The Silk Road established connections between China and Western Europe from 200 BCE to 1450 CE, facilitating trade of goods, technologies, cultures, and diseases across empires. While powerful empires like Han China and Western Rome experienced prosperity through Silk Road trade, their eventual declines in the 5th and 6th centuries disrupted commerce. However, new powers like the Eastern Roman Empire, Islamic Caliphate, and Chinese dynasties restored trade routes. Over the centuries, cultural exchanges along the Silk Road also spread ideas and innovations that impacted navigation, mathematics, and exploration. Despite many empires and political changes, the Silk Road continued functioning as a conduit for exchange across Eurasia for over 1600 years.

1. Jericho Sadorra
Period 4
SILK ROAD CCOT
From 200 BCE to 1450 CE, the Silk Road established a global village that spanned from
China in the east, to the European empires of the west. While the Silk Road remained a
continuous route for trading goods, technology, culture, and disease were also present in the
exchange. Despite this flow, civilizations crumbled and some were created, and the people
involved in the trading became more diverse.
The Silk Road, from 200 BCE, linked the Roman west to the Chinese east. It brought
several sources of wealth and power which allowed these empires to prosper. Han China thrived
on selling their commodities to westerners, such as silk, paper and gunpowder, which allotted
them hefty amounts of fiscal gain. Due to the connection the Silk Road made between wealthy
empires, it instilled times of comfortable living and peace, known in these empires as Pax
Romana, or the Golden Age in China.
Although these empires experienced times of extreme prosperity, time will take its toll.
The fall of Western Rome in 476 CE and the collapse of the Han Dynasty after four centuries of
rule deteriorated the use of the Silk Road. Without an empire’s protection, the Road would be
under constant pillaging and crime, and with the fall of two huge empires, crime was abundant.
After the impactful falls of these empires, new ones took their place early on, and some centuries
later: Eastern Rome survived the attacks of nomads and had its capital Constantinople protected,
the Islamic Empire’s establishment around 500 AD, and new Chinese dynasties, like the Tang
and Song, taking power.
Despite new powers emerging, exchange still took place. Although goods traded were a
huge part of the Silk Road, an underlying item was being passed around: culture. The Chinese
practice of coining their own money proved to be effective in building an empire’s wealth, so the
Muslims adopted it. With adoption, the Mongols­ who interrupted the flow of Chinese dynasties,
adopted several Muslim and Western technologies, such as the concept of zero, which improved
their mathematics, and ultimately improving the Chinese skills for exploration. The Chinese
improved the compass and astrolabe, and in conjunction with Chinese Junk Ships, set off a path
for China’s role in the Age of Exploration.
While the Silk Road remained a source of prosperity for empires between 200 BCE and
1450 CE with its exchange of knowledge, goods, and culture, the landscape around it changed.
With the constant rising and falling of empires, it’s remarkable that the Road survived in all of its
longevity.