What are the three ancient east-west trade routes

The ancient East-West trade routes include the Silk Road, the Tea Horse Road and the Maritime Silk Road.

1, the Silk Road

Changan (now Xi'an) as a starting point, through Gansu, Xinjiang, to Central Asia, West Asia, and linked to the Mediterranean countries of the land passage, this road is also known as the "Silk Road in the northwest, the basic direction of the two Han Dynasty, including the South Road, the Middle Road, the North Road three routes.

2, Tea and Horse Road

Originally from the ancient southwest border and the northwest border of the tea and horse market, the rise of the Tang and Song dynasties, flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the most prosperous in the mid to late World War II. Tea and Horse Road is divided into Sichuan and Tibet, Yunnan and Tibet, connecting Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet, extending into the territory of Bhutan, Nepal and India (this is the Yunnan-Vietnam Tea and Horse Road), until West Asia, West Africa, the coast of the Red Sea.

3, the Maritime Silk Road

Maritime Silk Road began in the Qin and Han, the rise of the Sui and Tang dynasties, flourished in the Song and Yuan, reached its peak in early Ming Dynasty, the decline of the Ming Dynasty due to the prohibition of the sea. The important starting points of the Maritime Silk Road were Panyu (later renamed Guangzhou), Dengzhou (present-day Yantai), Yangzhou, Quanzhou in Mingzhou, and Liu Jiagang. The largest ports were Guangzhou and Quanzhou. Guangzhou was the largest commercial port in China from the Qin and Han dynasties until the Tang and Song dynasties.

Before the middle of the Song Dynasty, the court did not encourage Chinese merchants to go to sea, and even once banned Chinese merchants to go to sea, is a passive type of international trade, at this time in the vast world of the sea, it is still the Arab merchants in control of the advantage.

After the Song court began to support and encourage the trade revenue dependence and other reasons, the state and the commercial forces of the combined forces, so that the Chinese merchants succeeded in participating in the Arab monopoly of the sea trade, and more than them, in the hundreds of years since then, creating a China dominated the international trade in the era, and basically monopolized the China-India shipping.

In Stavrianos' General History of the Globe, the world picture of China during the Song and Yuan dynasties is described as follows:

"During the Song dynasty the Chinese made great advances in shipbuilding and navigation, and by the end of the twelfth century began to supplant the Muslims' maritime supremacy in East and Southeast Asia. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, Chinese ships were the largest and best equipped; Chinese merchants were spread throughout Southeast Asian and Indian ports? China's import and export trade is also noteworthy, suggesting that China dominated the world economy during this time."

Eurasia during the Song and Yuan dynasties unfolded with an exchange of goods and technology unlike anything seen before. The sea is well connected, technology and markets, raw materials and commodities, living customs and religious beliefs, ideas and art exchange each other, mutual influence, from Japan and Goryeo in Northeast Asia, to all parts of Southeast Asia and the coast of India, and even the Persian Gulf and the ports of East Africa, has formed a "mini-globalization" of the active sea silk trade network.

The vast territory of the Yuan Dynasty for the first time with the Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) border, the first time the Europeans through the Arab curtain and the Chinese direct interaction and trade. The sea and land routes were all open, and it was no accident that Marco Polo came by land and returned by sea.

Because of the Mongol Yuan's ethnic policy in China was divided into four classes, the Han Chinese were the lowest, so the dominant power actually fell into the hands of the colorful people in China, such as the Arab Po family in Quanzhou. The rise of the Yuan dynasty allowed Europeans to trade directly with the East. Marco Polo's travels more profoundly stirred the Europeans to the Golden East's passionate yearning for the later opening of the New Voyages had a huge impact.

The collapse of the Yuan Dynasty and the rise of the Ottoman Turks once again formed a Muslim curtain in the east of the Europeans. All these obstacles forced Europeans to eagerly seek new routes to the East, which led to the geographical discoveries and the great voyages of Western Europe. Europe's geographic discovery and the Renaissance.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Maritime Silk Road

Baidu Encyclopedia - The Ancient Tea and Horse Trail

Baidu Encyclopedia - The Silk Road