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the aral sea and north of the caspian sea then and on to the black sea a route for caravans the northern silk road brought to china many goods such as dates saffron powder and pistachio nuts from persia frankincense aloes and myrrh from somalia sandalwood from india glass bottles from egypt and other expensive and desirable goods from other parts of the world 30 in exchange the caravans sent back bolts of silk brocade lacquer ware and porcelain southern route the southern route or karakoram route was mainly a single route from china through the karakoram mountains where it persists in modern times as the karakoram highway a paved road through khunjerab pass that connects pakistan and china 31 it then set off westwards but with southward spurs so travelers could complete the journey by sea from various points crossing the high mountains it passed through northern pakistan over the hindu kush mountains and into afghanistan rejoining the northern route near merv turkmenistan from merv it followed a nearly straight line west through mountainous northern iran mesopotamia and the northern tip of the syrian desert to the levant where mediterranean trading ships plied regular routes to italy while land routes went either north through anatolia or south to north africa another branch road travelled from herat through susa to charax spasinu at the head of the persian gulf and across to petra and on to alexandria and other eastern mediterranean ports from where ships carried the cargoes to rome 31 southwestern route see also tea horse road the southwestern route is believed to be the ganges brahmaputra delta which has been the subject of international interest for over two millennia strabo the 1st century roman writer mentions the deltaic lands regarding merchants who now sail from egypt as far as the ganges they are only private citizens his comments are interesting as roman beads and other materials are being found at wari bateshwar ruins the ancient city with roots from much earlier before the bronze age presently being slowly excavated beside the old brahmaputra in bangladesh ptolemy s map of the ganges delta a remarkably accurate effort showed that his informants knew all about the course of the brahmaputra river crossing through the himalayas then bending westward to its source in tibet it is doubtless that this delta was a major international trading center almost certainly from much earlier than the common era gemstones and other merchandise from thailand and java were traded in the delta and through it chinese archaeological writer bin yang and some earlier writers and archaeologists such as janice stargardt strongly suggest this route of international trade as sichuan yunnan burma bangladesh route according to bin yang especially from the 12th century the route was used to ship bullion from yunnan gold and silver are among the minerals in which yunnan is rich through northern burma into modern bangladesh making use of the ancient route known as the ledo route the emerging evidence of the ancient cities of bangladesh in particular wari bateshwar ruins mahasthangarh bhitagarh bikrampur egarasindhur and sonargaon are believed to be the international trade centers in this route 32 33 34 maritime route main article maritime silk road austronesian proto historic and historic maritime silk road maritime trade network in southeast asia and the indian ocean 35 the maritime silk road or maritime silk route is the maritime section of the historic silk road that connected southeast asia east asia the indian subcontinent the arabian peninsula eastern africa and europe it began by the 2nd century bce and flourished until the 15th century ce 36 the maritime silk road was primarily established and operated by austronesian sailors in southeast asia who sailed large long distance ocean going sewn plank and lashed lug trade ships 37 11 38 the route was also utilized by the dhows of the persian and arab traders in the arabian sea and beyond 37 13 and the tamil merchants in south asia 37 13 china also started building their own trade ships chuán and followed the routes in the later period from the 10th to the 15th centuries ce 39 40 the network followed the footsteps of older austronesian maritime jade networks in southeast asia 41 42 43 44 as well as the maritime spice networks between southeast asia and south asia and the west asian maritime networks in the arabian sea and beyond coinciding with these ancient maritime trade roads by the current era 45 46 47 austronesian thalassocracies controlled the flow of trade in the eastern regions of the maritime silk road especially the polities around the straits of malacca and bangka the malay peninsula and the mekong delta through which passed the main routes of the austronesian trade ships to giao chỉ in the tonkin gulf and guangzhou southern china the endpoints later also including quanzhou by the 10th century ce 37 secondary routes also passed through the coastlines of the gulf of thailand 35 48 as well as through the java sea celebes sea banda sea and the sulu sea reconnecting with the main route through the northern philippines and taiwan the secondary routes also continue onward to the east china sea and the yellow sea for a limited extent 35 49 the main route of the western regions of the maritime silk road directly crosses the indian ocean from the northern tip of sumatra or through the sunda strait to sri lanka southern india and bangladesh and the maldives it branches from here into routes through the arabian sea entering the gulf of oman into the persian gulf and the gulf of aden into the red sea secondary routes also pass through the coastlines of the bay of bengal the arabian sea and southwards along the coast of east africa to zanzibar the comoros madagascar and the seychelles 35 50 the term maritime silk road is a modern name acquired from its similarity to the overland silk road like the overland routes the ancient maritime routes through southeast asia and the indian ocean had no particular name for the majority of its very long history 37 despite the modern name the maritime silk road involved exchanges in a wide variety of goods over a very wide region not just silk or asian exports 40 49 it differed significantly in several aspects from the overland silk road and thus should not be viewed as a mere extension of it traders traveling through the maritime silk road could span the entire distance of the maritime routes instead of through regional relays as with the overland route ships could carry far larger amounts of goods creating greater economic impact with each exchange goods carried by the ships also differed from goods carried by caravans traders on the maritime route faced different perils like weather and piracy but they were not affected by political instability and could simply avoid areas in conflict 40 history precursors chinese and central asian contacts 2nd millennium bce chinese jade and steatite plaques in the scythian style animal art of the steppes 4th 3rd century bce british museum central eurasia has been known from ancient times for its horse riding and horse breeding communities and the overland steppe route across the northern steppes of central eurasia was in use long before that of the silk road 14 archeological sites such as the berel burial ground in kazakhstan confirmed that the nomadic arimaspians were not only breeding horses for trade but also produced great craftsmen able to propagate exquisite art pieces along the silk road 51 52 from the 2nd millennium bce nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region of yarkand and khotan to china 53 significantly these mines were not very far from the lapis lazuli and spinel balas ruby mines in badakhshan and although separated by the formidable pamir mountains routes across them were in use from very early times 54 genetic study of the tarim mummies found in the tarim basin in the area of loulan located along the silk road 200 kilometres 124 miles east of yingpan dating to as early as 1600 bce suggest very ancient contacts between east and west these mummified remains may have been of people who spoke indo european languages which remained in use in the tarim basin in the modern day xinjiang region until replaced by turkic influences from the xiongnu culture to the north and by chinese influences from the eastern han dynasty who spoke a sino tibetan language citation needed some remnants of what was probably chinese silk dating from 1070 bce have been found in ancient egypt the great oasis cities of central asia played a crucial role in the effective functioning of the silk road trade 55 the originating source seems sufficiently reliable but silk degrades very rapidly so it cannot be verified whether it was cultivated silk which almost certainly came from china or a type of wild silk which might have come from the mediterranean or middle east 56 following contacts between china and nomadic groups along its western borders in the 8th century bce gold was introduced from central asia and chinese jade carvers began to imitate steppe designs adopting the scythian style animal art depicting animals locked in combat this style is particularly reflected in the rectangular belt plaques made of gold and bronze with other versions in jade and steatite citation needed an elite 6th century bce burial near stuttgart germany contained greek bronzes as well as chinese silks 57 similar animal shaped pieces of art and wrestler motifs on belts have been found in scythian grave sites stretching from the black sea region all the way to warring states era archaeological sites in inner mongolia at aluchaideng and shaanxi at keshengzhuang in china 57 the expansion of scythian cultures stretching from the hungarian plain and the carpathian mountains to the chinese gansu corridor and linking the middle east with northern india and the punjab undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the silk road scythians accompanied the assyrian esarhaddon on his invasion of egypt and their distinctive triangular arrowheads have been found as far south as aswan these nomadic peoples were dependent upon neighbouring settled populations for a number of important technologies and in addition to raiding vulnerable settlements for these commodities they also encouraged long distance merchants as a source of income through the enforced payment of tariffs sogdians played a major role in facilitating trade between china and central asia along the silk roads as late as the 10th century their language serving as a lingua franca for asian trade as far back as the 4th century 58 59 soldier with a centaur in the sampul tapestry 60 wool wall hanging 3rd 2nd century bce xinjiang museum urumqi xinjiang china initiation in china 130 bce main articles protectorate of the western regions war of the heavenly horses han xiongnu war and history of the han dynasty see also sino roman relations china india relations and zhang qian woven silk textiles from tomb no 1 at mawangdui changsha hunan province china western han dynasty period dated 2nd century bce the silk road was initiated and spread by china s han dynasty through exploration and conquests in central asia with the mediterranean linked to the fergana valley the next step was to open a route across the tarim basin and the hexi corridor to china proper this extension came around 130 bce with the embassies of the han dynasty to central asia following the reports of the ambassador zhang qian 61 who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the yuezhi against the xiongnu zhang qian visited directly the kingdom of dayuan in ferghana the territories of the yuezhi in transoxiana the bactrian country of daxia with its remnants of greco bactrian rule and kangju he also made reports on neighbouring countries that he did not visit such as anxi parthia tiaozhi mesopotamia shendu indian subcontinent and the wusun 62 zhang qian s report suggested the economic reason for chinese expansion and wall building westward and trail blazed the silk road making it one of the most famous trade routes in history and in the world 63 after winning the war of the heavenly horses and the han xiongnu war chinese armies established themselves in central asia initiating the silk route as a major avenue of international trade 64 some say that the chinese emperor wu became interested in developing commercial relationships with the sophisticated urban civilizations of ferghana bactria and the parthian empire the son of heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus ferghana dayuan great ionians and the possessions of bactria ta hsia and parthian empire anxi are large countries full of rare things with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the chinese people but with weak armies and placing great value on the rich produce of china hou hanshu later han history others 65 say that emperor wu was mainly interested in fighting the xiongnu and that major trade began only after the chinese pacified the hexi corridor a ceramic horse head and neck broken from the body from the chinese eastern han dynasty 1st 2nd century ce bronze coin of constantius ii 337 361 found in karghalik xinjiang china the chinese were also strongly attracted by the tall and powerful horses named heavenly horses in the possession of the dayuan literally the great ionians the greek kingdoms of central asia which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic xiongnu 66 67 68 69 they defeated the dayuan in the han dayuan war the chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies around ten every year to these countries and as far as seleucid syria thus more embassies were dispatched to anxi parthia yancai who later joined the alans lijian syria under the greek seleucids tiaozhi mesopotamia and tianzhu northwestern india as a rule rather more than ten such missions went forward in the course of a year and at the least five or six hou hanshu later han history these connections marked the beginning of the silk road trade network that extended to the roman empire 70 the chinese campaigned in central asia on several occasions and direct encounters between han troops and roman legionaries probably captured or recruited as mercenaries by the xiong nu are recorded particularly in the 36 bce battle of sogdiana joseph needham sidney shapiro it has been suggested that the chinese crossbow was transmitted to the roman world on such occasions although the greek gastraphetes provides an alternative origin r ernest dupuy and trevor n dupuy suggest that in 36 bce a han expedition into central asia west of jaxartes river apparently encountered and defeated a contingent of roman legionaries the romans may have been part of antony s army invading parthia sogdiana modern bukhara east of the oxus river on the polytimetus river was apparently the most easterly penetration ever made by roman forces in asia the margin of ...