Page 17 - Exercise 1

Page 17 - Exercise 1

The Silk Road

We often think that the great civilizations of the Mediterranean world (Egypt, Greece and Rome) had no contact with the other great civilizations in China, India and Japan. However, this is wrong. From about 115 BC there was regular trade between these parts of the world. Rich Romans loved to wear silk clothes from China and to put spices from India, such as cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, in their food.

For several centuries, long caravans of camels brought these things along the Silk Road to the ports in what is now Lebanon. From there, ships took the things to cities all over the Roman Empire. The road was over 8,000 kilometres long. It went from the Pacific Ocean across Central Asia to the Mediterranean Sea.

The journey across Central Asia wasn’t easy. The merchants had to cross deserts and high mountains. In the summer it was burning hot and in the winter it was freezing cold. So the things that they brought were very expensive. (At one time Roman emperors tried to stop the trade because so much gold was leaving the empire to pay for the things.) Even when the Roman Empire collapsed, trade along the Silk Road continued. It wasn’t just goods that came along the road. Travellers also brought some important inventions from China to the West - paper, printing, gunpowder and the compass all came to Europe this way.

Sometimes travellers from Europe went to the Far East. The most famous was Marco Polo, who travelled from Venice to China in the 13th century.

When he returned, he wrote a book about his journey and about the fabulous empire of Kublai Khan.

Eventually, however, the Silk Road became too dangerous. Local tribes attacked the caravans.

Sometimes they asked for high taxes. Sometimes they simply stole the goods and often killed the merchants, too. By the end of the 15th century, the Silk Road was closed and the caravans stopped.

Europeans didn’t want to lose the good things that came from the East. One of the things they learnt from China was how to build larger ships. With these larger ships and compasses, explorers from Spain and Portugal, like Vasco da Gama, Bartholomew Diaz and Christopher Columbus, looked for new routes from Europe to the East by sea. But that’s another story!