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Document A
Even though silk cloth traveled thousands of miles, the marvel of the silk-producing caterpillar was, for a long
time, China’s secret. Romans thought that the shimmering cloth came from “the hair of a sea shrimp.”
Eventually, the secret reached other lands including Japan and Korea in the third century, central Asia in the
fourth, Byzantium, in the eastern Mediterranean, in the sixth. According to one legend, monks arrived in
Byzantium with the silkworm hidden in their hollow walking sticks. Even though silk could be manufactured
outside China, Chinese silk remained a very special commodity. Today, although the secret is out, China is still
the world’s foremost producer of silk.
Kendall, Laurel. “Silk: The Caterpillar Thread.” Calliope. December 1987.
Document B
“Around the year 1180, a Pisan [Italy] merchant was appointed to
the post of customs official, or consul, of the Pisan community in
Bougia, Muslim North Africa. After settling there, he sent for his
son Leonardo Fibonacci, who was still in his boyhood, to complete
his education, ‘with a view to future usefulness,’ a commentary on
the new attitude toward Islam developing among the European
business class. In his new home, Leonardo made the discovery of
Arabic numerals. Adelard of Bath’s [1075-1160 CE] translation of
al- Khwarizmi had expounded the Hindu notation, but only to a
very limited circle even among the mathematically literate.
Leonardo [Fibonacci] perceived its enormous potential value and
in 1202 undertook its wider diffusion by writing what proved to
be a seminal book in the history of mathematics and e the Liber
Abaci (Book of the Abacus). The book began: ‘The nine Indian
figures are 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. With these nine figures and the sign 0,
any number may be written as is demonstrated below.
For a time businessmen were wary of the new numerals, partly out of general conservatism, partly because it
was felt that they could be more easily altered by the unscrupulous, and finally because they necessitated
memorizing tables of multiplication and division. But by the late 14th century, Arabic numerals were
displacing both Roman numerals and the calculating board [abacus] in European commerce.”
Francis and Joseph Gies, Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages (New York: Harper Collins, 1994), 225-227, 246.
Document C
Among the oldest known textiles, silk was produced in China as early as the mid-third millennium BCE…
Sericulture, the term used to refer to all aspects of silk production from the raising of silkworms to the
spinning of yarn and weaving of cloth, was subject to state control for many centuries, and it was forbidden to
export silkworms or reveal the secrets of sericulture outside China. Bolts of silk textiles, produced to standard
width and length, were used in ancient China as official trade goods, and were accepted in payment of taxes.
Gradually a trade also developed in silk produced for private use and commerce.
The Silk Road, along which silk fabrics were conveyed from China to elsewhere in the ancient world, holds a
special place in history. Silk fabrics were sold in such places as Greece and Rome for fabulous prices.
Salusso, Carol J. "Silk." Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 182-185. World History in Context.
Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
Document D
Document E
The term Silk Road was first coined by the nineteenth-century German explorer Baron Ferdinand von
Richthofen (1833-1905). It broadly describes the ancient trading routes stretching across the Eurasian
continent from China to Europe. While silk was clearly one of the earliest and most important commodities
traded along the route, precious metals and stones, spices, porcelain, and textiles also traveled the road. More
significantly, the Silk Road was an avenue for the exchange of ideas. The technologies of silk production, paper
making, gunpowder manufacture, and block printing made their way west across Asia via this highway.
Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity entered China via the Silk Road. Migrants, merchants, explorers, pilgrims,
refugees, and soldiers brought along with them religious and cultural ideas, products, flora and fauna, and
plagues and disease in this gigantic cross-continental exchange. Thus, the Silk Road is a symbol of the
globalization of trade, technology, and ideology for the premodern world.
"Silk Road." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 7. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 511-512. World
History in Context. Web. 6 Nov. 2014