Silk Roads

Many things change over time and others also stay the same over time. Time was able to change many things with the silk road from 200 B.C.E to 1450C.E. the silk road changed many cultures, diffused disease, made a connection between Asian and European trading and triggered enlightment in trade of Europe.

The Silk Road was mainly a trade connection between Asia and Europe in the beginning. Europeans were mainly interested in goods such as silk and spices. As a result of this trade Asians were able to benefit from this exporting. This would much later result in the silver trade imbalance issue between China and Britain lighting the Opium War. Europe also became influenced from the Silk Road because they viewed oneself worth on the number of exotic goods in your possession.

People along the Silk Road didn’t only trade goods. The bubonic plague was one of the major tragedies in the eastern hemisphere. The plague started from the mighty Mongols and later spread along the Silk Road westward. People who traded along the silk road were from all over the continent so the disease was widely spread. Many of the luxury goods that were traded from Asia usually went long distances either by animal or boat, and either way that was aiding the transfer of the plague. The road which has been once a trade route turned to be a major artery for the eastern hemisphere. Anything which reaches the Silk Road will be eventually spread across Europe, the middle east, and Asia.

The major religion of Islam became more strengthened by interactions on the silk roads. Islam was spread through merchants and not missionaries. Due to the large trading network along the silk road, merchants were very successful in diffusing Islamic belief to the rest of the world.