Download Chapter 12: Silk Road Questions Pg 297 – 2 Things made travel

Chapter 12: Silk Road Questions
1. Pg 297 – 2 Things made travel safer and thus stimulated long-distance trade. What were
they? Why did they come about? How did they help stimulate long-distance trade?
First, rulers invested in constructing roads and bridges. They did this mostly for the
military to be able to move and for the government to be able to administer the empires more
effectively. But it also had the side effect of encouraging trade. This trade occurred within the
individual societies (for example among different parts of Rome) but also between different
societies (for example between Rome and Han China.) This is because the roads and bridges also
allowed merchants and goods to travel where they could not have gone before.
Second, classical societies built large empires that expanded sometimes so far that they
bordered other huge empires. So there were less smaller societies for merchants to pass through.
This is safer for the merchants because they aren’t coming into contact with as many different
foreign, potentially hostile societies. Also, since these areas were unified under one rule, they
weren’t going to be in war against each other: they’re part of the same empire. That makes it
safer for the merchants and goods.
2. Pg 298 – Describe the beginnings of Indian Ocean trade
Though a great deal of trade occurred across land during the classical era, some mariners
from Ptolemaic Egypt around 200 BC learned about the monsoon winds. This set the ground for
the Indian Ocean trade to begin. The winds blow regularly from the southwest in the summer,
and then in the winter they turn around and blow from the northeast. Once they knew about the
winds, the mariners could travel all across the Indian Ocean with great reliability. Hellenistic
mariners learned about them from Arab and Indian seamen during the 2nd century BC. So many
different areas were involved in this beginning of the Indian Ocean trade network.
3. Pg 299-300 – Explain the route of the Silk Road
(You can use a World Map for this one. Make sure everything is clearly labeled)
The Silk Roads were a network of trade routes linking much of Eurasia and North Africa.
They are called the Silk Roads because silk from China was one of the main goods exchanged.
The Silk Roads extended from China to the Roman Empire. It splits in two, crosses over deserts,
goes through Bactria, northern India, into Iran, joins up with ports on the Caspian Sea and the
Persian Gulf, and continues all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. Speaking of sea, the Silk
“Roads” aren’t just roads: they’re also sea routes. The sea routes go from South China, through
southeast Asia, around India, up the coast of India, up into the Persian Gulf, around the Arabian
peninsula and up into the Red Sea, where they hooked up with land routes and the Mediterranean
basin, which already had great trade networks in place.
4. Pg 301 – List the goods traded on the Silk Road. Why were those goods traded from the
place they came from to the place that bought them?
(You can use a World Map for this one. Make sure everything is clearly labeled. Make sure you
explain the WHY part in words)
Silk and spices traveled west FROM southeast Asia, China, and India TO central Asia,
Iran, Arabia, and Rome (plus Rome at this point includes Egypt, north Africa and a good deal of
Europe.)
Silk is from China because it was the only land in classical times where cultivators and
weavers had the techniques to produce high-quality silk.
Fine spices came from southeast Asia. Ginger came from China, cinnamon was from
southeast Asia and China, pepper from India, sesame oil from India, Arabia, and southwest Asia.
They came from those places because they were grown there! Spices are important not just to
flavor food, but also were also used as drugs, anesthetics, aphrodisiacs, perfumes, aromatics, and
“magical” potions.
India also exported cotton textiles, pearls, coral and ivory.
Central Asia produced large, strong horses and jade
Rome produced glassware, jewelry, art, decorations, perfumes, bronze goods, wool and
linen textiles, pottery, iron tools, olive oil, win, and gold and silver bullion. They would often
import the gems, turn them into jewelry/decorations, and export them again!
The goods all came from their particular regions because either they were grown or
harvested there (elephants lived in India, so they export ivory, etc.) OR because the people had
the skills/tools to make the goods (Romans had the skills to produce works of art)
The goods went TO certain regions because those regions didn’t have those goods or the ability to
produce them. The goods also went to regions that had things they could exchange for the things
they wanted.
(Do we have to know all these goods EXACTLY Ms Baumez? Heck no don’t waste your precious
brain space. You need to know some examples of where from/where to and WHY WHY
WHY?????)
5. Pg 301 – List the individuals who made long journeys and the journeys they took.
(You can use a World Map for this one. Make sure everything is clearly labeled)
Zhang Qian travelled from China to Bactria.
Chinese merchants travelled to central Asia and Persia.
Indian embassies visited Roman emperors.
Malay merchant mariners from southeast Asia to India and east Africa.
Gang Ying went to Mesopotamia.
Maybe, Roman subjects from Egypt or Syria might have gone to China.
6. Pg 302 - Describe the methods of trade and groups involved in the trade
(You can use a World Map for this one. Make sure everything is clearly labeled. Make sure you
explain how they traded in words)
While some people may have travelled great distances, most of the trade occurred in
segments, with Chinese and Arabian caravans carrying goods from China to Bactria. They would
exchange with the Parthians, who would carry the goods to the eastern Mediterranean region,
where it would be handed over to Roman subjects such as Greeks, Jews, and Armenians.
On the sea, the main figures from China through southeast Asia to Ceylon and India were
Malay and Indian mariners. In the Arabian Sea, it was Persians and the Egyptian and Greek
subjects of the Roman Empire. The Parthian Empire controlled trade in the Persian Gulf. The
Ptolemaic dynasty and later the Roman Empire controlled the Red Sea. Once the Romans took
over Egypt in the 1st century CE, the Egyptian subjects carried out trade between India and the
Mediterranean. And the Romans of course dominated the Mediterranean (since their Empire
basically surrounded it.)
7. Pg 303-304 – Explain how Buddhism spread along the Silk Road and into other places
By the 3rd century BC, Buddhism was already prominent in northern India. Since the
emperor Asoka was Buddhist, it also spread to Bactria and Ceylon. Buddhism spread by
merchants. The merchants would travel and as they were doing the religious practices of
Buddhism they explained it to people they met. It spread along the Silk Roads to Iran, central
Asia, China, and southeast Asia. It started in oasis cities along the Silk Roads because the
merchants stopped there to get food, a place to stay, and things they needed. Buddhism became
the biggest faith along the Silk Roads from 200 BC to 700 AD. Nomadic peoples also stopped
into these oasis towns to get items they needed. While there, they came into contact with
Buddhism and gradually converted. Since they were nomads, they spread the religion to many
different areas. By the 300s AD, Buddhism was spread throughout most of central Asia.
China
Similarly, Buddhist merchants from India, Parthia, and central Asia spread Buddhism to
China. They could only go as far as the specific cities the Han dynasty designated for merchants,
such as Chang’an. The native Chinese didn’t catch on to Buddhism much until monasteries and
missionaries entered China. It started gaining ground around the 5th century CE. (In the
postclassical era Buddhism will become the most popular faith throughout all of East Asia-Japan, Korea, and China.)
Southeast Asia
The merchants traveled along the sea lanes to spread Buddhism. By the 1st century CE,
there was Indian influence in these regions: kings called themselves “rajas” like in India, they
used Sanskrit for writing, many rulers either became Buddhist or Hindu, they had Indian-style
walled cities and temples, and they used Buddhist or Hindu advisors.
8. Pg 305-306 – Explain how Christianity spread along the Silk Road and into other places
Christianity started under the Roman Empire in the 1st century CE. Early Christians were
persecuted because they would not worship the Roman emperor or Roman gods and goddesses.
They also considered Christians troublesome because they sometimes attacked other religions and
even used violence (occasionally.) Paul of Tarsus was one of the main Christian missionaries.
He used the Roman roads and sea lanes to travel and spread the religion. There were other
missionaries who traveled within and out of the Roman Empire, who performed miracles, set up
churches, and were martyred (killed for their faith.) Christianity spread throughout the Roman
Empire by the 3rd century, and started through Mesopotamia and Iran by the 2nd century AD. The
Middle Eastern practice of asceticism eventually grew into Christian monasticism. Around the 5th
century CE, there was more separation between Christianity in southwest Asia and the
Mediterranean area. Southwest Asia became Nestorian, emphasizing the human rather than
divine nature of Jesus. Nestorian Christians also spread their faith by the Silk Roads in the 7th
century in central Asia, India, and China.
9. Pg 309-310 – Describe the spread of and effects of epidemic diseases
Causes: because there are many people trading, they travel, come into contact with new people,
and disease spreads. Since the new people aren’t immune yet, it’s even worse. It spreads more in
cities
Diseases: smallpox, measles, bubonic plague
Effects: many people die, population drops, trade declines, economies get smaller (they are more
regional as trade lessens, not international like before.) So the empires are less unified
10. Pg 310-313 – What were the causes and effects of the fall of the Han Dynasty?
Causes:
Internal political problems: the ruling elites split into groups and were fighting each other for
power. So instead of ruling, they are fighting each other. This makes them ineffective
Land distribution problems: large landowners gained more and more land. They got less and less
taxes and put more on the peasants. They also had their own personal armies to protect their own
interests. The peasants rebelled (a major one was the Yellow Turban rebellion in 184 CE)
Authorities lost control: The emperor was just a puppet. The generals controlled their regions
with their armies. In 220 CE, they abolished the Han dynasty and divided it into 3 kingdoms.
Once that happened, the nomads came in and divided up China into separate kingdoms for 350
years.
Effects:
Chaos: From the 4th to the 6th centuries CE, China was basically in chaos. Kingdoms would fight,
one would gain control, and then another would conquer it. Armies took food and whatever else
they wanted. They trashed cities.
Nomads: They adopted Chinese agriculture, settled down, married Chinese spouses, took Chinese
names, used Chinese clothes, food, customs, education, philosophy, literature. This is called
SINICIZATION. Over the centuries, there was little difference between nomads and Chinese.
This allowed a later authority to create a new unified Chinese dynasty.
Confucianism: It lost credibility because it promised peace and order, but China is in chaos.
(Hmm….something’s not right here….) This allowed Daoism and Buddhism to gain ground.
Daoism promised peace, and it became more of a religion, with people using “elixirs.”
Buddhism grew from the 4th to 6th centuries because the nomads inhabited China and there were
missionaries who helped the people and gained converts.
11. Pg 313 – What were the causes and effects of the fall of the Roman Empire?
Causes:
Internal political problems: Roman emperors constantly fighting and people trying to take their
power. “Barracks emperors”: 26 emperors in 50 years, most were generals who seized power,
held it briefly, and then were usually killed by rivals or their own troops.
Size: too big to manage and defend. The diseases caused the regions to isolate themselves,
making the empire more fragmented
Diocletian and Constantine: they tried to revive Rome. They split it into two to make it more
manageable.
Economic problems: less growth=less economic growth
Germanic invasions: different groups who lived north of Rome. They were forced into Rome by
the nomadic Huns who were moving into their area. In 476, the Germanic tribes deposed the
Roman Emperor. But, the eastern half survived as the Byzantine Empire.
Effects:
Germanic tribes: took Roman customs (for example, they used Roman laws.) This mix
eventually led to medieval Europe.
Christianity: It grew and eventually became the official Roman religion. Constantine converted
to Christianity and issued the Edict of Milan in 313 which legalized Christianity. More officials
and educated people accepted Christianity. St. Augustine explained Christianity using reason and
Greek and Roman philosophy. Christian leaders made their religion more structured:
standardizing their doctrine, creating a hierarchy of leaders (Pope and bishops), declaring Jesus
both fully human and fully divine. Missionaries went out to Germanic tribes.
The Pope gained more control, setting the stage for the Middle Ages in Europe.
12. Compare and contrast the fall of Rome with the fall of Han.
Create a Venn diagram using the information from 10 and 11 above 
13. Pg 317-318 – What does “religion of salvation” mean? Why would that appeal to people?
A “religion of salvation” is one that promises a great afterlife such as Heaven if you
believe in it. It is comforting to people because it promises a great time after death, even if your
life here is not so great. This would be especially appealing for people on earth whose lives are
not the best (poor, sick, crippled, powerless, etc.)