In 1877, the German geographer and historian Ferdinand von Richthofen (father of the Red Baron) coined the term "Silk Road" (Seidenstrasse) to describe the progress of Chinese silk exports through Central Asia during the Han Dynasty. For him the term was precise and sharply delimited in space and meaning, a single good from a single era, and not the harbinger of modern globalization. This has changed since then. in 1936 the popular Swedish adventurer Sven Hedin borrowed the term for the title of what was essentially a travel narrative, full of exotic lands and close escapes, and with that romantic gloss it took off.
Today the term is everywhere, from massive Asian infrastructure projects to internet based drug marketplaces. In scholarship, it is common to see references to the Amber Road from the Baltics to the Mediterranean, the Incense Road going up the Arabian Peninsula, the Fur Road stretching across Russia, and the Tea Road along the Himalayans, all drawing a reference to the trade routes that spanned the Eurasian continent.
But what was the Silk Road, behind the term? Helping to shed light on this is the team of panelists:
/u/brigantus, dealing with the prehistory of the Silk Road, including the Indo-European expansion
The so-called "ancient period" between the rise of the Persian (or Assyrian) Empire and fall of Rome in the West, is often where the narrative starts (although not here! see previous panelist). Two users will be dealing with that era:
/u/Daeres, who specializes in Bactria and the Greek Far East, will be dealing with the subject on land.
/u/Tiako, who specializes in the Roman trade with India and the ancient Indian Ocean, will be dealing with the subject by sea.
Although the term was first coined to refer to Han Chinese trade in central Asia, the classic images most people associate with it come from the Medieval and Early Modern periods, and so we have a bevy of panelists for that period:
/u/frogbrooks specializes in early Islam, which became a consequential development in the history of central Asia and the Silk Road, and will focus on a Middle Eastern perspective.
/u/Commustar focuses on the Swahili states in Eastern Africa, which developed in the context of a vibrant maritime trade across the Indian Ocean.
/u/Valkine specializes in the Crusades and Medieval European military history, and will focus on the effects of the Silk Road on Europe (ie, ask gunpowder questions here)
(unfortunately scheduling means we are short a China panelist, but enough of us have dealt with Chinese matters that you can probably get an answer)
Perhaps the most famous historical moment of the Silk Road is the stunning series of conquests that united much of the Eurasian landmass under the Mongol banner. Answering questions about the Mongols is an orda of three:
/u/rakony who primarily focuses on the Mongols in Iran and Khwarezmia.
/u/bigbluepanda who focuses on the opposite side of the Mongol Empire.
/u/alltorndown who can also deal with other periods of central Asian history, including the "afterlife" of the Silk Road and central Asia and Great Game.
Fittingly for the topic, this panel encompasses a diverse array of time zones, so it may take some time to get an answer.
What are some popular misconceptions about the Silk Road? About Marco Polo?
When and why did the silk road die out? As in, when the trading stopped or changed names.
Can you talk about how gunpowder played a role in this trade?
Thanks!
In the ancient world (so before the fall of the Sassanian Empire), was there a grand trade-focused cosmopolitan city on the Silk Road, where you'd find the most merchants from the Eastern half and Western half meeting? If so, what is the history of it afterwards, if not, what cities arose after the ancient period that would fit that description?
Hello, and thanks for doing this!
My question is this:
How continuous was the history of the Silk Road?
The panelists specialties seem to span well over one and a half millennia, so what was the road like during for example:
Did the goods traded shift? How did the routes change? How much did the trade volume fluctuate? How save was the journey?
Thanks for this AMA! I have a couple of questions:
Sam Van Schaik, heavily involed in the Dunhuan Project, wrote this article regarding Tibetan as a lingua franca of the Silk Road, stemming largely from the Tibetan Empire's conquest of Dunhuan and Khotan in the ninth century, and the domination of the Gansu corridor by the Minyak/Tangut afterward.
Can you expand on languages used on the Silk Road?
Were there lingua francas in other parts (assuming the Tibetan connection only applies to Inland Asia)?
What about in earlier centuries?
How many languages could a merchant be expected to know?
The silk road seems to have focused on small luxury items that didn't (or took a long time to) spoil.
Still, the immense distances that needed to be traversed by land, the need for extra security, the countless middlemen, and other factors, all seem like they'd make it unprofitable even at high prices. Maybe a trip every once in a while, but regular commerce over centuries?
How did they make this work and still turn a profit?
Hi, thanks for the AMA.
I once read an article in which a debate was highlighted about European overseas trade in the 16th, 17th and 18th century in the east, with the question whether it was mostly luxury goods for the elite or goods for the common people as well that were brought back to Europe. Now, my question is about the predecessor of the overseas trade with the east. What kind of goods made their way back to Europe/Middle East through the Silk Road besides silk, and was this an example of luxury trade for the elite or also for the masses?
Can you give a summary of what the traders were like? How old were they when they started, what gender, and how long/how many times would a someone expect to travel the route? Did they often have families, and if so would they be traveling families or would they stay at home?
The Periplus Maris Erythraei mention that the Ethiopian coast was a large consumer of cotton, iron, grain, sesame oil and the like from India via the Red Sea port system. My question is what lead to Ethiopia's increased prominence in Red Sea trade as an exporter of ivory, gold, grain and gems, was it mostly because of increasing demand in the Roman Empire and was it a cause or symptom of Nubia's decreasing importance in trade?
Basically, what lead to Ethiopia's rise as a trading power in the region around say 100 AD?
Also is there any particular reason that these goods would have been imported from India (or cheaper sources along the way) especially given that the Ethiopian region was agriculturally productive? Was it to cut costs as bulk goods like this were able to be sourced cheaper than higher quality goods that could be exported for increased profit?
How long would it take to traverse the entire length of the Silk Road from, say, Italy to China?
Is there a likelihood of being accosted by brigands/pirates along the way?
If China exported silk and India exported spices, what did they import from Europe and the Middle East?
Were the trade routes based around roads, or did caravans move just generally in the direction of the next destination?
Were there dedicated metaphorical "gas stations" for these caravans? I know the term caravanserai, but how actually common were these? Who ran them?
I've heard it said that caravans were typically two or three people and a few hundred camels - was there danger in having such a small party with so many goods?
What sort of goods traveled from the west (Europe/the Middle East) towards the east (India/China) along the Silk Road?
Sogdians played a prominent role in the silk road exchange. They were merchants, soldiers, and government officials. Why did they disappear as an ethnic group?
What was the effect of the "fall of Byzantium" on the silk road?
What would day to day life been like for the traders on the road?
For /u/brigantus: A sort of common claim I hear is that the development of Silk Road, or perhaps "central Eurasia" more broadly, was precipitated by the domestication of the horse, which allowed farther, faster movement but also a military edge that arguably wasn't surrendered until the seventeenth century. Can we coherently speak of a "Silk Road" before the horse? What about immediately after?
(nb: Like, obviously not because there was no silk then, but you know what I mean, long distance trans-Eurasian material exchange)
For the Mongol people, can we see he conflicts that engulfed the later Mongol Empire, such as the civil war between Ariq and Kublai, as being driven by competition for wealth generated by the political unification of the Silk Road, or was it purely a family affair? In other words, people often talk about how the Mongols affected the Silk Road, but how did the Silk Road effect the Mongols?
The decision to include trade conducted on the Indian Ocean is curious. Is this a personal decision on the part of Askhistorians or a reflection of a historiographical development? Did goods shift from the traditional 'silk road' to the oceanic trade so frequently that any distinction becomes rather meaningless?
Did the Oasis cities have busy and quiet seasons similarly to the monsoon defined ones along the Indian ocean?
What type of credit did traders have access to?
What commodities were used as a means of exchange other than metal coins (and silk i guess). Or was the transport of heavy cash not as much of a burden that I'm imagining.
What role did pilgrimage play along the silk road? Did pilgrims form a separate class or did they buy and sell goods along the way? Did local pilgrimage sites develop?
From my limited reading on Central Asia I know the sources are in Greek, Chinese, Arabic, 2 Sogdian languages, 3 Persian languages, half a dozen Turkish languages with modern scholarship being written in English, German and Russian. How do you even deal with that from a research perspective?
I've often heard that the city of Constantinople/Istanbul was crucial in getting silk road goods to Western Europe. Let's limit the scope to around the fall of Constantinople.
Why Constantinople? Were there traders on the other side of the Black Sea? Who did they get their goods from? What other nations were doing business there? Why were other land routes to the Black Sea not available for use?
What about Egypt and the Levant areas? When the Ottomans conquered Byzantium, they did not control the areas. Did Christians try to avoid trade with Muslims or was there too much bad blood between them? Then how did the Greeks get their goods
What do you think of Valerie Hansen's book on the Silk Road? What would you recommend after reading that?
Do you think it's too much of a stretch to credit Alexander the Great as being indirectly responsible for getting Buddhism into China?
I guess this would be for /u/Daeres, but open to answer from anyone.
How important was the trade on the Silk Road to the polities that lay along it? If trade was suddenly broken, would it be something not worth considering, minor nuisance, problematic but not end of the world, a huge headache, or a life-and-death situation? Do we have any idea of dollar values, like how much a government's income directly or indirectly depend on the Silk Road?
Thank you for doing this AMA!
Can someone talk about what sorts of things moved eastward on the Silk Road? What did Europeans have that were valuable enough to the Easterners to make the trade work?
I always envisioned the whole concept as luxury goods from the East being traded Westwards. How wrong am I? How much of the trade was everyday goods as opposed to luxury, and which exotic goods from the West was sought after in Asia?
How much would the average citizen of Rome (the city) known about the various cultures along these routes? I assume they'd have some vague knowledge about the ones nearer to Rome's sphere of influence, but how deep was this knowledge, and where does it stop?
How much did the political changes of the Mediterranean world impact the silk road?
How did the dealings via the silk route change after the fall of Constantinople in 1453? I was taught that since the Ottomans thereafter controlled the Bosporus prices spiked. Any truth to that?
Were there any specific routes that can be identified by historians/archaeologists? Obviously, it wasn't A road, but to me it seems like too-broad definitions are really just describing 'Central Asia'.
What sort of goods were being traded eastwards, from Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean? Were those merchants only bringing their money, or were there goods that were desired in Central Asia, India and China as well?
Obviously all kind of goods travelled all kind of roads, in the route we are broadly calling Silk Road. While material goods are easier to track, archeology and all, I wonder if there are any cultural ideas and technological innovations whose spread we can map as "travelling down(up?) the Silk Road"?
/u/Daeres - I'm a little late, but I would love any kind of reading recommendations on the Greek Far East. I've always been fascinated by it but assumed it was sort of a lacuna. Do we have any literary evidence or is it strictly archaeological?
When was the Silk Road first linked to the spread of disease?
How long did it take to travel by foot, horseback, cart, etc?
Thanks!
How quickly and how much did the Portuguese and Spanish sea routes affect prices in Europe, in intermediary points, and at the source of goods?