The origins of silk
The invention of silk is thought to date back to the reign of Emperor Huangdi (between 2700 and 2575 B.C.). The discovery of a cocoon by Chinese archaeologists in a Neolithic burial site in Shanxi province in 1926 initially confirmed this hypothesis. But thirty years later, a new discovery, this time in Zhejiang, unearthed silk fabrics from a tomb dating back to 5000 BC. Today, these pieces are still the oldest known silks in the world. But since legends are more tenacious than archaeological discoveries, let's return to the myth of the Chinese invention of silk.
Once upon a time, the Emperor Huangdi's wife was named Leizu. She was said to have discovered the secret of silk manufacture. While strolling under a mulberry tree with a cup of hot tea in hand, a cocoon accidentally fell into her cup. It began to unwind. Seduced by the fineness of the thread, the empress decided to start breeding these caterpillars to weave herself garments of unrivalled quality.
Silk in Rome
The Romans discovered silk on the banners of their Parthian enemies at the battle of Carrhes. Military confrontation was soon followed by trade: while the Romans were frightened by the precious fabric during battle, they soon became avid consumers. Less than half a century after Crassus' defeat, silk was so widespread in Rome that the Senate had to forbid men to wear this "dishonorable" and too transparent fabric. Let's re-read the description written by Seneca: " Once she has put them on, a woman will swear, without anyone being able to believe her, that she is not naked; here is what, with immense expense, is brought in from obscure countries...". To reach Rome, silk had to cross thousands of kilometers of danger: after leaving the Chinese empire, it had to cross the steppes and deserts where nomadic raids were rampant, then cross Persia and the Mediterranean. By the time it reached Rome, the product had become so valuable that capital flight was out of control!
The development of the Silk Road
By the end of the 1st century, the Silk Road had linked Xi'An to Antioch before crossing the Mediterranean. Silk was accompanied by many other luxury goods: spices, tea, cinnamon, animals, precious metals... The caravans, which grew in size, were made up of several dozen or even hundreds of mounts, making it necessary to create stages capable not only of accommodating them, but also of protecting and supplying them. From this time onwards, thanks to its geographical position with China on one side and Persia on the other, Central Asia occupied a major position. In the 2nd century, the Kushan Empire dominated not only Sogdiana, but also the Ferghana Valley and Kashmir, ensuring the safety of caravanners along a very long stretch of the Silk Road.
A new player: Islam
At a time when a new religion, Islam, was emerging on the Arabian Peninsula, three main players controlled the Silk Road. The Tang Dynasty Chinese, the Sassanid Persians and the Eastern Roman Empire. After the death of Mohammed in 632, Islam swept through these lands. Persia and Transoxania were conquered by the Umayyad dynasty, who chose Damascus as their capital. Expansion was rapid. With the advent of the Abbasids, and the choice of Baghdad as the new capital, the Caliphate covered an empire far more extensive than that of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar. Soon, these two giants - the Abbasid Arabs and the Tang Chinese - clashed for control of the Silk Road and the wealth that passed through it. Following numerous clashes, the Battle of Talas (753), in present-day Kyrgyzstan, established the borders of the two empires: to the Abbasids, Central Asia and the precious Transoxiana; to the Chinese, the Tarim Basin and the eastern part of the Silk Road. Although victory went to the Arabs, their losses made it impossible for them to advance further east.
The Golden Age
The Chinese and Arabs, aware of the riches this extraordinary trade route could bring them, secured the routes and multiplied its branches towards regions they did not control: Mongolia, India or Constantinople. Already well established in China, the Route followed earlier routes via Transoxiana, then Persia and Syria, until it reached the royal road in Turkey. By the end of the 9th century, nomadic movements on the borders of the Chinese empire were becoming a threat. After three centuries of prosperity under the Tang dynasty (618-907), and the stability of the gigantic Abbasid empire until the Mongol conquest, Uyghurs driven out by Kirghiz tribes swept across the Xin Jiang. From nomads, they became sedentary, settling around the oases of Turfan and Khotan, and controlling Kashgar. In Mongolia, the rise to power of Genghis Khan wiped the slate clean of past developments. Establishing the pax mongolica, a new golden era began.
The Mongolian Pax
In 1218, after his conquest of China, Genghis Khan turned his attention to the Kara-Khitai empire, which then ruled Eastern Turkestan, and defeated the Khorezm to take over the whole of Central Asia. By the time of his death in 1227, his empire covered 26 million km2 and was home to over 100 million people. The Mongols were masters of China, India, Central Asia, Siberia, Russia as far as Kiev and Persia as far as Syria! For the first time in its history, the entire Silk Road was controlled by a single empire. The pax mongolica not only revived trade, but also enabled explorers, missionaries and ambassadors to travel safely through the Mongol empire.
In 1272, two Venetian merchants, Nicolo and Maffeo Polo, accompanied by their son and nephew Marco Polo, set off for China, the "land of the Sères". For Nicolo and Maffeo, this was their second trip to the Orient, the first having taken them to the Mongol Khan and Bukhara, where they had spent three years. This second journey was to have been made by ship, but the Chinese wars in the South Seas forced them to change their itinerary. To get to China, they crossed Central Asia via Balkh, the Pamir and Kashgar. The story of this 25-year journey, published under the title Le Devisement du monde, is both a tale full of fantastic characters and an adventure novel.
Forgetting
The discovery of America in 1492 had two major consequences. On the one hand, the immense gold reserves discovered on the new continent prompted Western nations to turn their attention away from the East and exploit its riches across the Atlantic. On the other hand, advances in navigation gradually replaced overland routes with major sea routes, just as Christopher Columbus had wished. The compass, invented in China and brought to Europe via the Silk Road, combined with advances in shipbuilding techniques, gave the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French and British unrivalled supremacy over trade with the Indies and, more broadly, over world trade.
From then on, the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn saw more silk shipments pass through than ever before via Samarkand or Kashgar. The Silk Road exploded into a myriad of smaller branches serving European trading ports and trading posts on the Indian coast and along the Persian Gulf.
The rise of the European-controlled sea routes was matched by the rapid decline of the overland Silk Road.
Traces of the Silk Road in Kyrgyzstan
If there's one country in the world that reflects the Silk Road more than any other, having preserved the most striking and impressive vestiges, it's Uzbekistan. At the geographical heart of Central Asia, and midway along the caravan routes between Xi'an and Antioch, this country, two-thirds of which is covered by the Kyzyl Kum desert, includes the borders of ancient Transoxania, where trade was dominated from the very beginning by the Sogdians, who controlled the routes from Punjikent, in present-day Tajikistan, or Tashkent, to Bukhara. Their hold on trade was such that the official language of the caravaneers on the Silk Road was necessarily Sogdian, as evidenced by the trade registers and contracts found on archaeological sites.
In the heart of the deserts, trade took place both in the forts, originally built to protect against nomadic raids, and in the great oasis cities of Bukhara and Samarkand. Both were major commercial crossroads and centers of cultural influence, the former in the Samanid era, the latter in the Timurid period, when it became the capital of one of history's greatest empires. While most caravans left Uzbekistan at Bukhara to enter the territory of present-day Turkmenistan on their way to Iranian Khorassan, some continued on to Khiva, in north-western Uzbekistan, controlled by the Khorezm Shahs, who traded extensively with the nomadic tribes of present-day Kazakhstan and Russia.
These three cities have preserved an incredible architectural heritage, linked to different eras in their history: gigantic bazaars, caravanserais and the domes of covered markets, as in Bukhara. In the Ferghana Valley, you can meet craftsmen who have preserved their traditional skills, particularly in silk-working at Marguilan.
