Today, silk is an affordable luxury. In ancient Rome, it was extraordinary. Even a small piece of the fabric was a powerful status symbol. The Romans first learned of silk during the second century BCE. Soft, shimmering, and unlike any fabric they had ever seen, silk quickly became one of a wealthy Roman’s most prized possessions.
The Chinese Secret
The silk that Romans proudly showed off came from China, and the Chinese carefully guarded the secret of its production. Today we know that silk begins as a sticky thread spun by silkworms into their cocoons.
Silkworms are not worms but tiny caterpillars of silk moths. After hatching, they feed on mulberry leaves until they are ready to spin cocoons. Boiling the cocoons allows the shimmering threads to be unwound and woven into silk.
The Trade Routes
Silk traveled west to Rome and other parts of Europe on what historians would later call the Silk Road. The Silk Road was not an actual road but a 4,000-mile network of trade routes connecting China to Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Very few people traveled the entire length of the Silk Road. Instead, trade resembled a chain, where each merchant acted as a link, passing goods to the next.
China and the West had heard stories of one another, but they remained worlds apart. Between them lay deserts, towering mountain ranges, and thousands of miles of unfamiliar territory. In the following centuries, merchants gradually linked these distant civilizations through a network of trade routes. Goods passed from one trader to another until they reached the Roman Empire in the West and the equally extraordinary Han Dynasty in China.
A Dangerous Journey
Travel was hazardous along the Silk Road. Merchants crossed scorching deserts and vast, sparsely populated grasslands called the steppe. Life on these harsh lands was difficult, and some nomadic raiders saw passing caravans loaded with valuable goods as easy targets.
The Mongols
The routes became much safer in the thirteenth century when Genghis Khan and the Mongols united much of Central Asia under one empire. Merchants paid tolls to travel the Silk Road, and in return the Mongols protected caravans and punished bandits. With safety and predictability, trade flourished.
Marco Polo
In 1271, Marco Polo traveled from his home in Italy to China along the Silk Road. Years later, he dictated a book describing his adventures. His stories of China were so astonishing that many Europeans refused to believe they were true.
Buddhism Travels East
Along with goods, ideas also traveled the Silk Road. Buddhist missionaries from India introduced Buddhism to China during the Han Dynasty. Over the centuries, Buddhism gradually declined in India but became one of China’s most influential religions.
The Black Death
Devastating illness also traveled this trade route. The Black Death took the lives of nearly half of the people of Europe between 1348 and 1350. Scientists believe the bacteria that caused the plague spread among rats in Central Asia. At the western edge of the Silk Road, goods were loaded into ships on the Black Sea. The vessels transported goods to cities throughout Europe. In addition to sailors, the ships were home to rats and fleas. Fleas carrying the plague left dying rats and bit sailors aboard the ships. By the time the ships reached Europe, the plague had already claimed some of the crew. Sick sailors staggered ashore while infected rats and fleas escaped into crowded port cities, leading to the deadliest epidemic in European history.
The End of An Era
As the Mongol Empire disintegrated, its warriors no longer patrolled the trade routes. Travel became more dangerous, and merchants sought safer ways to reach Asia. By the fifteenth century, Portuguese sailors had found a sea route around Africa. Shipping goods by sea was faster, cheaper, and safer than traveling overland, bringing the Silk Road era to an end.
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Mr. Donn has an excellent website that includes a section on Chinese History.