surrounding the Mediterranean. The trade along the route was not only of precious materials but also of ideas, diseases, and foods.
The Silk route originated from the Hellenistic era with the conquests of Alexander the Great. His empire spread all the way to Central Asia to the city of Alexandria Eschate in Tajikistan. This city later became one of the major trade sites along the northern part of the Silk Route. The occupation of these nations by the Greeks was the Western link to the treasures of Asia; the other half came from the Chinese.
The Han Dynasty is accountable for connecting the world of the Greeks to rest of Asia. They had originally sent Zhang Qian to build an alliance with the Yuezhi of West China to defeat another rivaling nation posing a threat to China. However, Zhang Qian was more interested in the world after leaving his home and started further explorations of Central Asia. The Chinese had become aware of the significance of the Roman Empire and established affable relations with the Romans. The Silk Road started during a time of warfare in China which further enabled the advance of the Silk Road. The Chinese were in dire need of any foreign technologies that could help them win the war against the nomadic tribe of Xiongnu. Through the explorations of Zhang they saw horses that would considerably help during warfare in Central Asia. The horses were remnants of the invasions of Alexander. Once this connection had been made between China and the rest of Asia, the silk route took a course of its own.
The Chinese, Romans, Syrians, Egyptians, and other local nations each took part in the development of the Silk Road. The Chinese were famous for...

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