Traders by land - THE SILK AND SPICE ROUTES
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All the silk route was by land. It cut from China across central Asia to the Caspian and Black Seas, ending at Byzantium (now Intanbul). But it was expensive and dangerous. So much of the silk commerce travelled by the middle route. It passed through the Persian Gulf and Euphrates Valley and ended either on the Black Sea coast or in Syrian cities such as Damascus.
Over land trade along the silk route was interrupted by war and strife, even during times of peace. It was not an easy highway to riches. Blazing heat and blinding sandstorms and freezing cold were some of the hazards faced by the travellers, and there was a constant threat of attack from bandits. Goods were never transported by a single caravan or trader from one end of the silk route to the other. Different people conducted the trade along different sections of the route.
The establishment of overland trade routes was dependent on peoples ability to trave long distances and carry a resonable amount of goods with them. It was the animals sucs horses and camels that opened up the opertunities for people to travel longer distances and over a longer period of time. Until the railways of the nineteenth century this was only way for large scale overland trade to take place.
Different animals are better suited to different terrains so the type of transport varied along the silk route. Merchant used either ox or horse drawn carts, camels, pack asses or pack horses depending on the land being crossed. The merchant might ride ride on a horse or donkey, but he would usually walk beside the animal which was carrying the goods.
Goods rarely travelled from one end of the journey to the other with the same traders, and never with the same animals. Goods would change hand a number of times along the way.
The domestication of the Bactarian and Arabian camel were domesticated at about the same time, in the Second Millenium BCE at with the nomads of Central Asia. Both types of camels have an amazing ability to go without water for days , which is vital for desert travel. they need little food and can carry loads much heavier then a horse.
But the horse has still been a important means of transport and was the animal used the most along the Silk Route.
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