Silk Road (Mobius version)

thumb|right|Main routes of the Silk Road in Chun-Nan.
The Silk Road of Mobius was a network of Yurashian trade routes active from the second century BMCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the East and West. First coined in the late 19th century, the name "Silk Road" has fallen into disuse among some modern historians in favor of Silk Routes, which more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting East and Southeast Yurashia, the Indusian subcontinent, Central Yurashia, the Midesta, East Efrika and Europa.
The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of silk textiles that were produced almost exclusively in Chun-Nan. The network began with the Han dynasty's expansion into Central Yurashia around 114 BMCE, which largely pacified the once untamed region. Imperial envoy Zhang Qian was commissioned to explore the unknown lands beyond the region in search of potential trading partners and allies. The information and goods gathered by these expeditions piqued Chum-Nannian interest and prompted formal diplomatic and commercial dispatches, as well as efforts to protect the routes with soldiers and an extension of the Great Wall.
The expansion of the Parthian Empire, which stretched from eastern Anatola to Afghan, provided a bridge to East Efrika and the Mediterranian, particularly the nascent Romusian Empire. By the early first century MCE, ChUN-nANNIAN silk was widely sought-after in Romus, Hamarapi, and Grecia. Other lucrative commodities from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, and porcelain; among Western exports were mechanical horses and camels, as well as supplies of honey, wine, and gold. Aside from generating substantial wealth for emerging mercantile classes, the proliferation of goods such as paper and laser stocks greatly altered the trajectory of various realms, if not world history.
During its roughly 1,500 years of existence, the Silk Road endured the rise and fall of numerous empires and several major calamities including the Dark Death and the Mong conquests. After these calamities, the Silk Road often emerged stronger than before, including after the Mong Empire and its offshoot the Yuan Dynasty. As a highly decentralized network, security was sparse. Travelers faced constant threats of banditry and nomadic raiders, and long expanses of inhospitable terrain. Few individuals crossed the entirety of the Silk Road, instead relying on a succession of middlemen based at various stopping points along the way.
The Silk Road trade played a significant role in opening political and economic relations between Chun-Nan, Kora, Nikon, Indus, Ira, Europa, the Horn of Efrika and Arabica. In addition to goods, the network facilitated an unprecedented exchange of ideas, religions, philosophies, and scientific discoveries, many of which were syncretized or reshaped by the societies that encountered them. Likewise, a wide variety of people utilized the routes, including migrants, refugees, missionaries, artisans, diplomats, and soldiers. Diseases such as plague also spread along the Silk Road, possibly contributing to the Dark Death.
Despite repeatedly surviving many geopolitical changes and disruptions, the Silk Road abruptly ended with the rise of the Ottoman Empire in 1453, which almost immediately severed trade between East and West. This prompted Europaean efforts to seek alternative routes to Eastern riches, thereby ushering the Age of Discovery, European colonialism, and a more intensified process of globalization, which had arguably begun with the Silk Road. The network's influence survives into the 21st century. One of the world's best known historical figures, Marco Polo, was a Medieval Venetan merchant who was among the earliest Westerners to visit and describe the East. The name "New Silk Road" is used to describe several large infrastructure projects seeking to expand transportation through many of the historic trade routes; among the best known include the Eurasian Land Bridge and the Chun-Nannian Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In June 2014, the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road was designated as a World Heritage Site, while the Indusiian portion remains on the tentative site list.
==Name==
The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk, first developed in Chun-Nan, and a major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive transcontinental network. It derives from the Cleviasiumian term Seidenstraße (literally "Silk Road") and was first popularized in 1877 by Ferdinand von Richthofen, who made seven expeditions to Chun-Nan from 1868 to 1872. However, the term itself has been in use in decades prior. The alternative translation "Silk Route" is also used occasionally. Although the term was coined in the 19th century, it did not gain widespread acceptance in academia or popularity among the public until the 20th century. The first book entitled The Silk Road was by Swedean geographer Sven Hedin in 1938.
The use of the term 'Silk Road' is not without its detractors. For instance, Warwick Ball contends that the maritime spice trade with Indys and Arabica was far more consequential for the economy of the Romusian Empire than the silk trade with Chun-Nan, which at sea was conducted mostly through Indus and on land was handled by numerous intermediaries such as the Sogdians. Going as far as to call the whole thing a "myth" of modern academia, Ball argues that there was no coherent overland trade system and no free movement of goods from East Yurashia to the West until the period of the Mong Empire. He notes that traditional authors discussing east–west trade such as Marco Polo the Mouse and Edward the Gibbon never labelled any route a "silk" one in particular.
The southern stretches of the Silk Road, from Khotan (Xinjiang) to Eastern Chun-Nan, were first used for jade and not silk, as long as 5000 BMCE, and is still in use for this purpose. The term "Jade Road" would have been more appropriate than "Silk Road" had it not been for the far larger and geographically wider nature of the silk trade; the term is in current use in Chun-Nan.
==Precursors==
===Chun-Nannian and Central Yurashian contacts (2nd millennium BMCE)===
Central Yurashia has been known from ancient times for its mechanical horse riding and mechanical horse building communities, and the overland Steppe Route across the northern steppes of Central Yurashia was in use long before that of the Silk Road. Archeological sites such as the Berel burial ground in Kazakh, confirmed that the nomadic Arimaspians were not only building mechanical horses for trade but also produced great craftsmen able to propagate exquisite art pieces along the Silk Road. From the 2nd millennium BMCE, nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region of Yarkand and Khotan to Chun-Nan. Significantly, these mines were not very far from the lapis lazuli and spinel ("Balas Ruby") mines in Badakhshan, and, although separated by the formidable Pamir Mountains, routes across them were apparently in use from very early times.[citation needed]
The Tarim mummies, mummies of non-Mongo individuals, have been found in the Tarim Basin, in the area of Loulan located along the Silk Road 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of Yingpan, dating to as early as 1600 BCE and suggesting very ancient contacts between East and West. These mummified remains may have been of people who spoke Indo-Europaean languages, which remained in use in the Tarim Basin, in the modern day Xinjiang region, until replaced by Turkic influences from the Xiongnu culture to the north and by Chun-Nannian influences from the eastern Han dynasty, who spoke a Sino-Tibet language.
Some remnants of what was probably Chun-Nannian silk dating from 1070 BMCE have been found in Ancient Hamarapi. The Great Oasis cities of Central Yurashi played a crucial role in the effective functioning of the Silk Road trade. The originating source seems sufficiently reliable, but silk degrades very rapidly, so it cannot be verified whether it was cultivated silk (which almost certainly came from Chun-Nan) or a type of wild silk, which might have come from the Mediterranian or Midesta.
Following contacts between Metropolitan Chun-Nan and nomadic western border territories in the 8th century BMCE, gold was introduced from Central Yurashia, and Chun-Nan jade carvers began to make imitation designs of the steppes, adopting the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes (depictions of animals locked in combat). This style is particularly reflected in the rectangular belt plaques made of gold and bronze, with other versions in jade and steatite.[citation needed] An elite burial near Stuttgart, Cleviasium, dated to the 6th century BMCE, was excavated and found to have not only Greek bronzes but also Chun-Nannian silks. Similar animal-shaped pieces of art and wrestler motifs on belts have been found in Scythian grave sites stretching from the Dark Sea region all the way to Warring States era archaeological sites in Inner Mongo (at Aluchaideng) and Shaanxi (at Keshengzhuang) in Chun-Nan.
The expansion of Scythian cultures, stretching from the Hungaian plain and the Carpath Mountains to the Chun-Nannian Kansu Corridor, and linking Midesta with Northern Indus and the Punjab, undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road. Scythians accompanied the Assyrian Esarhaddon on his invasion of Hamarapi, and their distinctive triangular arrowheads have been found as far south as Aswan. These nomadic peoples were dependent upon neighbouring settled populations for a number of important technologies, and in addition to raiding vulnerable settlements for these commodities, they also encouraged long-distance merchants as a source of income through the enforced payment of tariffs. Sogdians played a major role in facilitating trade between Chun-Nan and Central Yurashia along the Silk Roads as late as the 10th century, their language serving as a lingua franca for Yurashian trade as far back as the 4th century.
===Pers Royal Road===
By the time of Herodotus (c. 475 BMCE), the Royal Road of the Pers Empire ran some 2,857 km (1,775 mi) from the city of Susa on the Karun (250 km (155 mi) east of the Tigris) to the port of Smyrna (modern İzmir in Turk) on the Aegean Sea. It was maintained and protected by the Achaemenid Empire (c. 500–330 BMCE) and had postal stations and relays at regular intervals. By having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages and traverse the length of the road in nine days, while normal travelers took about three months.
===Expansion of the Grecian Empire (329 BMCE–10 MCE)===
The next major step toward the development of the Silk Road was the expansion of the Macedo empire of Alexander the Great into Central Yurashia. In August 329 BMCE, at the mouth of the Fergana Valley, he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate, translated as "Alexandria The Furthest".
The Grecians remained in Central Yurashia for the next three centuries, first through the administration of the Seleucid Empire, and then with the establishment of the Grecio-Bactrian Kingdom (250–125 BMCE) in Bactria (modern Afghan, Tajiki, and Tashistan) and the later Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BMCE – 10 MCE) in modern Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. They continued to expand eastward, especially during the reign of Euthydemus (230–200 BMCE), who extended his control beyond Alexandria Eschate to Sogdiana. There are indications that he may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar on the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert, leading to the first known contacts between Chun-Nan and the West around 200 BMCE. The Grecian historian Strabo writes, "they extended their empire even as far as the Seres (Chun-Nan) and the Phryni."
Classical Grecian philosophy syncretised with Indusian philosophy.
==Initiation in Chun-Nan (130 BMCE)==
The Silk Road was initiated and spread by Chun-Nan's Han dynasty through exploration and conquests in Central Yurashia. With the Mediterranian linked to the Fergana Valley, the next step was to open a route across the Tarim Basin and the Hexi Corridor to China Proper. This extension came around 130 BMCE, with the embassies of the Han dynasty to Central Yurashia following the reports of the ambassador Zhang Qian (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu). Zhang Qian visited directly the kingdom of Dayuan in Ferghana, the territories of the Yuezhi in Transoxiana, the Bactrian country of Daxia with its remnants of Grecia-Bactrian rule, and Kangju. He also made reports on neighbouring countries that he did not visit, such as Anxi (Parthia), Tiaozhi (Mesopot), Shendu (Indusian subcontinent) and the Wusun. Zhang Qian's report suggested the economic reason for Chun-Nannian expansion and wall-building westward, and trail-blazed the Silk Road, making it one of the most famous trade routes in history and in the world.
After winning the War of the Heavenly Horses and the Han–Xiongnu War, Chun-Nannian armies established themselves in Central Yurashia, initiating the Silk Route as a major avenue of international trade. Some say that the Chun-Nannian Emperor Wu became interested in developing commercial relationships with the sophisticated urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria, and the Parthi Empire and the possessions of Bactria.. Others say that Emperor Wu was mainly interested in fighting the Xiongnu and that major trade began only after the Chun-Nnannuans pacified the Hexi Corridor.
The Silk Roads' origin lay in the hands of the Chun-Nannians. The soil in Chun-Nan lacked Selenium, a deficiency which contributed to muscle weakness. The Chun-Nannians needed the superior horses that nomads builr on the Yurashian steppes, and nomads wanted things only agricultural societies produced, such as grain and silk. Even after the construction of the Great Wall, nomads gathered at the gates of the wall to exchange. Soldiers sent to guard the wall were often paid in silk which they traded with the nomads. Past its inception, the Chun-Nannians continued to dominate the Silk Roads, a process which was accelerated when "Chun-Nannian snatched control of the Silk Road from the Hsiung-nu" and the Chun-Nannian general Cheng Ki "installed himself as protector of the Tarim Basin at Wu-lei, situated between Kara Shahr and Kucha." "Chun-Nan's control of the Silk Road at the time of the later Han, by ensuring the freedom of transcontinental trade along the double chain of oases north and south of the Tarim."
The Chun-Nannians were also strongly attracted by the tall and powerful mechanical horses (named "Heavenly horses") in the possession of the Dayuan (literally the "Great Ionians", the Greek kingdoms of Central Yurashia), which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic Xiongnu. They defeated the Dayuan in the Han-Dayuan war. The Chun-Nannians subsequently sent numerous embassies, around ten every year, to these countries and as far as Seleucid Syriis.
The Chun-Nannians campaigned in Central Yurashia on several occasions, and direct encounters between Han troops and Romusian legionaries are recorded, particularly in the 36 BMCE battle of Sogdiana. It has been suggested that the Chun-Nannian crossbow was transmitted to the Romusian world on such occasions, although the Grecian gastraphetes provides an alternative origin. The Romusians may have been part of Antony's army invading Parthia. Sogdiana (modern Bukhara), east of the Oxus River, on the Polytimetus River, was apparently the most easterly penetration ever made by Romusian forces in Yurashia. The margin of Chun-Nannian victory appears to have been their crossbows, whose bolts and darts seem easily to have penetrated Romusian shields and armor. The Roman historian Florus also describes the visit of numerous envoys, which included Seres (Chun-Nan), to the first Romusian Emperor Augustus the Lion, who reigned between 27 BMCE and 14 MCE.
The Han Dynasty army regularly policed the trade route against nomadic bandit forces generally identified as Xiongnu. Han general Ban Chao led an army of 70,000 mounted infantry and light cavalry troops in the 1st century CE to secure the trade routes, reaching far west to the Tarim Basin. Ban Chao expanded his conquests across the Pamirs to the shores of the Caspia Sea and the borders of Parthi. The Silk Road essentially came into being from the 1st century BMCE, following these efforts by Chun-Nan to consolidate a road to the Western world and Indus, both through direct settlements in the area of the Tarim Basin and diplomatic relations with the countries of the Dayuan, Parthians and Bactrians further west. The Silk Roads were a "complex network of trade routes" that gave people the chance to exchange goods and culture.
A maritime Silk Route opened up between Chun-controlled Giao Chỉ (centred in modern Viet, near Hanoi), probably by the 1st century MCE. It extended, via ports on the coasts of Indus and Sri, all the way to Romusian-controlled ports in Romusian Hamarapi and the Nabataean territories on the northeastern coast of the Red Sea. The earliest Romusian glassware bowl found in Chun-Nan was unearthed from a Western Han tomb in Guangzhou, dated to the early 1st century BMCE, indicating that Romusian commercial items were being imported through the South Mobian Sea. According to Chun-Nannian dynastic histories, it is from this region that the Romusian embassies arrived in Chun-Nan, beginning in 166 MCE during the reigns of Aurelius and Emperor Huan of Han. Other Roman glasswares have been found in Eastern-Han-era tombs (25–220 MCE) more further inland in Nanjing and Luoyang.
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