3631 AM · 130 BCE · world history
The Silk Road
Zhang Qian's embassy to the west opens the caravan road between China and the Mediterranean.
The Han court sends Zhang Qian to seek allies against the Xiongnu; he spends thirteen years on the road, falls into captivity, but returns with an account of rich lands in the west—Ferghana, Bactria, Parthia. After the embassies come the caravans: silk goes west, and glass, horses and gemstones come east. No single merchant travels the whole road; goods change hands through the oases of Central Asia. Along with the freight move faiths, diseases and crafts: by this road Buddhism will reach China, and in Rome silk will become a luxury and a target for moralists.
Sources
Documents of the period
- Shiji, the chapter on Dayuan (Zhang Qian’s embassy) — the route of the embassy and the account of the western lands
Scholarship
- Roman authors on the silk trade (Pliny, Natural History) — silk as a luxury in Rome
Basis: documents and evidence.