There were many changes and continuities along the Silk Roads between 200 B.C.E. and 1450 C.E., such as the growth from a small trade web between pastoral and agricultural peoples into an extensive and sustained network of transcontinental exchange, the creation of large and powerful states that provided security for merchants and travelers, and the continuation of the same purpose, to facilitate the exchange of goods and cultures between diverse groups of people. The origins of the Silk Roads lay in both history and geography. Eurasia is often divided into two geographic zones, Inner Eurasia, consisting of a dry, harsh climate, and Outer Eurasia, consisting of a warm, wet climate suitable for agriculture. The Silk Roads began as a tangle …show more content…
As the vast network of trade routes across the Eurasian continent began to grow, the spread of cultures, goods, and diseases did as well. Many goods were passed down long chains of trade all across Eurasia possibly reaching from the Black Sea all the way to eastern China. Even more important than the economic impact of the Silk Roads was their role as a conduit of culture. In particular, Buddhism spread from India extensively throughout East and Central Asia owing much to the activities of merchants along the Silk Roads. Many merchants began to focus on spreading the ideas of Buddhism and building Buddhist monasteries and places of worship. They could often earn religious merit by doing such things. Along with the goods and cultures, diseases traveled the trade routes of the Silk Roads as well. Many of these diseases brought along devastating consequences. When contact among human communities occurred, people were exposed to unfamiliar diseases for which they had little immunity or few methods of coping. The most well-known of these diseases was the Black Death, which spread all the way from China to Europe during the reign of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. That era of intensified interaction between peoples further heightened the dissemination of the Black Death, which created an enormous toll of human deaths. Over the centuries, the Silk Roads served the same purpose of facilitating and creating trade between diverse groups of people over vast