THE SILK ROAD
The Silk Road helped to spread ideas, cultures, inventions, and unique products across much of the settled world. It also helped to generate trade and commerce between a number of kingdoms and empires. Tea, salt, sugar, porcelain, spices, and other luxury goods were traded along the road. There wasn’t just one specific route, but rather many small connecting routes along the way. Besides goods, people traveled along the road, such as explorer Marco Polo. There were also negative things traveling the road; the Bubonic Plague was believed to have traveled from Europe to China via the Silk Road. Most merchants never actually traveled the whole route, but would get off and stop at the different stops and trading posts along the way. The journey was long and dangerous. Camels were chosen as the best mode of transportation along the silk road because they could go many days without water. There were lots of cities along the route, connecting the cultures and goods of different places throughout the settled world. This included cities such as Xian, Kashgar, and Baghdad.
|