Connections Across Eurasia: Transportation, Communication, and Cultural Exchange on the Silk Roads

by Liu, Xinru; Shaffer, Lynda

• ISBN13: 9780072843514
• ISBN10: 0072843519
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-04
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education

Summary

This first edition text examines the remarkable histories of the societies and peoples who fostered Eurasian trade and communication in the almost two millennia before 1500 C.E. A study in the early history of "globalization," the commercial and cultural exchanges explored in this volume provide students not only with a greater knowledge of the past, but also a deeper understanding of our world today.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Ecological Context for the Emergence of the Eurasian Silk Roads	p. 1
The Silk	p. 3
Three Interrelated Ecological Zones	p. 5
Inside the Urban-Agricultural Zone	p. 6
Inside the Pastoral Zone	p. 7
Inside the Taiga Forest Zone	p. 10
Exchanges Among the Zones	p. 11
The Significance of Horses	p. 12
The Origins of the Silk Roads: Silks and Horses on the Chinese Frontier	p. 19
Steppe vs. Sown on the Chinese Frontier	p. 21
The Xiongnu, the Yuezhi, and the Chinese	p. 21
The Yuezhi-Kushan in Tuhara (Formerly Bactria)	p. 31
The Political, Cultural, and Symbolic Significance of Horses, Chariots, and Silk	p. 35
For Further Reading	p. 39
An Overseas Silk Road: Roman Empire Traders in India, the Yuezhi-Kushan Kingdom, and the Development of Mahayana Buddhism	p. 43
The Roman Empire Traders	p. 45
The Arabian Peninsula and the Early Trade in Aromatic Wood Resins	p. 46
Gan Ying and a Chinese Attempt To Find the Sea Markets	p. 52
The Cosmopolitan Kushan Empire	p. 56
Mahayana Buddhism and Its Spread to China	p. 63
For Further Reading	p. 71
The Desert Routes: Second Century BCE To Fifth Century CE	p. 75
The Hexi Corridor and the Great Wall	p. 78
Oases Around the Takla Makan Desert	p. 82
Buddhist Establishments on the Desert Routes	p. 85
Desert Routes on the Roman Frontier	p. 90
Hellenistic Cities under the Seleucids	p. 92
The Silk Trade in Eurasia's Western Deserts	p. 93
For Further Reading	p. 101
Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Buddhism: Political Turmoil and a New Relationship Between Empire and Religion	p. 107
Upheavals	p. 108
Religions, Institutions, and Values	p. 112
Buddhist Networks	p. 112
Zoroastrian Networks	p. 119
Christian Networks	p. 125
The Byzantine Empire's Government Silk Monopoly	p. 129
The Tang Empire and Government Restrictions on Some Varieties of Silk	p. 135
For Further Reading	p. 143
Trade and Communication Under the Muslim System	p. 147
The Islamic Attitude Toward Trade	p. 152
Islamic Currency and the Tiraz System	p. 155
The Significance of Textiles	p. 157
Sericulture and Trade in the Islamic Domain	p. 164
The Spread of Paper-Making and Books	p. 170
Scholarly Pursuits	p. 175
For Further Reading	p. 179
Oceans and Seas, 900-1300	p. 187
The Origins of the Route Between China and Sri Lanka	p. 189
The Maritime Trade of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates	p. 192
The Fatimid Caliphate and the Ayyubid Dynasty in Egypt	p. 196
The Mediterranean Trade	p. 201
The Indian Subcontinent as the Center of Southern Ocean Trade and the Rise of Cola	p. 206
An Age of Chinese Seafaring	p. 209
For Further Reading	p. 218
The Mongol Conquests and a New Order of Trade	p. 223
The Mongols and Trade	p. 226
Cross-Cultural Communications and Trade Sponsored by Mongol Rulers	p. 231
Tent Cultures and Textiles	p. 239
Growth and Development of the Seafaring Trade	p. 246
For Further Reading	p. 252
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