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600
Start
The Silk Road opens to foreign trade and reached its golden age. The countries economies who participated in silk road trade flourished. Merchants became more wealthy and rose on the social scale. -
Period: 600 to 1450
Post Classical Era
Technological advancements in this era (ie. more sophisticated caravan organization, the compass, astrolabe, and larger ships) led to an increase in trade and communication, which in turn encouraged multi cultural blendings. -
630
Spread of Buddhism
Xuan Jang, a Chinese monk visited India through the silk route to study buddhism. He introduced the new Buddhist religion throughout China. The emergence of Buddhism in China was a result of missionary work that was done through the silk road. -
640
The Spread of Islam
Islam spread through the middle east to Asia through the silk road. This helped Islam continue to become dominant throughout the middle east and central Asia. It continued to spread. -
840
Decline of Buddhism in China
During the warring states period in imperial China, Buddhism began to decline. The Tang Emperor Wuzong began to persecute foreign religions, most notably, Buddhism. Roughly 4,600 Buddhist monasteries were destroyed, Buddhist art was destroyed, and about 260,000 monks and nuns were forced to return to normal life. History repeated itself as the Chinese Communist Party's attempted to suppress Buddhism, most notably in Tibet. -
1271
The Voyages of Marco Polo
Marco Polo travels to asia from Europe via the silk road. This introduced asia to europeans and inspired travel to asia. This makes the demand for chinese goods to rise in europe. -
1300
The Black Plague
The bubonic plague spreads from Central Asia into Europe through the Silk road, devastating Europe. The introduction of this plague hurt Europe’s economy and eventually their population. The decrease of population and decline of their economy lowered trade among Europe. The spread of new epidemics is continuous throughout the trade era as interactions increased. -
1400
The Decrease in the Silk Road
The Ming dynasty stopped trading silk outside of its borders, which caused the silk road to no longer serve as a trading route for silk. This slowly lead to a decrease in the use of the Silk Route. -
1492
Christopher Colombus
Christopher Columbus reaches America, thinking he reached the East Indies. This started an era filled with trade and resources that were brought from the old world to the new world and vise-versa. This increased population but also brought to diseases to the new world, as well as increasing new ideas and technologies. -
1497
Vasco de Gamas Discoveries.
Vasco da Gama's voyage from Portugal to India revealed that a sea route to Asia was possible, increasing sea trade and decreasing the silk road. -
The Dutch East India Company is Founded
The VOC was created to secure a monopoly on the spice trade in the Indian Ocean. The Dutch government granted the company a trade monopoly in the waters between South Africa and the Straits of Magellan between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The company had the right to conclude treaties with native princes, to build forts and maintain armed forces, and to carry on administrative functions through officials who were required to take an oath of loyalty to the Dutch government.
