The Three Silk Roads: Desert, Grassland, and Maritime – Teaching Guide

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Vocabulary of Note

• Taklamakan desert – in western China
• Tarim Basin – geographic landform in western China, home of the Taklamakan desert
• Oasis – a place in a desert where water is found; becomes fertile, crops can grow
• Turfan – oasis city in the Tarim Basin
• Sogdians – people of Iranian heritage, who lived in Sogdiana and played a major role in Eurasian trade (2nd–10th c CE)
• Persia – Iran today
• Ewer – a pitcher
• Karakorum – a capital of the Mongols

Names of Note

• Xuanzang (Swan-zaang) – monk who traveled on the desert road to reach India and bring back Buddhist scriptures to China during the 7th c/ the Tang dynasty period; “Journey to the West” (also known as the story of “Monkey,” is inspired by the travels of Xuanzang

Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode]

Introduction: an “evidence based” approach, relying on artifacts to counter much of conventional wisdom that is not true [01:36]

Name “Silk Road” not used by historical travelers; coined by a German in 1877 [02:30]

• Never just one road; many roads
• Silk was used as a form of currency
• Most active from the 3rd–10th c CE, with more activity later under the Mongols (13th c)

Three main routes of trade: desert, maritime, and grasslands

One – Desert Route [04:56]

• Active 200–1000 CE; peaked 600–755 CE
• Xuanzang the monk uses route; in Turfan c.630 CE [07:30]
• Sogdians as great traders [13:48]
• Artifacts: recycled documents from period used as soles of shoes, later found in graves [16:00]
• camels used in desert; horses/donkeys/carts used elsewhere on route
• constraints of overland trade [18:10]
• 755 CE the An Lushan rebellion takes place in China; Tang dynasty weakened; withdraws troops that protect the trade routes [20:42]
• Dunhuang – Buddhist cave chapels [21:00]
  • Repository of 60,000 documents found in one cave
  • Many religious traditions represented
  • Great source of information on the period
• Coins converted to silk for easier transport [23:00]

Two – Grasslands Route [25:00]

• In use under the Mongols
  • Began in Karakorum, a capital of the Mongols
  • Route used by Marco Polo
  • “Paiza” passes issued by the Mongols gave safe passage to a traveler all along the grasslands route (similar to a passport) [17:14]
• Textiles were of great value to the Mongols [28:10]
• Marco Polo (1254–1324) was an “ortagh” merchant [28:50]

Three – Maritime Route

• Important for overcoming the constraints of the overland routes (although maritime routes had to rely on monsoon winds) [31:00]
• “Beilitang” shipwreck excavated off the coast of Indonesia
  • Shipwreck from 830 CE; look into what was being traded at the time
  • Ship filled with export goods from China of the time
  • Made in China but made for export; some of “pseudo-Arabic”
  • Writing on them; others show Sogdian influence
• Trade between China and SE Asia, began during the Tang dynasty but increased greatly over time [37:00]
• Historical differences between overland and maritime trade [38:49]
• The Silk Road Today: the Belt and Road Initiative [39:34]
  • Using “soft power” as they did on historical silk roads
  • Geographic restraints of the historical silk roads; how is the Belt and Road attempting to overcome geography? [45:00]