Asian Geographic – Special Edition 2017-2018

Religions spread along the Silk Roads. The

birthplaces of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam,

Manicheism and Zoroastrianism, amongst other faiths,

were in urban centres where traders would congregate.

Missionaries and evangelists, itinerant preachers,

and wandering ascetics set out along the trading

routes, travelling in convoys with the merchants. In

remote locations, Buddhist monasteries doubled as

guesthouses, Arab traders spread Islam faster and

further than the Arab Conquests, and Zoroastrian and

Manichean beliefs survived in Silk Road outposts long

after they had died out elsewhere.

Why did it come to an end?

The Silk Road was at its strongest when it was

dominated by a few powerful dynasties. Political

stability across wide areas enabled commerce to thrive,

and overland travel was easier, safer, and more lucrative

than in times of upheaval. When dynasties collapsed,

empires fragmented and civil wars began. In relatively

quick succession, the Yuan Dynasty fell, the Ottomans

were defeated by the Timurids, and the Timurids

themselves then fell. The Ming, China’s new rulers,

were fearful of the Uighurs and other Turkic tribes. This

souring of relations made trade increasingly difficult.

Riding camels through the

dunes in the Gobi Desert

1276–91

Marco Polo travels from

Venice to the court of

Kublai Khan, publishing

his adventures in Il

Milione

1325–54

Arab traveller Ibn

Battuta journeys from

North Africa to South

Asia and China

1370

Timur makes

Samarkand the

capital of the Timurid

Empire

1453

Ottomans defeat the

Byzantine Empire

by conquering

Constantinople

1492

Christopher Columbus

discovers America

whilst trying to find a

short maritime route

to Japan

→silk road timeline