Continuety+and+Change+Essay


 * Outline **

Thesis: In the period 200 B.C.E. to 1450C.E. the Silk Road was a trading network where different goods were being exchanged but the nation involved in the process were different, while interactions were often among Chinese and other nations in the west such as Europe resulting in the spread of religions, and cultural ideas that continually evolved.
 * The silk road pattern of interactions in the periods 200 B.C.E to 1450 C.E**

As trade became increasingly important goods such as furniture, silk, paper and leather goods food and even rice, merchants from every part of the world sponsor a circulation such as that of the Chinese society the Han dynasty for example who inspired the development of the Silk Trade as a powerful link to other nations. One instance is China’s trading waves with the Roman empire because it was the most dominant force in 300 B.C.E. They traded for what they need such as silk for gold or rice for other significant goods. After the fall of Rome, the Byzantine empire grew and with the growth of its Constantinople significant trade between the byzantine and China occurred but on a lesser magnitude.

The interaction pattern shifted in 600 A.D where a new group rose the Abbasyds and Umayyads who were powerful muslim empire united much of Arabia and north Africa. The contact because of trade Islam spread as well, this also related to the fifth pillar of Islam that was a continued reason for people interacted and exchange ideas on art and culture as they travel for religious ferver. As Islam was spreading into other parts of the world it got in conflict with Buddhist missionaries in India, which was very close to the chinese coutnterpart where trade was happenning along the Silk road. Continuities of spread of new ideas affected many societies in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Muslim traders and missionaries continued to be active.

The Mongols introduced a new set of contacts combining almost all the world that its subsequent Mongol decline returned attention to trade in the Indian Ocean. They powerful enough to fascilitate units of trade and reopen the silk road as well as adding new religious and cultural ideas such as Buddhism and new technological warfare. For example the bow and errows, and naval system. Another example is how they served to connect Islamic inventions into that of China such as printing and navigational innovations, that helped each civilization learn new ways to produce more efficient technologial inventions.