This included asking the Pope and the Holy Roman Empire for help during the first Crusade to regain control of the Holy Land. Throughout much of the Middle Ages the Byzantium Empire fought the Muslims for control of the eastern Mediterranean. Constantinople became the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church and it no longer recognized the Catholic Church in Rome. Perhaps his best known project was the Hagia Sophia, a beautiful and massive church built in Constantinople. He funded many public works projects as well including bridges, roads, aqueducts, and churches.
Justinian also encouraged the arts including music, drama, and art. Similarly, techniques for making glass migrated eastward to China from the Islamic world.The Hagia Sofia Church in Constantinople (Istanbul today) In addition, the rich spices of the East quickly became popular in the West, and changed cuisine across much of Europe. The eventual development of Gutenberg’s printing press allowed for the mass production of books and, later, newspaper, which enabled a wider exchange of news and information. Of course, paper’s arrival in Europe fostered significant industrial change, with the written word becoming a key form of mass communication for the first time. Paper was invented in China during the 3rd century B.C., and its use spread via the Silk Road, arriving first in Samarkand in around 700 A.D., before moving to Europe through the then-Islamic ports of Sicily and Spain. They were also among the most-traded items between the East and West. Trade along the so-called Silk Road economic belt included fruits and vegetables, livestock, grain, leather and hides, tools, religious objects, artwork, precious stones and metals and-perhaps more importantly-language, culture, religious beliefs, philosophy and science.Ĭommodities such as paper and gunpowder, both invented by the Chinese during the Han Dynasty, had obvious and lasting impacts on culture and history in the West. But the transport of goods and services along these routes dates back even further. Han Emperor Wu sent imperial envoy Zhang Qian to make contact with cultures in Central Asia in 138 B.C., and his reports from his journeys conveyed valuable information about the people and lands that lay to the West. The Silk Road may have formally opened up trade between the Far East and Europe during the Han Dynasty, which ruled China from 206 B.C. Although it’s been nearly 600 years since the Silk Road has been used for international trade, the routes had a lasting impact on commerce, culture and history that resonates even today. Established when the Han Dynasty in China officially opened trade with the West in 130 B.C., the Silk Road routes remained in use until 1453 A.D., when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them.
The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe.
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