Importance of the Silk Road in the Age of Globalization - Essay Example

Importance of Silk Road in the age of Globalization Introduction According to the German geographer Barn Ferdinand von Richthofen, Silk Road is the greatest trade route of the world which runs through China, Central Asia and Byzantium and thus connects the two most important continents of the world with regards to history; Asia and Europe. The construction of Silk Road is spread over a long period of time from 206 BC to 220 AD and was carried out by the rulers of Han Dynasty in China mainly for establishing political relationships and trade with the Central Asian kingdoms of that time. Silk Road also allowed the Chinese leaders to exercise good control over distant provinces. Silk Road has been the main source of trade and contact between the two continents and the history of relationships between the various kingdoms of Europe and Asia can be traced through the history of trade by Silk Road (Boulnois, 2004). The Silk Road is a network of inter-connected roads and trade routes across Asia, Europe and some parts of Africa as well. The land routes which made up the original Silk road constructed by the Chinese was later incremented by various sea routes as well extending from the coasts of India, China and Southeast Asia to the Red Sea and various Northeastern coasts of Africa. The routes are given the name Silk Road because of the extensive trade of Silk carried out through these roads from China to all parts of the known world at that time. With the inclusion of various sea routes in the Silk Road, the trade across the land routes declined during the middle ages, however in the trade through the land routes has been revived in the modern times and most of the modern routes and roads are constructed almost exactly on the ancient routes; the Karakoram Highway between Pakistan and China in the Karakoram mountain range constructed in the 1980’s and 90’s is the highest paved road in the world and follows the exact route of the ancient Silk Road. Silk Road was an important agent of cultural and social transformation in ancient days and still serves as a mean of cultural, economic and social exchange in the modern age (Hedin, 2009). History Various ancient civilizations in India, China, Egypt, Persia, Rome and Byzantine flourished and developed themselves through the economic progress they received from the trade across the Silk Road. The world today as shaped up by the developments in the ancient civilizations and the historical movements in the various regions of the world owes much of the progress it has achieved to the Silk Road. Silk was not the only thing which was traded along the several land and sea routes of the Silk Road, a number of other items were also traded along this road. In addition to trade, Silk Road also served as a mean of cultural and technological exchange between the various regions of the world. Gun powder which was discovered by the Chinese alchemists travelled to the other regions of the world through the Silk Road. Bubonic plague which removed a number of cities from the map of the world also travelled and spread in the different regions of the world through the Silk Road. Though the construction of the Silk Road was initiated by the Chinese rulers, however other civilizations also benefitted a lot from the trade routes (Wood, 2004). The Indians traded spices, ivory and textiles, Chinese also traded satin, hump and musk in addition to silk. Marble, wine, gold, silver, glassware, jewels, pottery and a number of modern trade articles reached various regions and kingdoms of the world from the Roman Empire. The Arabian and Persians though did not participated directly in the ancient trade at that time, however a large number of routes passed Arabia and Persia and thus the people of these areas also benefitted from the trade as they bought goods from the traders of one side of the world and sold them to the other and in this way generated profit and also acted as the agents of cultural and economic transfer. Because of the immense lengths of the different routes of the Silk Road it was not possible for traders to travel across the complete road and thus the trade was carried out through the markets in Bactria and other Central Asian kingdoms (Foltz, 2000). Cultural and Religious Exchange The most precious and valuable exchange which took place along the Silk Road was not of the trade goods, the cultural, philosophical and religious exchange has more importance in the history of civilization. Silk Road was the prime agent of the spread of various religions in various regions of the world. Zoroastrianism from Persia, Buddhism from India, Judaism and Christianity from the Middle East and Islam from Arabia spread in all parts of the world through the Silk Road because the preachers and priests of all of these religions travelled along the routes of the Silk Road. The religion on which the Silk Road has the largest influence is Buddhism which today is more popular in the regions adjoining the sea routes of the Silk Road than it is in its place of Origin i.e. India. The advancements achieved by the Chinese in agriculture were transferred to Central Asia, India and Persia, whereas Chinese learnt the art of making arms and also war techniques from Persians and Indian civilizations (Whitfield, 2004). Maritime Trade During the time of Mongols, the trade through the Silk Road was stopped because the barbaric Mongols were not concerned about economic, cultural or social development and did not allow the trade caravans to pass through the routes controlled by them. That was the time when the various sea routes were developed which connected Asia with Europe and Africa and during this time remarkable success was achieved in navigation skills and ship making. The artistic exchange also took place and the remains of the Buddhist pieces of art which show an amalgamation of the Greek, Indian and Chinese arts is the most evident example of the cultural intermixing which was facilitated by the Silk Road (Whitfield, 2001). Silk Road in the Modern World Silk Road served as a robust link for trade and cultural exchange for centuries in the ancient world; however the question is about the importance of Silk Road in the current scenario of globalization and in the age of communication. The undoubtedly brought about the first surge of globalization in this world by bringing various civilizations together and thus the intermixing of ideas, cultures, knowledge and beliefs was made possible. The thing which reduced the importance of Silk Road with regards to trade and cultural exchange was the development of maritime trade in the world because in the middle ages trade through seas was much cheaper and quicker than the trade through land. But Silk Road still has a lot of importance in the globalized world with regards to trade. The current Oil trade which is being carried out between the Middle East and the rest of the world also follows many of the original routes of the Silk Road. The Karakoram highway which connects China and Pakistan is perhaps one of the most important examples of the trade being carried out through Silk Road in the modern world and the trade being carried out through this route amounts to a total of $9 billion (Singh, Brown, Clammer, Cocks & Mock, 2008). Similarly Khyber Pass in the Northwest of Pakistan on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan was also the part of the Silk Road and is currently the largest supply route of the international forces in Afghanistan. In 2011 a number of leaders and business men from 9 different countries including China and India met in the Chinese city of Kunming to discuss the prospects of trade across the abandoned routes of the Silk Road and declared the trade through the Silk Road a win-win situation for all (Honge, 2011). The national highway networks in Central Asian states and in South Asia have been developed as extensions of the original routes of the Silk Road. A large network of Motorways in Pakistan which will connect China and Afghanistan to the Pakistani port of Gawader will start a new era of trade between the West and the landlocked states of Central Asia. Most of these road networks are following the Silk Road routes. These efforts are bringing Silk Road out of a long period of hibernation because the traders have found out new possibilities in trade through the land in the form of the routes of the Silk Road. A large portion of the Silk Road passes through the Taklimakan areas in China which have a desert-like topography and thus the construction of roads in these areas was very difficult in the past. But with the advancements of soil stability techniques construction of roads on sands have been made possible and the discovery of large oil reserves under the desert have contributed remarkably to the prospects of construction of roads on the ancient Silk Road routes which pass through the desert. Urumchi the capital city of the Chinese province of Xinjiang is one of the most rapidly industrialized cities of China and lies along the Silk Road. The low volumes of trade between China and the Central Asian states are continuously improving which is improving the social market economy of the southwestern and western states of China which were previously less prosperous and less developed than the provinces in the eastern parts of China which had ports for the promotion of trade. Railways are also being developed along the routes of the ancient Silk Road and the connection of the Lanzhou-Urumchi railway track to Kazakhstan will ultimately connect the whole of China with Europe as the Soviet railway system in the Central Asian Republics runs as far in the West as Rotterdam. The trade and development along the Silk Road is being revived because of the great economic development achieved by China and thus the Chinese industrialists and businessmen want to explore more and more routes for exporting their goods to the rest of the world. The development of Silk Road in the modern era will influence China the most; however this influence will also affect the economy and the political scene of the whole world because of the emergence of China as one of the strongest economies of the world. The importance being given to Silk Road today clearly answers the question put forward in the beginning of the essay. Silk Road is still one of the most important trade routes of the world. In the current age of globalization the developers and economic planners are looking for more and more ways to bring the remote regions of the world closer, thus the revival of Silk Road as a trade route is an imperative and impending part of the development of trade and commerce in the world. Conclusion Silk Road was undoubtedly the most important means of trade and cultural exchange in the ancient world and various civilizations flourished and developed because of the Silk Road. In the current scenario, Silk Road does not have a role to play in the cultural, religious and ideological exchange being taking place in the world; however it sparked of Globalism of the first time in the world. The increasing importance of China as an economic giant has resulted in the revival of the trading routes of the Silk Road. The discovery of Oil reserves in the desert provinces of China, the trade through the Karakoram highway and the supply route for the international forces in Afghanistan has only added to the importance of Silk Road in the modern world. Thus it can easily be concluded that Silk Road still has a role to play in the age of globalization. References Boulnois, L. (2004). Silk road: monks, warriors & merchants on the Silk Road. Odyssey. Foltz, R. (2000). Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century. Palgrave MacMillan. Hedin, S. (2009). The Silk Road: Ten Thousand Miles Through Central Asia. I. B. Tauris. Honge, M. (2011, June 6). Ancient Silk Road, modern economic corridor. In XinhuaNet. Retrieved March 21, 2012, from Xinhua News Agency website: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-06/06/c_13913593.htm Singh, S., Brown, L., Clammer, P., Cocks, R., & Mock, J. (2008). Pakistan and the Karakoram Highway. Lonely Planet. Whitfield, S. (2001). Life Along the Silk Road. University of California Press. Whitfield, S. (2004). The Silk Road: trade, travel, war and faith. Serindia Press. Wood, F. (2004). The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia. University of California Press. Read More