The silk road past and present

The Roman Empire and the Kushan Empire which ruled territory in what is now northern India also benefitted from the commerce created by the route along the Silk Road. Silk Road to China The Silk Road routes included a large network of strategically located trading posts, markets and thoroughfares designed to streamline the transport, exchange, distribution and storage of goods.

It aims to explicate the history and theory behind the Belt and Road Initiative BRIusing historical materialism as a basis. Past to Present In its antiquity, the The Silk Road was a massive transcontinental trade route spanning from Beijing and Shanghai all the way to Rome, connecting empires through a complex system of roads and shipping routes, which gave rise to an unprecedented era of trade, wealth, diversity and prosperity.

One important feature of the Silk Road was its power-agnostic characteristics, meaning that a plethora of Chinese dynasties and neighbouring empires continuously used it in times of peace and war, allowing trade to ebb and flow whilst enduring ephemeral political circumstances.

A UNESCO article explains further that, […] during the reign of the Emperor Wu-di bce [and] over the next l years it was to be the main rival to the Spice Routes as a channel for international trade.

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By the Eighth Century, huge ships called at Canton laden with cargoes of [precious goods], making the port one of the greatest in the world. The Silk Road also begat new modes of transport and construction in response to the challenges of traversing its vast and difficult expanses, both at land and sea.

An UNESCO article explains that, Developments in ship design and construction methods came about in response to challenges encountered in trading ever further afield.

Observations made and information exchanged on these journeys also brought practical knowledge. So the expansion of trade by sea was closely bound up with the evolution of shipping and navigation.

Bactrian Central Asian and Arabian camels became instrumental in Silk Road transport as they could endure days on less food and water across the formidable Taklamakan desert. Chinese, Indian, Roman, Persian and Arabic empires built massive fleets to conquer the high seas, with Arabs often borrowing Greek and Syrian engineering for their Western flanks.

This produced a race for faster, more powerful ships, as well as new cartography tactics for navigation purposes. The Silk Roads inspired human exchanges as much as material ones, birthing a renaissance of intercultural associations. Goods such as silk, spices, and artefacts were traded throughout the Asian continent along with diverse religions, which pervade Chinese society to date.

The Asia Society notes that, Religious beliefs of the peoples of the Silk Road changed radically over time and was largely due to the effects of travel and trade on the Silk Road itself.

For over two thousand years [it] was a network of roads for the travel and dissemination of religious beliefs across Eurasia. He continues, From these texts [we] learn that visitors passing into China had to stick to designated routes, were issued [written] passes and [regularly] counted by officials [so] that all who entered the country also eventually made their way home.

We think of globalisation was a uniquely modern phenomenon; yet 2, years ago too, it was a fact of life [which] presented opportunities, created problems and prompted technological advance.

The globalisation touted today has much to learn from the Silk Road of yesteryear. The Silk Road Today The material conditions that midwifed the ancient Silk Road have also inspired its modern incarnation.

Many adduce that this form of interregional economics fosters such trust and is an integral step in creating a multipolar global order. Matteo Donato postulates Social Exchange Theory in order to argue the benefits of such reciprocal systems, Research [shows] that [reciprocity] produces better work relationships than negotiations and allows for individuals to be more trusting of, and committed to, one another […] Furthermore, negotiated exchanges incite more unhelpful power use and less equality.

As before, infrastructure is the first step to achieving this. The theme of connectivity is essential to raise the means of production across Asia, transport building materials, and connect civilisations. Comrade Joaquin Flores theorises that infrastructural connectivity ensures supply line security via symbiotic relationships and labour socialisation.

Productive forces are thus evenly distributed amongst adjacent nation-states, ensuring peaceful co-development, as opposed to imperialist nations whom have historically exploited tensions between neighbours. These routes will use a constellation of ports and cities to mark critical exchange points.

BRI exchanges will invariably entail informational and cultural ones, and are being institutionalised accordingly.

The plan defines five key targets to help these sociopolitical exchanges and target Information Exchange, Projects Cooperation, Policy Coordination, Building Partnership, and Capacity Building. The two offer different infrastructural specialties and exploit differing partnerships.The Silk Road allowed the Europeans to receive goods from China and become wealthy.

The Middle Easterners and the Central Asians became the middle men for the trade routes between China and Europe. The Silk Road provided the material goods which the other trade routes used to trade.

One such example is the Hanseatic League. Silk Road - CNN. The Silk Road was also a fertile region of cultural output in its own right, where great trading cities blossomed and different ethnic groups lived side by side in relative initiativeblog.com, what was once the Silk Road is territory belonging to various nation states.

Art of the Silk Road: Past and Present with Mariachiara Gasparini. . Professor Popova’s research focuses on the politics of pastoral land use, past and present, highlighting the ways in which the socio-political, ecological, and cultural orders of pastoral societies shape and restructure global and local environments.

What Is the Ancient Silk Road?

15 October The Silk Road: Past and Present Huang 1 Starting from the 2nd century BC, to the end of the 14th century AD, a great trade route stretched from Chang'An in the East and ended at the Mediterranean at Antioch in the West, linking China and the Roman Empire.

Hang Gai - The Silk Road. Today Hang Gai is a mix of both the past and present with traditional and contemporary fashion houses, art galleries and coffee shops. Hang Gai - The Silk Road.

Today Hang Gai is a mix of both the past and present with traditional and contemporary fashion houses, art galleries and coffee shops.