Central Asian Economy
Mongol herdsman
When people first moved into Central Asia about 50,000 BC, they were probably following the big animals that they hunted for food and leather skins - the wild aurochs and the wild horse. The great grasslands of Central Asia were a good place for aurochs and horses, because they eat grass.
By about 4000 BC, people in Central Asia had figured out how to tame horses and cattle that they herded around, so they didn't have to follow the wild herds anymore. Soon they began to ride the horses, so they could keep up with their cattle herds more easily, and by 2500 BC they had tamed camels too.
By about 100 BC, thanks to the peaceful time of the Han Dynasty in China and the Parthian Empire in West Asia, Central Asian people began to use their camels and horses to carry things to trade from one end of Asia to the other. One of the most important things these traders carried was silk from China, so the road they rode on was called the Silk Road. Central Asian traders also carried pottery from China, cotton, cinnamon and pepper from India, ivory and ostrich eggs from Africa, silver from Spain, gold from Spain and Africa, amber from Russia, Greek perfume, figs, and walnuts, and glass from the Hellenistic kingdoms.
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(a project)
The Silk Road did even better in the Middle Ages, when the Mongols united all of Asia under one empire, from China all the way to Turkey and India, and the rest of West Asia and North Africa was united under Islam. The long peace was good for traders.
But all these people moving along the Silk Road also brought germs with them. Beginning in 1328 AD, the bubonic plague, or Black Death, spread from China or Central Asia to Europe and North Africa, killing tens of millions of people. People were afraid of strangers. They thought they might be bringing diseases with them. At the same time, the Mongol Empire collapsed. So by 1400 AD, trade stopped on the Silk Road.
Now that they couldn't get their silk, cotton, spices and porcelain from the Silk Road anymore, traders in Europe began to look for a way to get these things themselves by sailing ships from Europe to India and China. The first Portuguese ships sailed around Africa to India in 1498 AD, and reached China in 1517. Because it turned out to be cheaper to trade between Europe, India, and China by sea than over land, that was the end of the Silk Road. People in Central Asia continued to herd cattle and horses, but they were never again as rich as they were when they were running the Silk Road.
Tales
Told in Tents: Stories from Central Asia
by Sally Pomme Clayton (2000). For kids.
Empire
Of The Mongolians, by Michael Burgan (2005). Young adult.
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