Asian-European Trade
Table of Contents
Introduction Pg 3
The Who Pg 3
The Silk Road Pg 4-5
The Polo Family Pg 5-7
The journey
The Khan
The Return
The Items, The Travel, and The Bandits Pg 7-8
Conclusion Pg 8-9
Glossary Pg 9
Sources Pg 9
Introduction
Back when there were no computers, phones, GPS or any of the tech-
nology we enjoy and use today, Europe and Asia were very remote,
meaning they didn’t interact much, they were almost isolated. But
then, something happened, something very big. Soon, these two
continents were trading like mad!! What happened? What caused
these two nearly isolated continents to suddenly, almost merge
together and share their cultures? In this report, you will learn this and
more!! You will also learn about the Who, The Silk Road, the Polo
family and the items and travel of Asian-European trade.
nology we enjoy and use today, Europe and Asia were very remote,
meaning they didn’t interact much, they were almost isolated. But
then, something happened, something very big. Soon, these two
continents were trading like mad!! What happened? What caused
these two nearly isolated continents to suddenly, almost merge
together and share their cultures? In this report, you will learn this and
more!! You will also learn about the Who, The Silk Road, the Polo
family and the items and travel of Asian-European trade.
The Who
Some very recognisable people involved in this concept of trade were,
the Polo family, Kublai Khan, and the government of Rome (Eagle), and
China (Dragon), and Kublai Khan, the ruler of the colossal Mongol Empire,
covering about ⅕ of the land on Earth at its height. Khan was somewhat
tolerant about the presence of Europeans, and even warmly welcomed
them. Khan was also happy about merchants, something that the former
Chinese government had looked down on. The Khan would then die in
1294 as he had been overweight a sick for a while, so his grandson, Temur,
would then inherit the title of Khan to Mongolians and the Yuan Emperor to
the Chinese But before all of this even happened, Rome was in total shock
about a new fabric: silk. The Romans wanted to know who had created
this extraordinary fabric, so they were very excited when the flag of the
Eagle met the Chinese Dragon and immediately started trading with the
Chinese. They immediately started trading with local merchants, and the
age of trade had begun.
the Polo family, Kublai Khan, and the government of Rome (Eagle), and
China (Dragon), and Kublai Khan, the ruler of the colossal Mongol Empire,
covering about ⅕ of the land on Earth at its height. Khan was somewhat
tolerant about the presence of Europeans, and even warmly welcomed
them. Khan was also happy about merchants, something that the former
Chinese government had looked down on. The Khan would then die in
1294 as he had been overweight a sick for a while, so his grandson, Temur,
would then inherit the title of Khan to Mongolians and the Yuan Emperor to
the Chinese But before all of this even happened, Rome was in total shock
about a new fabric: silk. The Romans wanted to know who had created
this extraordinary fabric, so they were very excited when the flag of the
Eagle met the Chinese Dragon and immediately started trading with the
Chinese. They immediately started trading with local merchants, and the
age of trade had begun.
The Silk Road
One major trading route for this newly developed trade relation
was the Silk Road, which stretched from Rome all the way to Eastern
China, with many countries in between. Despite its name, the Silk
Road was actually not just a single road, but many smaller trade
routes linked together. Not many people actually went the whole
route, just from city to city, goods traveling along that way. Routes on
land and sea went as far as the Southern tip of India, as far North as
Mongolia, to East China, the Mediterranean Sea, through North Africa,
cutting across the Red Sea, slanting up north and landing where ever
you wanted to land. This definitely makes me think trade was a
HUGELY important thing. The Silk Road altogether was about 6,000 KM
(4,000 Miles) long. The Silk Road also upped economics. For example,
say a bundle of silk went to City A for $50, then, City A would sell it to
City C for $70, they make a $20 profit!!
was the Silk Road, which stretched from Rome all the way to Eastern
China, with many countries in between. Despite its name, the Silk
Road was actually not just a single road, but many smaller trade
routes linked together. Not many people actually went the whole
route, just from city to city, goods traveling along that way. Routes on
land and sea went as far as the Southern tip of India, as far North as
Mongolia, to East China, the Mediterranean Sea, through North Africa,
cutting across the Red Sea, slanting up north and landing where ever
you wanted to land. This definitely makes me think trade was a
HUGELY important thing. The Silk Road altogether was about 6,000 KM
(4,000 Miles) long. The Silk Road also upped economics. For example,
say a bundle of silk went to City A for $50, then, City A would sell it to
City C for $70, they make a $20 profit!!
To create such a huge and successful route, Alexander the Great expanded his empire to the East and the Han Dynasty of China expanded territory to the West, so they probably realized there was more to the world than they expected. Probably. But before this, things had been completely different, merchants in Cathay, present day China, were just commonly looked down on, were forced to wear white clothes and pay higher taxes. But this all changed because Romans couldn’t get enough of one luxurious fabric: silk. When Rome found out Cathay was producing this fantastic fabric, Cathay was immediately deemed, the “Land of Silk”. But to get to this Silk paradise, travelers needed to go through some of the harshest habitats in the world, mountains where you can’t start fires because there’s barely any oxygen, and ONE huge deserts, with TWO myths, one was that an entire army was caught in a dry wind and died, and when people tried to move the bodies the arms snapped off because they were so dry, and the other myth is that it is supposedly haunted by demons. Sooooooooo, I’m leaning to NOT easy?
Despite all these dangers, some did get their expected riches. One very successful family of the Silk Road was the Polo family. Marco Polo first saw his dad when he was 15 years old, and immediately decided to follow his father, Niccolo, and his uncle, Maffeo, to China/Cathay. The Polo’s owned a trading depot in Sudak, across the Black Sea and had consequently become quite wealthy. They planned on making more money on their trip. And when Marcos father came home, he told stories of riches so prosperous that Marco immediately decided to go with him on a return trip. So Marco, Niccolo his dad, Maffeo his uncle and a servant set off. Kublai Khan, the supreme leader of the Mongols, we met him back in section 2, had previously given the Polos a golden passport allowing them free and safe passage through all of the Khans territory and the Polos planned on using that to their advantage. They had been sent home to travel to Constantinople, present day Istanbul, to gather holy oil and “100 learned men” to teach the Khan about the West. Unfortunately, the Pope could only muster TWO men, but they would then cowardly flee home as they learned there was battle in the area they would be traveling.
The Journey
Marco Polo then traveled across the Gobi Desert, the demon and dry wind one, passing on sight after another. A town where most people have swollen necks and one foot larger than the other, caused by a lack of Iodine, bread that is so brackish that Marco justs spit its out, and a town so hot that by March every single leaf has shriveled up, where people dive into neck deep water to stay cool. They also reach a point where they can do some successful trading for luxurious turquoise. They found oil geysers that shot oil into the air that can be used for candles. Then, shockingly, they find a harbor with boats that are TIED together with COCONUT FIBERS!!!!!! The boats also have NO DECK!! Just skins thrown over the cargo!!!!! The Polos won’t risk traveling in one of those, so they take an alternate land route through those no-oxygen mountains back in section 3. The mountains are so high, Marco calls them “The top of the world” and it is almost impossible to start a fire because of the lack of oxygen. But there is one good thing, they discover “Marco Polo sheep”, and they supposedly taste divine!!
The Khan
Finally, in 1274-1275, The Polos arrived at the Khan’s summer palace. Marco immediately became a favorite of the Khan. Then, Marco was sent to view everything in the Khan’s amazing kingdom, and then came back and reported to the Khan, telling stories of water serpents that snapped at you, crocodiles, unicorns with huge horns, rhinos(and a ridiculously bad attitude), and huge, ferocious, striped cats roaming the woods, tigers. He also talked about amazing physical features and skills that some of the people he had seen. For example, once,
while Marco went on a trip with a local guide, they heard two tigers roaring in the distance, coming closer and closer, ready to strike, and the guide started CHOPPING BAMBOO!!! Then the guide threw the stalks onto the fire and a huge firework like noise erupted. The guide then told Marco that the stalks were hollow, so when they burned up, the oxygen inside burst, causing the loud sound. The noise scared even the fiercest, hungriest tigers. After that experience, Marco always remembered to cut some bamboo when he was starting a fire.
The Return
When the Polo’s returned from their amazing travels, people stared at their weathered faces and their Mongolian clothes, and when they knocked at the door of their home, they were told to go away! No one could believe that they were the “lost” Niccolo, Maffeo and Marco. Some say that Marco finally convinced his ever doubtful family by cutting open his jacket and pouring out a cascade of precious stones. Whatever the reason, he eventually settled down in his home for a while. After his adventures, Marco got involved in a skirmish between Genoa and Venice and landed in a Genoese prison. While in prison, he met a French romance writer named Rusticello. When Marco told Rusticello about his travels, he couldn’t believe what Marco had seen, and the two started writing a book about Marcos travels in the East. They named the book, “II Millione”, The Million, describing the million things Marco had seen. It is also called The Travels of Marco Polo. After writing the book, he said, “I have not told the half of what I saw.” After his release, he entered the trade business and as a result was involved in multiple lawsuits about property and money, finally dying on January 8, 1324.
The Items, The Travel, and The Bandits
Now, of course, while all of this is going on, it’s pretty much impossible to stop cultures from blending, and one thing that really astonished Europeans was the concept of paper money, they were still using coins at the time. They also exchanged spices, gold, jade, ivory, cotton and other fabrics including silk. These goods commonly traveled by wagon caravans, which is a long train of wagons all going to the same destination, and this provided safety from raiding bandits. Camels were first choice pack animals because they could go several days without water and were used to the desert. Some parts of the Great Wall of China were actually built to protect traveling merchants from merciless bandits. But because there was still huge threat of bandits INSIDE the barriers of the Great Wall, each village along the Gobi Desert, would provide an escort to the next village. Pirates also attacked along the SEA route version of the Silk Road, using smoke from fires to coordinate oher pirates to join a merciless attack. Some pirates even made prisoners suspected of SWALLOWING precious stones drink a special concoction that caused them to throw up the jewels. To me that seems a little extreme because couldn’t you just wait for the digestive system to do its thing, but it is still pretty smart.
Conclusion
As you can see, Asian-European Trade shared cultures and sped up globalization. Marco Polo also helped awake Europe by writing “II Millione” with Rusticello, because when Europeans read the book, they were amazed at how developed and and advanced the Mongol Empire was!! They used heated stones for baths and had huge organized streets and marketplaces, but some Europeans didn’t like it, THEIR cities were supposed to be the best, THEY were supposed to be the most advanced. It was a wake-up call to Europe to start developing and showed them the rest of the world! And today, Europe is one of the fanciest and luxurious places in the world!! It also created commerce between cities and empires, blending cultures and shaping the world we know today. I feel that is was very important that brave people like the Polos took the risk of traveling along the Silk Road was an investment itself, it was very dangerous, but with many wonders and possible riches. What do you think? Would you travel along the Silk Road, for riches, but with many dangers?
Glossary
Cascade- A small waterfall.
Concoction- A mixture of various ingredients and elements.
Divine- Excellent or delightful.
Iodine- The chemical element of atomic number 53, also found in iodized
table salt.
Investment- the act of devoting time, energy and effort into the expectation of a worthwhile reward.
Isolated- Having little or no contact, solitary, by themselves. Alone.
Ivory- A hard, creamy-white substance. Elephant tusks are made of it.
Merchant- A trader or someone that sells/markets things.
Jade- A precious stone that is commonly green.
Prosperous- A synonym of rich.
Turquoise- An opaque, blue or green mineral.
Sources
The Travels of Marco Polo -Marco Polo and Rusticello 
You wouldn’t want to travel with Marco Polo! -Jacqueline Morley
Ducksters.com
BrainPop.com-The Silk Road
BrainPop.com-Marco Polo
Britannica School.com/school.eb.com
Images
