HIS102Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Gobi Desert, Taklamakan Desert, Wang Zhaojun
Document Summary
Empires and peoples along the silk roads: introduction: the meanings of the silk roads. The name was given by a german (silk roads) Not just a single road but a network of routes went through the deserts or mountains. One trading post to another, never a full routes. Silk was a exotic good traded: geography and the silk roads. Taklamakan desert (driest desert in the world) South (himalayan mountains) cut off india from trade routes. Northern with mules and desert with camels. Loess (soil that comes after flooding for fertile farm land) Xiongnu (nomads) wanted it for the sheep and horses and conflict with china agriculture. Caravan would go from oasis to oasis. Which would turn the oasis (entrepot) trading city. Kashgar, samarkand (trading posts turn into cities) Dunhuang farthest western tip (military garrison, trading post and a temple) Bactrian camel (two humps) good for winter, more endurance than horses. Dromedary (arabian camels) suited to the desert.
