Changes & Continuities of Silk Road Essay

The Silk Road which started in 200 BCE and ended it in 1450 CE has its own changes and continuities. Trade flourished between the Asian and Europe at the time and as time went on its sole purpose of trading expanded to many other purposes and affect not only the area it contacted. Although there were many continuities during the time but it has more significant changes that occurred and also impact the world. One significant changes of the Silk Road is when it was first started it mainly started as a way for trade to flourish between Europe and Asia. But the purpose of this Silk Road has also expanded to transcend different culture and technologies from different places and caused cultural diffusion along the Silk Road. This happened because the Silk Road has more than one route, some ends in the middle east , west Asia, and Europe. There were merchants of different races and religion like Muslim,. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and more. This caused cultural diffusion between places like Buddhism were introduced to China and the Chinese paper making technology were spread toward the west to Europe. Another significant change that occurred is when the merchants travel on the Silk Road they are very likely to get attacked by bandits or get their goods stolen. But during the Mongolian reign this route was safer and merchants are not afraid of bandits along the way. This occurred because during the time of the Mongolian Empire they formed the ortoghs which means merchant association. Merchants traveled in pack instead of one which provide more security because this way merchants are less likely to get attack, and made trade safer. Like everything when there is change there is also continuities and one of them is the silk trade. Silk Road is called this name is because the main product traded on this route is silk. Even though many other items were traded in the silk road but the Europeans were very interested in these kind of fabric and they are luxurious because the European did not know how to make them. This is consider a continuity because for many decades the Chinese holds the secret for making these luxurious silk and because the Europeans and India wanted these silk so the Chinese could make a profit from it and they are consider a luxury. The reason the Chinese won’t let the outsiders know how to make these silk is because the process of it is hard and they depends mostly on trading these silk for the stuff they needed. Another continuities is the geography of the silk road. The silk road is consist of many route, some is shorter but dangerous while other is longer but safer. Even though some of the routes have changed and there is more variety of stuff that’s being traded than when it was started (e.g. Gunpowder) and the purpose of the road also expanded like people use it to spread religion and unfortunately is also been a route where disease easily spread (e.g. Black plagues) The continuity is the geography of the silk road never changed because both the European and Asia gained much profit from it that it doesn’t need to be change and the Silk Road remained the major trade route between Far Eastern Chinese and European cultures and sparked numerous conflicts in its existence. The Silk Road which have been known as a major trade route in the ‘old world’ and sparked numerous conflicts in its existence. It brought the goods and the bads like the plagues, cultural diffusion, introduction of new technologies and brought new religions to different part of that world. The Silk Road shape the world we have today and when it ended in 1450 CE it had impacted most of Europe and Asia.