The Silk Road

These sites provide articles, text and maps illuminating the Silk Road, a term used to denote the ancient trade routes that linked the regions of Asia to each other and to Europe. The premier sites for Old World trans-cultural contact are at these URLs.

Questions for exploration:

Discuss the nature of the Silk Road and the reasons trade ebbed and flowed along this route over the centuries. Alternatively, choose a time period and discuss the wares and experiences of a Silk Road traveler of that day. Similarly, if the Silk Road Adventure site is available, choose the role of a historian living on the Changan-Dunghuang segment of the road and write a life history of the Mongol Kubilai Khan from the sources provided. Choose the role of plant and animal specialist serving the Merv-Venice segment of the Silk Road and provide answers to the questions this specialist would be expected to master, such as characteristics of the dromedary camel.

The Huns

This site explores the impact of the Huns on world history.

http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/WestEurope/Huns.html

Questions for exploration:

The term Hun evokes the image of destructive barbarian raiders. However, the Huns were a nomadic people who didn’t always conform to that stereotype. How can the case be made that the Huns were more than destroyers? Of course, Huns were great warriors. What was the key to their power? How did they lose it?

Parthia: The Forgotten Empire

This site provides an overview of Parthian history.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/csr/nnc/parthia/frames/phisfm.htm

Questions for exploration:

Why was trade the major underpinning of Parthian power? What parts of the ancient world did the Parthians come to control?

The World of Bedouin Weaving

This site seeks to help sustain the traditions of weaving among the Beduin.

http://www.beduinweaving.com/

Questions for exploration:

Nomadic peoples depend much on weaving. What are the chief products of Beduin weavers? Of what materials are nomadic Arabian and Asian texts made? What styles do they follow?

Mongolian Yurt

Site contains an essay that is part of the Florida "Splendid China" exhibit.

http://www.caccp.org/conf/ger1.html

Question for exploration:

How would you describe the author’s view of Chinese and American efforts to romanticize traditional Mongolian life?

The Remarkable Influence of the Horse

This site is designed to look at how human events and needs affected and continues to affect the development and use of the horse.

http://www.geog.ukans.edu/Geog101/EilzabethB/Elizabeth%20Burgess-Geography%20101%20Project.htm

Question for exploration:

How did the use and development of the horse differ in the world of farmers versus that of the nomad?

Horses and the Plains Indians

Site examines the role of the horse in the life of the Plains Indians.

http://www.texasindians.com/horse.htm

Question for exploration:

Discuss the impact of the horse on the Plains Indians of North America.

Natabean Empire

This site is devoted to the history of the Natabean Empire.

http://www.petramoon.com/nabatean.html

Questions for exploration:

Petra, the capital of the Nabatean Empire, was the queen of caravan cities. What trade routes did it command? What resource helped them maintain their power?

Caravans and Trade Routes

An interactive exhibit whose focus is Turkish trade caravan of the mid-1550s.

http://www.ottoman-traders.com/caravan.html

Questions for exploration:

What kind of goods traveled and were traded along caravan routes in the 1500s?What kind of pack animals were used? What was the size of a typical caravan of the period?

Nomadic Communities

This site offers an essay that examines the problem of settlement work among nomadic societies, but also contains a clear discussion of nomadic life and its perils.

http://hsc.csu.edu.au/pta/gtansw/infogta/publications/nomads.html

Questions for exploration:

Nomads are not easily categorized. What are some different types of nomads? What are the characteristics of pastoral nomads? How have the Pathan people managed to survive the Wars in Afghanistan by shifting from pastoral to trading nomads? What new skills have enabled them to expand their commercial network?