LEGEND OF GALLEON CHINA AND THE ISLAS FILIPINAS

porcelains from Canton China to Mai Filipinas 

MANILA GALLEONS

Trade in the Islas Filipinass centered around the “Manila galleons,” which sailed from Acapulco on the west coast of Mexico (New Spain) with shipments of silver bullion and minted coin that were exchanged for return cargoes of Chinese goods, mainly silk textiles and porcelain. There was no direct trade with Spain and little exploitation of indigenous natural resources. Most investment was in the galleon trade. But, as this trade thrived, another unwelcome element was introduced—sojourning Chinese entrepreneurs and service providers

For 250 years, from 1565 to 1815, Spanish galleons shuttled between Acapulco and Manila, exchanging treasures of the West for those the East, making huge profits for the Spaniards. The trade has been described as “one of the most persistent, perilous and profitable commercial enterprises in European colonial history.” For a long period of time it was the “most significant pathway for commerce and cultural interchange between Europe and Asia.” [Source: Eugene Lyon, National Geographic, September 1990 

The galleons sailed once or twice. Sometimes they traveled in convoys but more often than not a single ship made the journey. A few vessels sailed from Manila directly to Spain rounding the cape of Good Hope, but these voyages were soon stopped by their enemy the Dutch, who controlled this
sea route

Acapulco began as Spanish port from which goods received from the Orient were transported overland by mule to present day Mexico City and then to Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico, where the goods were reloaded on ships bound for Spain that rendezvoused with other Spanish ships in Havana for the trip to Spain. A little further north of Acapulco is Puerto Navidad, where the Spanish launched their conquest of the Philippines. Acapulco was selected as the trading port of the Manila galleons in the Americas because of its excellent harbor, and overland accessibility to Vera Cruz on the Caribbean side of Mexico

The trade route between the Philippines and Mexico was opened in 1564 when the eastward route was discovered from the Philippines to Mexico by Legazpi. Beginning with Magellan navigators had sailed from Mexico to the Philippines for decades but were unable to find the route back. Many of the first conquistadors to arrive in the Philippines gave themselves up to their enemies the Portuguese because it was their way only to make it back to Europe

 The most important source of goods for the Spanish in the Philippines was China. For a while the Spaniards maintained a trading post on China but for the most part they relied on Chinese intermediaries to bring goods to Manila. About 30 or 40 junks, laden with goods arrived in the Philippines from China a year. Over time the Chinese not only dominated trade but also dominated many of the trades, such as shipbuilding, on which trade was based, and outnumbered the Spanish

The Spanish had initially hoped to turn the Philippines into another Spice Island but they soon found that the island’s soil, terrain and climate were not suited for growing spices. Mining opportunities did not present themselves as they did in Latin America. Trade was stubbled upon sort of by accident.

 In 1571, the Spaniards rescued some Chinese sailors whose sampans sunk off the Philippines and helped them get back to China. The next year the grateful Chinese returned the favor in the form of a trading vessel filled with gifts of silk, porcelain and other Chinese goods. This ship was sent eastward and arrived in Mexico in 1573, and its cargo ultimately made it to Spain, where people liked what they saw and a demand for Chinese goods was born.

 Manila became the center of a major trade network that funneled goods from Southeast Asia, Japan, Indonesia, India and especially China to Europe. Spain developed and maintained a monopoly over the transpacific trade route. The trade became the primary reason for the existence of the Philippines. Development of the archipelago was largely neglected

On average a single Spanish galleon sailed eastward from Manila between April and July with treasures from the Orient and returned with from Acapulco with silver from Mexico, Peru and Bolivia between October and January. The journey each way was around 15,000 kilometers (about 9,000 miles), the world’s longest navigation route. Although one route went north of the Hawaiian island and the other went south of them, the islands were never discovered. [Source: Eugene Lyon, National Geographic, September 1990
The galleons heading to the Philippines traveled more or less in a straight line equidistance between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer and followed the North Equatorial Current and Northeast Trade Winds south of Hawaii. The journey was generally a piece of cake. The winds were steady and the seas were placid. Often the ship made it less than three months. The main object was to get to the Marianas (islands east of the Philippines) before the contrary winds of the autumn monsoon kicked up

The galleon heading to Mexico followed the Kuroshio current to the same latitudes of Japan and then the took the North-Pacific Current and westerly winds eastward past Guam and the Marianas and north of Hawaii to California and then followed the coast down to Mexico. The route was discovered by one of Legazpi’s ships, the San Lucus, which sailed north as far as Japan and south as far as New Guinea before discovering a reliable west-to-east wind through trial and error


The journey eastward was much more hazardous. It often took serval weeks just to get out of the dangerous waters of the Philippines and the whole journey could take almost a year. A traveler in 1697 wrote: “The voyage from the Philippine islands to America may be called the longest and most dreadful of any in the world, as well because of the vast ocean to be crossed, being almost one half the terraqueous globe, with the wind always a-head; as for the terrible tempest that happen there, one upon the back of another.”

 “The Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade started when Fray Andres de Urdaneta (who was Miguel Lopez de Legaspi’s pilot) discovered a return route from Cebu to Mexico in 1565. Fray Urdaneta theorized that the Pacific winds moved in a circular motion. He reasoned that if ships sailed far to the north before heading east, he would pick up the trade winds to bring him back west to Mexico. Urdaneta’s hunch paid off and his galleon hit the coast of Cape Mendocino in California


Though the Spanish had reached the Philippines from Mexico prior to 1564, they could never find a return route back eastward. It was a small fleet of four ships, under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who finally found a route in 1565. Don Luis de Velasco sent this expedition under the direction of Phillip II. and accompanying this fleet was Andres de Urdaneta, who had previously sailed with Loaysa to those seas in 1525. This fleet left Mexico on November 21, 1564 t begin the 9,000 nautical mile trek to the Philippines. They sighted the island of Samar on February 13, 1565 and anchored off the island of Cebu on April 27, 1565. The fleet split up, and some went south as far as New Guinea looking for a route back. Urdaneta believed the route back would be found to the north. The San Lucas of only 40 tons, went far to the north near Japan, where she found the westerly trade winds and favorable currents, which bore her back to the California coast near Cape Mendocino, which she then followed south, arriving back at Acapulco, October of 1565. Oddly enough, it was the San pablo of the same fleet, which followed the San Lucas shortly thereafter, which received the credit for discovering this route back. One source says that one of the galleons had deserted (probably the San Lucas) and discovered the route back arriving in Acapulco in July of 1565. It also states that Urdaneta (on another vessel) went as far north as 38 degrees off Japan and then headed on a southerly course in which no land was encountered and most of the crew had died before reaching Acapulco

 Almost every Spaniard and every enterprises and institution in the Philippines had its hand in the Manila galleon trade somehow. Even the church was involved. Priests, bishops and even archbishops controlled consignments. At first space on board the ship was divided according to a system of permits that were supposed to be in fair manner but quickly the system became poisoned by corruption and favoritism. [Source: Eugene Lyon, National Geographic, September 1990

If the ships got through and the goods found their way to their destination and the money or bartered goods found their way back, merchants often made profits between 100 and 300 percent. If something happened to the galleon and goods and money did not make it to their destinations the Philippines suffered through a year of hardship

Regulation and enforcement of the weight limits were lax and corruption was high. With the welfare of the entire Philippines colony and thousands of people dependent on a single shipment a year, there was a temptation to overload the vessel which made it vulnerable to sinking and attacks

Many of the so-called “Spaniards” in the Philippines were actually of Mexican descent. This is so because sea travel from Spain to the Philippines was very difficult before the advent of steam navigation and the opening of the Suez Canal.

The 15,000-kilometer voyage of the Manila galleons was plagued by pirates, storms and slack winds. In 1578 Drake’s fleet captured a merchant ships loaded with Oriental goods. In 1743, the overloaded and underarmed silver galleon Covadonga was attacked and easily taken by the British, who took possession of more than a million silver pesos, gold bullion and a host of valuable goods. The Covadonga took 159 shots and lost 70 men. the British lost only two. When the treasure was brought aback to Britain it took 32 wagons to transport it. In some cases pirates simply hung out near the ports where the ships departed from and attacked them after they left. [Source: Eugene Lyon, National Geographic, September 1990

Many galleons never even made it out the Philippines, whose waters were made dangerous by typhoons, shoals and sunken rocks. San Bernardino Strait, also known as the Embocadero, or outlet, was narrow and full of obstacles and particularly fear by navigators







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LEGEND OF URSOS

The legend of Ursos people in Antique Panay Island can be traced from Mai...  a chinese and vietnamese trading port in Mindoro


Centuries later Itay Iyong Villareal Ursos sailed to Butuan and he met Inay Juana Dumaplin , a devoted catholic srvant of the Spanish Encomienda in Kasapa and TalacogonThe two were in love The parents of Juana were devoted workers of the the Roman Catolic cHURCH agreed withe priests to sendJuana to the church  church of f Ubay Roman Catholic Church
   Itay Iyong .... then sailed yo Ubay amd he married Juana and settled at Pitogo Island  near Ubay Bohol They were blessed with thirteen children... This was the beginning of the ursos families in BoholThese chilfren later on migrared to Agusan and Davao and Cebu and in Tagbilaran and Panglao  Island
      

LEGEND OF ANCIENT CANTON

'' '.......British attempt to find trade routes to China was made in 1596, but the fleet under the command of Captain Benjamin Wood failed to reach its destination and was lost without trace. Some forty years later in 1637, a Captain Weddell successfully landed at Canton after forcing a passage through the Bogue (from Portuguese word bocca, a mouth), and opened trade negotiations with the locals on behalf of the East India Company. Nevertheless, his entry to China met fierce resistance from the Chinese officials and he was forced to leave the country without any commercial success. His ship was wrecked on his journey home




 Agricultural Practices and Products of Ancient China By Britney Moy Crops Some of the crops grown in Ancient China were rice, tea, peaches, millet, wheat, cabbage, soybeans, peas, and bamboo shoots. Animals Animals raised in Ancient China were Giant Pandas, cattle, yaks, deer, reindeer, elephants, chickens, tigers, sheep, cows, and camels. Landforms Some of the landforms in Ancient China were the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, the Himalayas, the Gobi Desert, and the Taklamakan Desert. Irrigation For Irrigation the chinese used canals and floods. Some of the most popular canals were the Six Canals, the Bai Canal

 During the Sung (960-1127 AD), Arab traders brought Philippine goods to southwestern China through the port of Canton. Chinese posts were established in coastal towns of the Philippines with the import of Chinese goods. The trade culminated when Chao Ju-Kua wrote of the barter trade between the Chinese and the natives of Mayi (Mindoro). The Chinese exchanged silk, porcelain, colored glass, beads and iron ware for hemp cloth, tortoise shells, pearls and yellow wax of the Filipinos. 









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LEGEND OF Zhongguo

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 ancient Chinese civilization

China is a vast country with a huge range of terrains and climates within it. As well as the country’s sheer size, geographical features such as mountain ranges, deserts and coastlands have all helped shape Chinese history. Above all, the great river systems of China, the Yellow River to the north and the Yangtze to the south, which have given Chinese civilization its distinctive character.

1766 BCE: traditional date for the founding of the first historic dynasty in China, the Shang dynasty

1122 BCE: Western Zhou dynasty founded after the overthrow of the last Shang king

771 BCE: Eastern Zhou dynasty period begins after the sack of the Western Zhou capital; the first phase is traditionally divided into two: the Spring and Autumn (771-481 BCE) and the Warring States (481-221 BCE) periods

551-479 BCE: Confucius, China’s preeminent philosopher, lives

221 BCE: The First Emperor, Qin Shih Huang, completes the conquest of all other Chinese states

202 BCE: The Han dynasty founded, after several years of chaos following the fall of the Qin

220 CE: the fall of the Han dynasty is a convenient marker for the end point of the ancient period of Chinese history.

Prior to the coming of cities and literacy (the hallmarks of Ancient Chinese civilization) major Stone Age farming cultures had grown up in China since the 7th millennium BCE. One was located in the Yellow River region, the other in the Yangtze region. In the Yangtze, an agriculture based on rice cultivation had developed, whilst in the north, the Yellow River region, millet was the main crop.

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 China’s ancient name is Cathay. China was taken from Chin dynasty.

 The former name of Thailand is Siam, named after a 19^th century king. Thailand means “land of the free”. It is the only Southeast Asian country to have never been colonized.

The former name of Sri Lanka is Ceylon. It was under European rule for about 450 years. In 1972 the name was change to Sri Lanka.

 The Philippines was named after Philip II of Spain. Two of its oldest names were Ma-I and Maniola.

   Jamaica’s name comes from the Arawak Indian word “Xaymaca” which means “land of springs”.

     Costa Rica which means “rich coast” is the world’s greenest country.

.  Gaul is the old name of France and Helle is the old name of Greece.

15. Yugoslavia means "Land of the South Slavs". It was originally Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, created by joining Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. It became Yugoslavia in 1929. It subsequently split into its constituent states in the years 1992-2006.

Malaya merged with Singapore and the northern Borneo territories of Sabah and Sarawak to become Malaysia in 1963.

 Bangladesh in South Asia is formerly known as East Pakistan from 1955 to 1971. It was also known as East Bengal.

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Pax Mongolica

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 during the second half of the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century, coinciding with the rule of the Mongol Empire, which ruled over a large part of Eurasia and connected Europe with their Chinese dominion of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368).^[2] Whereas the Byzantine Empire centered in Greece and Anatolia maintained rare incidences of correspondence with the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties of China, the Roman papacy sent several missionaries and embassies to the early Mongol Empire as well as to Khanbaliq (modern Beijing), the capital of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty.

 Mainly located in places such as the Mongol capital of Karakorum, European missionaries and merchants traveled around the Mongol realm during a period of time referred to by historians as the "Pax Mongolica". The most famous European visitor to China during this period was Marco Polo, preceded, respectively, by his father and uncle Niccolò and Maffeo Polo. Perhaps the most important political consequence of this movement of peoples and intensified trade was the Franco-Mongol alliance, although the latter never fully materialized, at least not in a consistent manner.^[3] The establishment of the Ming dynasty in 1368 and reestablishment of native Han Chinese rule led to the cessation of European merchants and Roman Catholic missionaries living in China. Direct contact with Europeans was not renewed until Portuguese explorers and Jesuit missionaries arrived on Ming China's southern shores at the beginning of the 16th century, during the Age of Exploration.

 The Venetian merchant Marco Polo, as well as his father and uncle Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, respectively, traveled to China during the period of Mongol rule. Marco Polo wrote an account of his travels there, as did the Franciscan friar Odoric of Pordenone, the merchant Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, and the author John Mandeville. In Khanbaliq, the Roman archdiocese was established by John of Montecorvino, who was later succeeded by Giovanni de Marignolli. Other Europeans such as André de Longjumeau managed to reach the eastern borderlands of China in their diplomatic travels to the Mongol royal court, while others such as Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, Benedykt Polak, and William of Rubruck traveled instead to Mongolia. The Uyghur Nestorian Christian Rabban Bar Sauma was the first diplomat from China to reach the royal courts of Christendom in the West.

 
 Before the 13th century, instances of Europeans going to China or of Chinese going to Europe are virtually unknown,^[1] with a few exceptions. Euthydemus I, Hellenistic ruler of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in Central Asia during the 3rd century BC, led an expedition into the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China) in search of precious metals.^[10][11] Greek influence as far east as the Tarim Basin at this time also seems to be confirmed by the discovery of the Sampul tapestry, a woolen wall hanging with the painting of a blue-eyed soldier, possibly a Greek, and a prancing centaur, a common Hellenistic motif from Greek mythology.^[6][12][13] However, it is known that other Indo-European peoples such as the Yuezhi, Saka,^[14][15][16] and Tocharians^[16][17] inhabited the Tarim Basin before and after it was brought under Han Chinese influence during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BC).^{[18][19][20][21]} Lucas Christopoulos presents an argument that the influence of Hellenistic art in China stretches back to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), before the establishment of the Silk Road.^[22] Christopoulos contends that Hellenistic influences in Chinese art were undoubtedly introduced by the period of the Three Kingdoms (220–265) and the sudden influx of Greco-Buddhist art from the Kushan Empire in Central Asia.^[23] Yet ancient ceramics from sites at Khotan bear clear influence from the Hellenistic Kingdom of Ptolemaic Egypt, with styles non-existent in Kushan art.^[24] This has led Christopoulos to assume the presence of peoples not only from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom but also Greeks, Saka, and Indian people from the Indo-Greek Kingdom based at Taxila (Pakistan)

 Beginning in the age of Augustus (r. 27 BC – 14 AD), the ancient Romans, including authors such as Pliny the Elder, mentioned contacts with the Seres, who they identified as the producers of silk from distant East Asia and could have been the Chinese or even any number of middlemen of various ethnic backgrounds along the Silk Road of Central Asia and Northwest China.^[35] The Eastern-Han era Chinese general Ban Chao, Protector General of the Western Regions, explored Central Asia and in 97 AD dispatched his envoys Gan Ying to Daqin (i.e. the Roman Empire).^[36][37] Gan was dissuaded by Parthian authorities to venture further than the Persian Gulf, although he wrote a detailed report about the Roman Empire, its cities, postal network, and consular system of government, and presented this to the Han court.^[38][39] Subsequently, there were a series of Roman embassies in China lasting from the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD, as recorded in Chinese sources. In 166 AD the Book of Later Han records that Romans reached China from the maritime south and presented gifts to the court of Emperor Huan of Han (r. 146–168 AD), claiming they represented Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Andun 安敦) (r. 161–180 AD).^[40][41] Historian Rafe de Crespigny speculates that they were Roman merchants instead of official diplomats.


 Marco Polo accurately described geographical features of China such as the Grand Canal.^[63] His detailed and accurate descriptions of salt production confirm that he had actually been in China.^[64] Marco described salt wells and hills where salt could be mined, probably in Yunnan, and reported that in the mountains "these rascals ... have none of the Great Khan's paper money, but use salt instead ... They have salt which they boil and set in a mold ..."^[65] Polo also remarked how the Chinese burned paper effigies shaped as male and female servants, camels, horses, suits of clothing and armor while cremating the dead during funerary rites.

  Marco Polo noted that Christian churches had been built there.^[67] His claim is confirmed by a Chinese text of the 14th century explaining how a Sogdian named Mar-Sargis from Samarkand founded six Nestorian Christian churches there in addition to one in Hangzhou during the second half of the 13th century.^[67] Nestorian Christianity had existed in China earlier during the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) when a Persian monk named Alopen (Chinese: Āluósī; 阿羅本; 阿羅斯) came to the capital Chang'an in 653 to proselytize, as described in a dual Chinese and Syriac language inscription from Chang'an (modern Xi'an) dated to the year 781.


 
 Text of the letter of Pope Innocent IV "to the ruler and people of the Tartars", brought to Güyüg Khan by John de Carpini, 1245

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 In Zaytun, the first harbour of China, there was a small Genoese colony, mentioned in 1326 by André de Pérouse. The most famous Italian resident of the city was Andolo de Savignone, who was sent to the West by the Khan in 1336 to obtain "100 horses and other treasures."^[76] Following Savignone's visit, an ambassador was dispatched to China with one superb horse, which was later the object of Chinese poems and paintings

The History of Yuan (chapter 134) records that a certain Ai-sie (transliteration of either Joshua or Joseph) from the country of Fu lin (i.e. the Byzantine Empire), initially in the service of Güyük Khan, was well-versed in Western languages and had expertise in the fields of medicine and astronomy that convinced Kublai Khan to offer him a position as the director of medical and astronomical boards. Kublai Khan eventually honored him with the title of Prince of Fu lin (Chinese: 拂菻王; Fú lǐn wáng). His biography in the History of Yuan lists his children by their Chinese names, which are similar to the Christian names Elias (Ye-li-ah), Luke (Lu-ko), and Antony (An-tun), with a daughter named A-na-si-sz








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legend of east india company

. The British East India Company established a monopoly on opium cultivation in the Indian province of Bengal, where they developed a method of growing opium poppies cheaply and abundantly. Other Western countries also joined in the trade, including the United States, which dealt in Turkish as well as Indian opium.

 Britain and other European countries undertook the opium trade because of their chronic trade imbalance with China. There was tremendous demand in Europe for Chinese tea, silks, and porcelain pottery, but there was correspondingly little demand in China for Europe’s manufactured goods and other trade items. Consequently, Europeans had to pay for Chinese products with gold or silver. The opium trade, which created a steady demand among Chinese addicts for opium imported by the West, solved this chronic trade imbalance







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ANCIENT CHINA LEGEND OF Cathay

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Originating at Xi’an (Sian), the 4,000-mile (6,400-km) road, actually a caravan tract, followed the Great Wall of China to the northwest, bypassed the Takla Makan Desert, climbed the Pamirs (mountains), crossed Afghanistan, and went on to the Levant; from there the merchandise was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea. Few persons traveled the entire route, and goods were handled in a staggered progression by middlemen.

 (the Roman Empire) has more than four hundred smaller cities and towns. It extends several thousand li in all directions. The king has his capital (that is, the city of Rome) close to the mouth of a river (the Tiber). The outer walls of the city are made of stone

 The kingdom of Da Qin (Rome) is also called Lijian. It is west of Anxi (Parthia) and Tiaozhi (Characene and Susiana), and west of the Great Sea


 From the city of Angu (Gerrha), on the frontier of Anxi (Parthia), you take a boat and cut directly across to Haixi (‘West of the Sea’ = Egypt). With favourable winds it takes two months; if the winds are slow, perhaps a year; if there is no wind, perhaps three years.

 The country (that you reach) is west of the sea (haixi), which is why it is called Haixi (literally: ‘West of the Sea’ = Egypt). There is a river (the Nile) flowing out of the west of this country, and then there is another great sea (the Mediterranean). The city of (Wu) Chisan (Alexandria) is in Haixi (Egypt).

 
 Now, if you leave the city of Angu (Gerrha) by the overland route, you go north to Haibei (‘North of the Sea’ – the lands between Babylonia and Jordan), then west to Haixi (Egypt), then turn south to go through the city of Wuchisan (Alexandria). After crossing a river, which takes a day by boat, you circle around the coast (to the region of Apollonia, the port of Cyrene). (From there, i.e. the region of Apollonia) six days is generally enough to cross the (second) great sea (the Mediterranean) to reach that country (Da Qin = Rome)

 The economy in the Roman world displayed features of both underdevelopment and high achievement. Elements of the former, some historians have argued (notably M.I.Finley), are an over-dependence on agriculture, a slow diffusion of technology, the high level of local town consumption rather than regional trade, and a low level of investment in industry. However, there is also evidence that from the 2nd century BCE to the 2nd century CE there was a significant rise in the proportion of workers involved in the production and services industries and greater trade between regions in essential commodities and manufactured goods. In the later empire period, although trade in the east increased - stimulated by the founding of Constantinople - trade in the western empire declined.

 Trade involved foodstuffs (e.g. olives, fish, meat, cereals, salt, prepared foods such as fish sauce, olive oil, wine and beer), animal products (e.g. leather and hides), objects made from wood, glass, or metals, textiles, pottery, and materials for manufacturing and construction such as glass, marble, wood, wool, bricks, gold, silver, copper, and tin. Finally, there was, of course, also the substantial trade in slaves.

 

 After Alexander the Great conquered the Persians, he established the city of Alexandria Eschate in 339 BCE in the Fergana Valley of Neb (modern Tajikstan). Leaving behind his wounded veterans in the city, Alexander moved on. In time, these Macedonian warriors intermarried with the indigenous populace creating the Greco-Bactrian culture which flourished under the Seleucid Empire following Alexander’s death. Under the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I (260-195 BCE) the Greco-Bactrians had extended their holdings.  According to the Greek historian Strabo (63-24 CE) the Greeks “extended their empire as far as the Seres” (xi.ii.i). `Seres’ was the name by which the Greeks and Romans knew China, meaning `the land where silk came from’. It is thought, then, that the first contact between China and the west came around the year 200 BCE

 While many different kinds of merchandise traveled along the Silk Road, the name comes from the popularity of Chinese silk with the west, especially with Rome. The Silk Road routes stretched from China through India, Asia Minor, up throughout Mesopotamia, to Egypt, the African continent, Greece, Rome, and Britain. The northern Mesopotamian region (present day Iran) became China’s closest partner in trade, as part of the Parthian Empire, initiating important cultural exchanges.  Paper, which had been invented by the Chinese during the Han Dynasty, and gunpowder, also a Chinese invention, had a much greater impact on culture than did silk. The rich spices of the east, also, contributed more than the fashion which grew up from the silk industry. Even so, by the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BCE – 14 CE) trade between China and the west was firmly established and silk was the most sought after commodity in Egypt, Greece, and, especially, in Rome.


 Alexander (Greek: Alexandros) mentions that the main terminus for Roman traders was a Burmese city called Tamala on the north-west Malay Peninsula, where Indian merchants travelled overland across the Kra Isthmus to reach the Perimulic Gulf (the Gulf of Thailand).^[15] Alexandros claimed that it took twenty days to sail from Thailand to a port called "Zabia" (or Zaba) in southern Vietnam.[




At some point during the 1^st century BC, silk was introduced to the Roman Empire, where it was considered an exotic luxury and became extremely popular, with imperial edicts being issued to control prices. Its popularity continued throughout the Middle Ages, with detailed Byzantine regulations for the manufacture of silk clothes, illustrating its importance as a quintessentially royal fabric and an important source of revenue for the crown. Additionally, the needs of the Byzantine Church for silk garments and hangings were substantial. This luxury item was thus one of the early impetuses in the development of trading routes from Europe to the Far East.

 
  the silk trade was one of the earliest catalysts for the trade routes across Central Asia, it was only one of a wide range of products that was traded between east and west, and which included textiles, spices, grain, vegetables and fruit, animal hides, tools, wood work, metal work, religious objects, art work, precious stones and much more. Indeed, the Silk Roads became more popular and increasingly well-travelled over the course of the Middle Ages, and were still in use in the 19^th century, a testimony not only to their usefulness but also to their flexibility and adaptability to the changing demands of society. Nor did these trading paths follow only one trail – merchants had a wide choice of different routes crossing a variety of regions of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Far East, as well as the maritime routes, which transported goods from China and South East Asia through the Indian Ocean to Africa, India and the Near East.


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