Bowls, Books and a Gravestone: A Gallery of Trade Routes

Gallery Introduction: Three Networks, One World

1The Silk Road was not one road but a web of overland routes linking China with Central Asia, Persia and the Mediterranean. Camel caravans moved between oasis towns such as Dunhuang and Samarkand, where springs and rivers made farming possible at the edge of mountains and deserts. Few traders made the whole journey; most goods changed hands many times. Silk, paper, horses, glass and silver moved along these routes. So did beliefs: Buddhism spread from India into China, and later Islam spread into Central Asia.

2The Indian Ocean routes ran by sea between East Africa, Arabia, India, Southeast Asia and China. Sailors depended on the monsoon winds, which blow from the southwest for part of the year and from the northeast for another part. Ships could carry heavy, bulky cargo that camels could not, such as ceramics, timber, cotton cloth and sacks of pepper. Muslim merchants settled in port towns, and along the East African coast Islam spread and the Swahili language took in many Arabic words.

3Across the Sahara, camel caravans crossed hundreds of miles of desert between North Africa and West Africa, a trip that took many weeks. Gold from West Africa went north, and salt from desert mines went south, along with copper, cloth, horses and books. North African merchants brought Islam and Arabic writing with them. By the 1300s the rulers of Mali were Muslims, and cities such as Timbuktu became centers of learning.

4The same routes that carried goods and ideas also carried disease. Many historians think the Black Death began spreading from Central Asia. By 1346 it had reached ports on the Black Sea, and over the next two years ships carried it to Constantinople, Egypt, Italy and much of Europe. Infected rats and fleas, as well as sick travelers, rode along with the cargo, and crowded port cities were often hit hardest.