Commerce and Culture:Chapter 8

Jose Betancourt

World History 1 Blog

Dr. Andrews

11/05/12           

                                    Commerce and Culture:

            While reading this chapter, something interesting that I thought about was the Silk Road. I began to think how human’s brains seemed to be developing, not only biologically, but the ideas became truths and realities. “Silk Road trading prospered most when large and powerful states provided security for merchants and travelers”(220). The social building of this networks aided civilizations to prosper, in the sense that it provided border territory to exchange goods and also ideas. It s profoundly interesting how this Eurasian empires despite of their disagreements, they were or at least there was that “pull” to be with one another or needing from each other to finish a task or to make ones society and culture better. Silk was not only important to have culture meet in the borderlines but was also a form of currency. “In central Asia, silk was use as currency and as a means of accumulating wealth”(221). Silk was also a way to see who belong to the elite. Only the elite could wear silk clothes.

            Silk was very important, like the author says, “Silk roads, trade were a conduct for culture”(229). Different civilizations influenced not only the people in terms of culture, but also in terms of religion. Buddhism for example aided Buddhism to help in the understanding of what Buddhism was and more people were more interested and maybe wanted to join. Another way of traveling or networking in the past r the times of commerce, were the salt roads. The salt roads “enriched west Africa”(232). During the postclassical era west Africa assimilated to other cultures due to its form of doing commerce and trading.