World History / Unit 3: Classical India and China and the Spread of World Religions
3.6 The Silk Roads and the Spread of Religions
Notes
Trade networks linked Asia, Africa and Europe, carrying goods, ideas and beliefs.
- The Silk Roads were land routes connecting China with Central Asia, Persia, India and the Mediterranean. Indian Ocean sea routes used monsoon winds.
- Goods: Chinese silk and later porcelain; Indian spices and cotton; Roman glass, gold and silver; horses from Central Asia.
- Cultural diffusion is the spread of ideas and customs from one culture to another. Merchants and missionaries spread Buddhism from India to Central Asia and China by the first century CE.
- Christianity spread through the Roman world and beyond to Ethiopia, Armenia and Persia.
- Diseases also traveled along trade routes.
| Religion | Origin | Spread to |
|---|---|---|
| Hinduism | India | Southeast Asia |
| Buddhism | India | China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia |
| Christianity | Judea (Roman Empire) | Europe, North Africa, West Asia |
Practice
Buddhism reached China mainly through:
Trade routes carried Buddhist monks and texts east.
Which is the best example of cultural diffusion?
An idea moved from one culture to another.
Sailors on Indian Ocean routes timed their voyages according to:
Monsoon winds change direction with the seasons.
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