Trade, travel, disease, ideas, the rise and fall of empires, and untold adventures. The Silk Road was a monumental accelerator of human connectivity that set the world stage for modern globalization.
Fascinating. It hadn't occurred to me include the sea routes, but of course they were part of the network. We could add the Korean monk Hyecho to the list of great Silk Routes travellers. He made it as far as Persia on his outbound journey, partly by sea via Sumatra, and then returned to his native peninsula overland through the Central Asian routes. Sadly, only fragments of his journal survive, as you probably know. His journey was essentially a Buddhist pilgrimage, of course.
Actually, I wasn't aware of Hyecho. Very interesting. I'd love to do a much deeper dive into the research on the Silk Road some time. I feel like a more comprehensive data base or book on travelers of the Silk Road is lacking or I'm just not aware of them. I found the Silk Road Foundation link in the post to be a good starting point though but doesn't appear to have been active for quite some time. Thanks for engaging and sharing this!
You're welcome. There's clearly an ocean of material, cumulatively speaking. I don't know much about the Silk Routes -- not a great topic of discussion at Versailles -- and I only know of Hyecho because I used to live in Seoul, where I was acquainted with someone who had a deep interest in Korean Buddhist history and pilrimages.
Do camels and horses cover 25 miles per day as opposed to traveling at a speed of 25 miles per hour?
Trade helped grow many seaports into the greatest cities of the world. However, the Silk Road didn't do the same for the inland cities along the route.
I did read that camels can apparently cover up to 40 miles in a day which is pretty incredible in the context of carrying a few hundred pounds of cargo while trekking through the desert. With just a rider they can travel some 80-120 miles which seems even more incredible. Horses are similar. The short days of the Pony Express circa 1860 showed horses covering comparable distances.
Fascinating. It hadn't occurred to me include the sea routes, but of course they were part of the network. We could add the Korean monk Hyecho to the list of great Silk Routes travellers. He made it as far as Persia on his outbound journey, partly by sea via Sumatra, and then returned to his native peninsula overland through the Central Asian routes. Sadly, only fragments of his journal survive, as you probably know. His journey was essentially a Buddhist pilgrimage, of course.
Actually, I wasn't aware of Hyecho. Very interesting. I'd love to do a much deeper dive into the research on the Silk Road some time. I feel like a more comprehensive data base or book on travelers of the Silk Road is lacking or I'm just not aware of them. I found the Silk Road Foundation link in the post to be a good starting point though but doesn't appear to have been active for quite some time. Thanks for engaging and sharing this!
You're welcome. There's clearly an ocean of material, cumulatively speaking. I don't know much about the Silk Routes -- not a great topic of discussion at Versailles -- and I only know of Hyecho because I used to live in Seoul, where I was acquainted with someone who had a deep interest in Korean Buddhist history and pilrimages.
Do camels and horses cover 25 miles per day as opposed to traveling at a speed of 25 miles per hour?
Trade helped grow many seaports into the greatest cities of the world. However, the Silk Road didn't do the same for the inland cities along the route.
Interesting post. Thanks for writing and sharing.
I did read that camels can apparently cover up to 40 miles in a day which is pretty incredible in the context of carrying a few hundred pounds of cargo while trekking through the desert. With just a rider they can travel some 80-120 miles which seems even more incredible. Horses are similar. The short days of the Pony Express circa 1860 showed horses covering comparable distances.