The Silk Road. On the eastern and western sides of the continent, the civilisations of China and the West developed. The western end of the trade route appears to have developed earlier than the eastern end, principally because of the development of the the empires in the west, and the easier terrain of Persia and Syria. The Iranian empire of Persia was in control of a large area of the Middle East, extending as far as the Indian Kingdoms to the east. Trade between these two neighbours was already starting to influence the cultures of these regions. This region was taken over by Alexander the Great of Macedon, who finally conquered the Iranian empire, and colonised the area in about 330 B.C., superimposing the culture of the Greeks. Although he only ruled the area until 325 B.C., the effect of the Greek invasion was quite considerable.
The Greek language was brought to the area, and Greek mythology was introduced. The eastern end of the route developed rather more slowly. Brian Hook (Ed.) Sector for Culture: Caravanserais. Athena Review 3,1: Buried Cities of Khotan: Chronology of the Silk Road. Free trial issue subscribe back issues Athena Review Vol.3, no.1: Buried Cities of Khotan Chronology of the Silk Road Warring States to Han Dynasty: 5th-4th c. 330 BC: Alexander the Great of Macedon conquers Iranian Empire. 325 BC: Palmyra and Parthia reconquer Persia. 206 BC: Qin Dynasty collapses; Han Dynasty takes over under the rule of Emperor Liu Pang. mid 2nd c. 138-125 BC: Zhang Quian’s journey on Silk Road. 115 BC: Wu Ti forces the Huns to retreat to the north of the Taklamakan Desert. 6 BC-AD 5: Han Dynasty loses control of Tarim Basin to Huns. 1st c.
AD 68: Han Emperor Ming Ti sends Cai Yin to the west; Yin returns with 2 Buddhist monks. AD 73: Chinese general Pan Ch’ao (under Ming Ti) reconquers the Tarim Basin. [Fig.1: Terra cotta griffin handle from Khotan (Hedin collection, Montell 1935, pl.12).] AD 144-173: Kanishka, a powerful patron of Mahâyâna Buddhism, is King of the Kushana dynasty in India (their capital at Taxila). 3 Kingdoms-T’ang Dynasties: Late T’ang-Ming Dynasties: N Travel: The Ancient Sea Route between Rome and China. The silkroad foundation. The Silk Road Society - Home. Map of South-East Asia. Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia, roughly be described as geographically situated east of the Indian subcontinent, south of China and north of Australia, between the Indian Ocean (in west) and the Pacific Ocean (in east). Regions in South-East Asia It consists of two distinctive different geographic regions, one is mainland Southeast Asia, also known as Indochina, on the Indochinese peninsula; it comprises the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Vietnam and West Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia), the other is the Malay Archipelago, or Maritime Southeast Asia, which comprises the countries of: Brunei (on the island of Borneo), East Malaysia (with the Malayan states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern part of Borneo), all the islands of Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Timor-Leste (East Timor).
Silk Road Seattle Virtual Art Exhibit. This exhibit was organized as part of Silk Road Seattle, a collaborative public education project exploring cultural interaction across Eurasia from the first century BCE to the sixteenth century CE. Silk Road Seattle is sponsored by the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington. Images of art objects are provided through the kind cooperation of museums and photographers around the world. The primary goal of the exhibit is to employ the Internet in an innovative way to enable the interested public anywhere in the world to experience the art of the Silk Road, and to promote such future collaborations across the boundaries of museum collections. By introducing a wide variety of art from multiple locations, we hope to encourage viewers to visit the museums where the objects are housed, since art must, in the first instance, be viewed directly. We have selected the objects with three considerations in mind.
Silk Road: Map, Trade, History of Silk Road. Great Silk Road During the 6-14th century, there were thousands of large and small routes that crossed Asian Continent leading to the West. Caravans followed these routes and each was filled with exotic clothes, eastern goods and spices. These routes raised the Great Silk Road. Along Great Silk Road towns, cities and caravanserai were created. Hence the various centers for national crafts, art schools, madrasahs, palaces and mausoleums. Fascinating History of Silk Road History of Silk Road is fascinating and full of military conquest, fearless explorers, religious pilgrims and great thinkers, along with the humble tradesmen who risked life and limb for profit as they led their loaded caravans across dangerous deserts, mountains and steppes. Great Silk Road: Luxury Trade The story of silk trade is very cognitive. More Than Silk There are many other luxury goods besides silk that were transported along Silk Road.
A Road of Ideas More Silk Road links. Silk Road Seattle. Silk Road Seattle is an ongoing public education project using the "Silk Road" theme to explore cultural interaction across Eurasia from the beginning of the Common Era (A. D.) to the Seventeenth Century. Our principal goal is to provide via the Internet materials for learning and teaching about the Silk Road. Much is available here already: historical texts, well illustrated web pages on historic cities and architecture and on traditional culture of the Central Asian nomads, extensive annotated bibliographies of resources, an electronic atlas, and a stunning virtual art exhibit drawing on museum collections from around the world. Our ability to expand the offerings will in part depend on the degree to which those who have appropriate expertise and materials may be willing to contribute to building the site.
Please contact us with suggestions, and let us know in what ways you may have found our materials to be of value. The Silk Road Project. Silk Road - Introduction. The Silk Road is a great East to West trade route and vehicle for cross-culture exchange started in the second century BC. It was first traveled by the adventure of Zhang Qian started the journey to the far West for the political contact with Yuezhi, a nomadic tribe, in 138 BC. But, it was only in 1870s that the geographer, Ferdinand von Richthofen gave the name by which we now know as the Silk Road. The general Zhang Qian was sent by Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (206 BC- AD 220) to recruit the Yuezhi, who were the enemies of the Xiongnu in the second century BC. As Yuezhi tribe, Xiongnu was also a nomadic group who attempted to invade the Kansu province of Han Dynasty.
Because the Xiongnu could not be restrained with any lasting effects, Emperor Wu decided to look for an alliance with Yuezhi who had been defeated by their enemies Xiongnu and driven to the Ili valley, the western fringes of the Taklamakan Desert. Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. This mailing list provides a world-wide electronic forum for exchange of scholarly and factual information on the history, geography, anthropology and logistics of traditional communication, movement, and transportation networks of the world.
The list was established on 30 April 2000 by the Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project (www.ciolek.com/owtrad.html). The list has a special focus on research and construction of accurate, correctable and interoperable geo/chrono-referenced electronic data-sets describing known land, river and maritime trade and pilgrimage routes of Eurasia and Africa between 10,000 BCE and approx. 1820 CE (i.e. from the end of the Ice Age till the revolution in transport caused by the steam-engine technology). However, other foci, as well as other geographical and historical contexts are also given due attention. To join the forum use the registration page ( or use the box below: Gittaohan Nomadic Camel Caravan. Digital Silk Road - Digital Archives of Cultural Heritage.
Islamic Architecture Community. Maritime Asia.