Silk Road Research Paper

The Silk Road

1. Introduction

The Silk Road ran from East to West, from Asia to Europe. From China’s ancient capital Xi’an to the shores of the Mediterranean. The whole route extends over 7’000 kilometers and is the longest trade route in history. For more than two millennia merchants, pilgrims, fortune seekers and saviors traveled on this road. Traders brought luxury in the form of silk and other exotic treasures such as spices, glass and porcelain to the west. Over the Silk Road the world religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism originated in India penetrated to the east.

The blooming oasis cities along the Silk Road turned into international transfer points of goods and cultures. Adventurers succumbed the fascination of this

There are also silkworms such as that of the Japanese oak silkworm, which feed on oak leaves. In order to obtain high quality silk, silk worms must be grown under special conditions. When the caterpillars pupate they produce the silk in special glands in their mouth and put it around themselves in large loops in up to 300’000 turns. Hot water or steam is used to kill the caterpillar before hatching to prevent the cocoons from breaking. Each cocoon contains a continuous, very long and fine filament. Three to eight cocoons or filaments are wound or coiled together (so-called filament silk), sticking together due to the silk glue and form a so-called raw silk, a silk thread. This thread can be processed to smooth dry surfaces. To obtain 250 g of silk thread, 3000 cocoons are required. That corresponds to about 1 kg of cocoons. In order to free the silk from the silk glue (sericin), which is also the carrier of yellow and other stains, it is boiled in soapy water and appears pure white. This process is called degumming. The silk threads are thinner by boiling, smoother and shinier. Subsequently, the silk is often still further chemically refined. By removing the silk glue the thread is lighter, which is partly due to the addition of metal salts (mostly tin) balanced. By sulfur dioxide, the silk is bleached. After this process, you can color the silk as desired and

Now the sea lanes were very crucial. As in the days of the Roman Empire, the West still had a large demand for goods from the Far East such as silk, tea and porcelain. In opposition, China took back a little from the West. The Rome of the late 18th century was called London, the center of the British Empire. Unlike the Romans, however, China was in the range of British soldiers and weapons. The Royal Navy ruled the seas. For London, the Middle Kingdom moved into the crosshairs of imperialist interests. First they tried by peaceful means, the stubborn China to free itself from its self-imposed frugality. The Empire was moved up close with the conquest of India to