Travelers Along The Silk Road
Jake Fetzer, Sam Bernhardt, Austin Huddle
Silkworm: Brian James
Introduction:
Come with us on a journey, as we explore the lives and works of various travelers along the silk road. This portion of the website is dedicated to exploring the narratives of travelers and the people they interacted with along their journeys. There are two big misconceptions surrounding the Silk Road that Team Earth seeks to clarify. The first misconception that we want to do away with, is that the Silk Road is a single marked path.
For many the image of a single path is tempting, and often the one that sits in our heads. However, despite how the name may sound the Silk Road is a series of vast and interconnected paths, shifting and changing throughout time. The travelers, traders, and civilizations exchanging ideas and goods along this space were not all traveling along the same route. In truth the Silk Road existed primarily of three routes, a Northern and Southern route both spanning the width of Eurasia, and a naval route on which we will not be focusing.
These routes were based largely on the topography and ecology of the time, and people moved were it was the easiest for them to do so. The Silk Road connected civilizations like never before, intellectual diffusion happened across thousands of miles of land, music food and goods spread from civilization to civilization. Culture moved as civilizations clashed and claimed land, and as travelers settled in new cities. Through the Silk Road we saw more than just an exchange of goods and culture however, we saw an exchange of religion as well.
Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and other religions were spread to new places both by priests and monks and by conquering armies as well. The Mongols acceptance of religious freedom and their tendency to adopt customs and religions also heavily influenced this massive spread of religion. This trading of religion and culture across a massive body of land allowed for the intersecting of different cultural mindsets in a massive setting. The idea of the importance the Silk Road had in the spread of culture and ideas is part of our projects main focus. In order to learn more about these ideas and read examples and excerpts from the travelers along the Silk Road please visit our story map below:
Link to Story Map: This Story Map follows many types of travelers along the silk road. From those who highly influenced western ideals like Marco Polo, to equally influential but lesser known travelers like John Di Plano Carpini. This portion of the website calls into question the understanding readers may have of the people along the Silk Road, and seeks to oppose the popular ideas that may be presented about them.
The second misconception that our project seeks to dismantle is the popular image surrounding the people who lived along the Silk Road. As we discuss in depth in the Story Map, we have to look carefully at the history that is presented to us. For those of us who have grown up in the United States, our understanding of the people who lived along the Silk Road is highly problematic. Our popular culture has heavily influenced our understanding of these people and for years has been twisting our perception. One of the people most commonly affected by this are nomadic civilizations, especially the Mongols.
Our films and television for one have contributed a huge amount of these negative images we associate with civilizations along the silk road. Disney’s famous 1998 film Mulan portrayed the Xiongnu as a group of bloodthirsty demon-like soldiers who wanted nothing more than to see the fall of Han China. While movies have been made about the Mongols, they often focus exclusively on the battles and show very little about the political and economical structure that the Mongols had in place.
These images whether we know it or not highly influence our perception of the Silk Road as we read and learn about, and it’s important that we are aware of this. While the Story Map talks a lot about the Mongols from both their perspective and from the perspective of travelers, we wanted to offer even more information. For additional information regarding the Mongol’s lifestyle during the height of the Silk Road, click on the additional information link below, or in the tab at the top of the page.
Additional information: This additional information section focuses on the Mongol use and importance of horses as well as other livestock. It also has further information delving deeper into the life of Marco Polo.
As you leave this page to explore other parts of the website we leave you with this idea:
Consider the way you picture the world now. Imagine in your mind the Silk Road today, the cities along it, the cultures that existed hundreds of years ago, some of which still thrive. While picturing this think about how their ideas differ from your own, and why that is. After reading about the way culture, ideas, music, food and religion spread so quickly across this land, think about what all of those things mean to you. Years ago, thousands of people set out from their homes and began journeys that they did not know if they would come back from. They had experiences that changed their worldview, and met people would have never met in their home city.
Although the routes along the Silk Road are not commonly used for the same purpose anymore, the diffusion of culture didn’t stop when the last great Khan died. We live in a vastly interconnected world, and topographical and ecological barriers no longer stop us from communicating with people in other countries. We have the ability to share our ideas and culture as well as be open to other peoples. We now have more than ever the ability to share so much about ourselves with one another, and help one another grow.
Not only is it important to learn about and understand the history of the Silk Road but it’s also important to learn from it. Take the opportunity and the risk to open up your world view and accept the ideas and emotions coming from those around you.
We live in an interconnected world and it’s time to take advantage of it.
What’s Next? Check out the other projects on The Digital Silk Road at Guilford College!