1. China was the original producer and exporter of silk beginning in the 2nd century BC and maintained a monopoly for centuries. 2. By the 4th-5th centuries AD, other regions like Persia, Byzantium, and India had established their own silk industries after acquiring silk worms and knowledge of sericulture from China. 3. The Silk Road facilitated extensive trade of silk and other goods between China, Central Asia, the Mediterranean region, and India, fueling economic and cultural exchange across the civilizations.

1. SILK TRADE

2. 1. Silk was the China’s gift to the world.
2. China started to export silk as early as the
second century B.C. and remained the
Major silk producer for centuries.
3. By the 4th – 5th centuries A.D., Persia,
Byzantium and India had their own silk
industries.
4. In China simple tabby silk were produced
in peasant household.

3. 5. Used for paying taxes to government.
6. Govt. tried to maintain monopoly over
polychrome patterned silk, certain
weaving designs and embroidered cloths
for royal family and officials.
7. Han rulers also used silk for diplomatic
purpose from 2nd century BC onwards.

4. 8. In exchange for the silk products, China
received horses, furs, precious stones,
woolen and cotton textiles and other
products in the form of gifts and tribute and
purchased commodities from central Asia
and further west
9.Its mysterious origin added more glamour
to the beautiful textile.

5. 10. Conflict with Persia hindered the flow of
silk via overland routes.
11. Then silk was transported via central Asia
to Barbaricon, a port on the Mouth of
Indus and to Barygaza port on the gulf of
cambay.
12. This west world flow of silk certainly
stimulated the flow of commodities from
the Mediterranean region to East Asia.

6. 13. Roman gold and silver coins, silver wares,
coral, wine, sweet clover, perfume, glass,
clothing, dates, frankincense, slaves etc.
reached western ports.
14. Central Asian people were the earliest
agents who both transported silk products
and transferred the technology of silk
weaving and sericulture.

7. 15. Silk also function as a medium of
exchange in central Asia and China.
16. The silk industry, from sericulture to
weaving, was well established in India
during the Gupta era.
17. The wealth of the well known Mandasor
silk weaving guild testifies to the
prosperity of the trade.
18. Hsuan-Isanq also listed silk as one of the
most popular materials for clothing.

8. 19. Persia also developed its own silk industry
by fifth century A.D.
20. Persian polychrome silk fabrics especially
those woven with golden thread, were
famous in both east and west.
21. Silk weaving with Chinese yarn started in
the Syrian cities of Antioch, Berytos, Tyre
and Gaza.

9. 22. Later Greece and Egypt, as part of the
Byzantine empire, also acquired the silk
industry.
23. Royal courts of china and Byzantium
encouraged costume parades of silk
fabrics which contained a variety of
colours and patterns with golden and
silver decorations

10. 24. In Asia Buddhist pilgrimages continued to
boost silk transactions and silk became the
part of Buddhist and Brahmanical rituals
and donation.
25. In Europe, churches accumulated a host of
silk samples, many of which dating from
the 7th – 12th centuries are available even
today.
26. In the tent culture of Arabs, textiles
constituted their major items of furniture
and decorations.

11. 27. The caliphate inherited the silk industries
along with the other rich material cultures
of the conquered land.
28. The import of silk fabric from different
countries introduced some change in
Chinese silk weaving, both in technology
and design.
29. Religious movements, inevitably invited
researchers of silk trade to trace the routes
of this commodity in the sphere of
religious

12. 30. Exchange of silk and religion in this period
can be roughly divided into three major
circles.
31. The first was China and India, second was
Byzantine and Western Europe and third,
was Islamic world.
32. These three circles happen to coincide with
the three religious domains- Buddhist,
Christian and Islam.

13. 33. Other religions – Nestorians,
Zoroastrians, Manichaeans, Jews were
also travelled between the three domain
circles and acted as intermedia of cultural
influences and carriers of silk.
34. With the spread of Buddhism from India
to central Asia and eventually to China,
the Indian art and culture also Travelled
along the Silk Road to different countries.
35. Chinese visited in India in search of
original scriptures holy sites.

14. 36. They themselves translated many Sanskrit
texts and in this way an extensive
Buddhist vocabulary in Chinese was
created.
37. Gandhar art was influenced by Indo-Greek
and Persian traditions.
38. Islam with the work of Muslim traders,
preachers rulers spread along the route and
now most of the countries are Islamic.