The Silk Road Essay -- essays research papers fc

The four century years between the collapse of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.- C.E. 220) and the establishment of the Tang dynasty (618-906) mark a division in the history of China. During this period, foreign invasion, transcontinental bargain, and missionary intake opened the region to an unprecedented wealth of foreign cultural influences. These influences were twain secular and sacred. Nomads, merchants, emissaries and missionaries flooded into China, bringing new customs, providing exotic wares, and generating new unearthly beliefs. Foremost among these beliefs was Buddhism, born in India, nevertheless which now took root in China. These new influences entered China by a vast network of terrestrial routes, popularly known as the Silk courseThe term Silk Road does not refer to a single, distinctly defined road or highway, but rather denotes a network of trails and trading posts, oasis and markets scattered wholly across Central Asia. All on the way, branch routes led to d estinations attain to the side of the main route, with one especially important branch prima(p) to northwestern India, and thus to separate routes throughout the subcontinent. The Silk Road network is in the main view of as stretching from an eastern station at the previous(a) Chinese capital city of Changan to westward stations at Byzantium (Constantinople), Antioch, Damascus, and other Middle Eastern cities. But beyond those end points, other trade networks distributed Silk Road goods throughout the Mediterranean world and Europe, on one end, and throughout eastern Asia on the other end. It is not possible to think clearly about the Silk Road without taking into consideration the whole of Eurasia as its geographical context. Trade along the Silk Road flourished or diminished according to the conditions in China, Byzantium, Persia, and other countries along the way. There was also competition for alternative routes, by land and sea, to absorb long-distance1Eurasian trade when conditions along the Silk Road were unfavorable. For this reason, the geographical context of the Silk Road must be thought of in the broadest possible terms, including sea rout... ...9Works CitedBeers, Burton F. (1988). World business relationship Patterns of Civilization. New Jersey Prentice-HallClyde, Paul H., Beers, Burton F. (1971) The Far East A floor of the Western Impact and the Eastern Response. New Jersey Prentice-Hall.Goodrich, L. Carrington (1959). A oblivious History Of The Chinese People. New York Harper & Row.The Great Silk Road. (Retrieved November 11, 2004) from http//www.lotossutra.at/english/seidentstr.ht.The Silk Road (Retrieved November 10, 2004) from http//www.imperialtours.net/silk_road.htmThe Silk Road. (Retrieved November 11, 2004) from http//www.ess.uci.edu/%7Eoliver/silk.htmWelcome to the Silk Road (Retrieved November 12, 2004) from http//www.silkroad.com