The Silk Roads

During the early Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.—220 C.E.), Chinese emperors began to send large amounts of silk—for both diplomatic and commercial reasons—to the nomads of Central Asia, especially the Xiongnu. Within a short time, some of this silk found its way, by means of a type of relay trade, to Rome. Modern scholars refer to the East-West routes on which the fabric, and other commodities, moved as the Silk Road. By 100 C.E., the land routes linking China to Rome also had a maritime counterpart. Seaborne commerce flourished between Rome and India via the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Other routes farther east connected Indian ports with harbors in Southeast Asia and China.

A great Afro-Eurasian commercial network had now come into being. Silk from China (the only country that produced it until after 500 C.E.), pepper and jewels from India, and incense from Arabia were sent to the Mediterranean region on routes that terminated in Roman cities, such as Alexandria, Gaza, Antioch, and Ephesus. In exchange for the precious commodities, the Romans sent large amounts of silver, gold, glassware and other goods eastward to destinations in Asia.

Because the long-distance trade of the classical period was mainly in luxuries rather than in articles of daily use, its overall economic impact was probably limited. Most present-day historians think that the Rome-India-China trade was significant primarily because of its role in promoting the spread of religions, styles of art, technologies, and epidemic diseases rather than contributing to economic growth.

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