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Conclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2018

Craig Benjamin
Affiliation:
Grand Valley State University, Michigan
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Summary

The Conclusion summarizes each of the preceding chapters, and reinforces the argument that, during a period of roughly three and a half centuries, between the late-second century BCE and the mid-third century CE, many of the human communities dwelling across the vast reaches of Eurasia found themselves linked together into an interconnected system of exchanges via a network of routes known today as the Silk Roads. This First Silk Roads Era led to the most significant transregional commercial and cultural interactions experienced by humans to that point in history. Silk was the most important material commodity that was moved along this network of land and maritime routes, and that fact justifies the continued use of the label coined in the nineteenth century by Ferdinand von Richthofen, the ‘Silk Roads’. But what ultimately makes this period of ancient history so important was the exchange of non-material ‘commodities’ that occurred in parallel with the commercial interactions. Because of the demand for silk and other luxury goods, a range of different crop species and agricultural technologies, religions and ideologies, languages, artistic styles and epidemic diseases, also spread across Eurasia, with profound consequences for subsequent human and environmental history.
Type
Chapter
Information
Empires of Ancient Eurasia
The First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE
, pp. 276 - 283
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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  • Conclusion
  • Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book: Empires of Ancient Eurasia
  • Online publication: 20 April 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316335567.011
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  • Conclusion
  • Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book: Empires of Ancient Eurasia
  • Online publication: 20 April 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316335567.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book: Empires of Ancient Eurasia
  • Online publication: 20 April 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316335567.011
Available formats
×