Chinese Explorer Zhang Qian on a Raft

Cross-Link:  AP World History 2.3 for more on the Silk Road, Sea Routes of the Silk Road and the Tea Horse Road 

Who Was Zhang Qian?

His second century BCE travels throughout Central Asia opened trade networks that formed the early Silk Road.

Zhang Qian was a military diplomat for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who traveled extensively through Asia for 10 years, gaining knowledge of different cultures, agricultural practices and goods for trade. 

His travels were intended to form alliances with nomadic groups

Image above shows Zhang Qian, around 130 BCE, leaving for his expedition to Central Asia.

• Mural is from the Mogao Caves, 8th century CE

Brief Overview of this early Chinese explorer

Zhang Qian Video Project

1st & 2nd Journeys. Explorers Before Columbus blog

The map to the right shows where Qian traveled, in blue, while the grey are places that he heard about on his travels.

Qian traveled westward enough to encounter people who were influenced by Greek culture due to Alexander the Great. In Qian’s records he notes a city Dayaun, which was a city established by Alexander, named Alexandria Eschate.

Zhang Qian's travels and notes were recorded soon after his death in the Records of the Grand Historian a comprehensive history of China from the Yellow Emperor until the Han Empire.

Zhang Qian in Chinese

For more, go to Zhang Qian and the Silk Road from the blog Explorers and Exploration Before Columbus.

The Silk Road

The historical significance of various trade routes are often noted by the exchange of tangible resources from relatively isolated regions and inherently lead to the transmission of cultures from one region to another. 

Silk Routes

The Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Routes were actually not just one single pathway, but a branching of several land and water passages of varying topography coming from the west through Central Asia.

• Many precious commodities were traded throughout the route, from gold and ivory to animals and plants.

• Additionally, this route didn't just exist for the sole purpose of trading goods as valuable as silk, but also acted as a persuasive route to share religion--the silk route was instrumental in proliferating Buddhism from India to China.

• When the Mongols (led by Genghis Khan) began to siege territorial power through the enhanced communication that the route enabled, a significant interaction of cultural foundations of different regions took place.

• The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous empire in world history.

• Compounding with the reality that Mongols were relatively tolerant of various religions, many nationalities and creeds were able to live in close proximity and enhance the ability to trade within the empire.

See Quanzhou: A Crucial Port along the Eastern Maritime Silk Roads from UNESCO

As a means to examine the importance of culture within these regions, the non-profit education site, The Silk Road Project supplies videos, music, and maps to help provide multicultural resources for educators.

Crash Course video about the Silk Road.

For teaching material, see the educator section of the International Dunhuang Project: The Silk Road Online**.

From the Watson Institute, see a worksheet of Zhang Qian and the Silk Road

Explore maps, timelines, music, and historic cultural sites and try your hand at trading on the Silk Road here

This link offers information about the Silk Road from The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

From Silk to Oil: Cross-Cultural Connection Along the Silk Roads offers curriculum materials for teachers and students.

Secrets of the Silk Road from the Penn Museum presents a short overview of gallery images.

 
This site explains the role of women in the Silk Road.

In 1453 CE, the Ottoman Turks sacked the city of Constantinople, bringing an end to the Byzantine Empire. With the newly positioned Ottomans interfering with the trade routes along the Silk Road, European leaders had to find new ways to trade for Asian commodities. The fall of Constantinople, therefore, was the fall of the Silk Road.