Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

The Silk Road’s Secrets and Civilizations


Fri 11 Jan 2019 | 07:41 AM
Ali Abu Dashish

Hussein Bassir

Director of the Antiquities Museum, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt

Silk Road is a commercial and civilization passage, intelligently used by China to increase its commercial exchange on land, with southern and western Asia, Europe, and northern Africa.

It was called Silk Road because big amount of silk and Chinese silk textiles were being transported from China to the west, thanks to this long and historical road. Thanks to German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen, who carved the expression Silk Road in 1877, the road became so called in Germany. The road was established in the 2nd century B.C. From the 2nd century B.C. till the 2nd one A.C. the road passing through four empires: the Roman (in Europe), the Parthian (western Asia), Kushan (central Asia), Han Chinese dynasty (southeastern Asia). It made many civilizations flourish including: Chinese, Egyptian, Indian, Roman, and Arab Peninsula’s civilizations.

The road was extending to 5000 km, across China, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. It was passing through 33 different locations including: principal cities, castles, commercial zones, mountain passages, lighthouses, parts of China’s Great Wall, fortresses, shrines, and religious building. Part of the road was included amongst the UNESCO’s world heritage list in 2014. It is expected that several locations at many countries will be part of this important road.

Chang’an was the Chinese capital during the Han’s and the Tang’s ruling periods. The road extended from Chang’an to Europe, through central Asia and the Near East. It was effective since the 2nd century B.C. till the 16th century and was used for trading and to carry Chinese articles (where the most important article was silk) to the rest of the world.

This land road remained effective until the 16th century, as it was replaced by a maritime road. Worth noting, is that Egypt and the Arab countries’ civilizations were amongst the most sites on the road, due to their strategic locations.

A group of connected roads, that tribes used, formed the Silk Road. Tribes passed through roads that connected southeastern Asia and China (especially Chang’an) to Antakya in Anatolia (nowadays Turkey) and other important destinations.

Speaking more in details about the road’s direction, it extended from commercial and civilization centers in northern China and it had two ways, one to the north and the other to the south. The northern way (summer way) started from the Bulgar-Kyptchak zone; passed through Eastern Europe and Crimea Peninsula; reached the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara, and the Balkans; and it ended at the famous Italian city of Venice. The southern way (the winter way) passed from Turkistan and Khorasan; through Iraq, Anatolia, and Syria, especially the prestigious Syrian city of Palmyra; reaching Antakya, Damascus (the Levant’s capital), the Levant’s countries, and Egypt; to northern capital.

What made the road important and famous is the Chinese civilization that created silk industry before Jesus’ nativity. Chinese silk industry was very distinguished and succeeded the most during Tang’s and Ming’s dynasties. The world was competing to get the high-quality Chinese silk, till the extent that in exchange precious stones were offered. Thus, Chinese silk started to be famous across the world. Other goods were being exported along with the silk. These goods, with silk being the most important was exported from China and southeastern Asia to central Asia, northern Africa, and central Europe, thanks to the Silk Road that connected the world together. Worth noting is that this road made the countries and cities, through which it was passing, flourish. Silk Road is the most famous one until nowadays.

Before Jesus’ birth, silk trade remained steady on the road for thousand of year. An interesting fact is that the road culturally and socially influenced the ones through which it passed. The road was not only a commercial passage, but also a cultural and social one. Asia knew the Islam and the world knew Buddhism thanks to the road. On the other hand, gunpowder was transported through the road, what led to the increase of wars and conflicts between nations.

Worth noting is that the road carried papers, a reason that contributed in human’s development and saved important stuff from loss. China discovered papers and it was transmitted to Arabs through Samarkand, a city near china and currently located in Uzbekistan. Arabs then became successful in manufacturing papers that was related to manufacturing and gilding the holy Quran’s books. Thanks to this step, the noble Quran was saved across the Islamic and Arab civilization’s zones.

Thanks to the road, peoples got closer and several social systems, especially related to Central Asia, were transmitted to the world’s southern part. Also it was thanks to the Silk Road that China in the 10th century A.C. owned the highest gold credit, even higher than the European countries.

Discovering seas made maritime movement between east and west popular and maritime passages were considered safer than land ones, especially after wars between Moguls and Muslims out-broke. Since then, the road’s landmarks started to disappear slowly. Thus, articles and human knowledge were taking steady maritime roads, from southern Asia, passing through the Indian Ocean, then through the Red Sea, through land from the Suez Gulf, then to ships in Damietta and its surrounding ports, to northern Africa. After Europe’s and Asia’s political and economic map changed in the 9th century A.C., especially after the navigation technology’s development, the role of maritime transportation emerged in commercial exchange, while that of the Silk Road waned.

To conclude, I would like to express that thanks to the Silk Road, ancient and great civilizations, through which it was passing, influenced each others. Through the road, peoples were dialoguing. Maybe the roads revival would mean recovering great economic and human values that we should preserve forever.