1) Where did the Silk Road begin and end?
It started in Chag’an, China (present day Xian) and stretched all throughout Asia, some of Africa, and island countries with numerous ends in India, Persia, Arabia, Rome, and Java, the routes changing over the 3000 years of its existence.
2) Why was the Silk Road important to Europeans since it was so far away? Does this have implications for the Crusades being not just religious wars, but could the motives been economic?
The Silk Road opened up new ways for other religions to spread to the countries involved as well as money. The Crusades may have been called to make Christianity the dominant religion over all of the others that were being spread by the Silk Road, but they also may have occurred in order to break up trade between those countries involved to start a new route to Europe for financial gain.
3) How has the Silk Road changed in importance over time? What things other than products moved along the Silk Road that changed world history?
The Silk Road went from being a trade route from Chag’an to Dunhuang to being the most successfully operated exchange of all time. Along its routes spread diseases, religious calling, languages, cultures in general, clothing, art, ideas, and money most importantly. Think of Chinatown in New York: each country colonized a small section about that size in all of the other countries with their own culture. This by far is the biggest reason for war and/or peace in those regions because nobody had to travel far to figure out what beliefs that another country had, they just needed to look inward.
4) Who was Marco Polo and why was he an important figure in regard to the Silk Road and Europe?
Marco Polo was credited for being one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk road into China; however, he was not alone in this feat. On his first few years traveling he was along side his father, Niccolò, and his uncle, Maffeo. On this first journey, Marco Polo became a favorite of Kublai Khan, the Mongol Emperor. He roamed through Mongolia and China for 17 years. During this time he went farther into China than any European had gone before. When he returned to Venice in 1295, he became a popular storyteller. People gathered at his home to hear his stories about all his travels in the Far East. In 1298, there was a conflict between Venice and Genoa, and Marco Polo was captured by the Genoese and imprisoned. While in jail, Marco Polo told the story of his travels to a writer who published the book, The Travels of Marco Polo. This book helped make Europeans very interested in trading with all of the Far East. This led to the explorations of Christopher Columbus and many others who were searching for a quicker way to sail to China and India.
5) What are the present day implications for relations with countries that presently lie on this ancient pathway(s)? What countries exist there today and why are they pivotal in regard to products, resources, religious wars, differences in governments (communist v. capitalist), population base, etc?
The United State’s existence came to be only when England colonized some of America. England only colonized when it had enough power to do so, so how did England obtain the power needed to own land across seas? The Silk Road opened up new applications to already existing inventions like Black-powder. Originally used by the Chinese to celebrate, the Europeans used its explosive properties to create weapons that gave them power. We owe our existence indirectly to China for its invention of Black-powder.