Silk Road Help
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Silk.Need some help deciding on some big trade items that would float along the Silk Road (or Neo-Silk Road might be the case), since it becomes important to trade once again due to my POD. Specifically from China to India, and to the Middle East and onto Europe in the late 18th century.
Lapis Lazuli would probably be a big one. Melons could be, though I'm not sure they would make it to Europe. With time, perhaps. I'd imagine that the goods traded to Europe by sea would be traded through the Silk Road, as well. Items will change to meet demand, though, so perhaps wools and the like would be more appreciated going northwards than, say, gold. Though that's always good.
http://www.advantour.com/silkroad/goods.htm
Found this link. I know that you'll have to make some adjustments considering you're looking more at an 18th century thing, but it could be helpful.
Silk.
Lapis Lazuli would probably be a big one. Melons could be, though I'm not sure they would make it to Europe. With time, perhaps. I'd imagine that the goods traded to Europe by sea would be traded through the Silk Road, as well. Items will change to meet demand, though, so perhaps wools and the like would be more appreciated going northwards than, say, gold. Though that's always good.
http://www.advantour.com/silkroad/goods.htm
Found this link. I know that you'll have to make some adjustments considering you're looking more at an 18th century thing, but it could be helpful.
Thanks. Usually stuff dealing with the road does involve the middle ages, like this article, thus my question. Still fairly helpful.Yeah. Things will mostly involve the middle ages, but in any case, the products all depend on demand and supply. I do know that lapis was quite popular in India, and was brought from Badakhshan to adorn the Taj Mahal. And it was made into jewellery. I suppose that that could be seen as fashionable in, say, Russia.
It'll also depend on the relationship of the countries which occupy the Silk Road.
Right now in my TL the world's a mess after a global contagion. A big motivator is a rebel Chinese state of the empire's interior wants to trade to bolster their economy and recover from their war against the Qing. The Ottomans are in a civil war. The Austrians and several smaller states in Europe are the only stable ones; Russia's become very decentralized and the west is consumed in a big war.
So trade revolving around war and food would be a big thing, with luxury items taking a back seat. Lapis trade could pick up as things stabilize.
Sounds good. Aside from Opium, do you know what were big trade items between China and India?
Not really. But I should really familiarise myself with that for my own TL. I think Central Asia was the 'centre of production' so to speak for both China and India.
Well, jewels and stuff were mined in Central Asia, and made their way from there to India and China. Camels would also go to China and India.Really. Thought it was more the 'middleman' to downright 'just the road'.
Though I do wish someone with more knowledge on this would come and contribute. I could use some info on this, myself.
OOH! I totally forgot! Knowledge would transfer through the road as well, like tech. So if you have new technologies developed by one power relatively nearby, the others could possibly profit in some way.
There was a really good discussion on trade relating to it earlier this month, wish those folks would show up too. Tech is a good one as well. Though on average, due to the devastation of the plague, technology will be roughly 20 to 50 years behind OTL.
I remember that discussion. Wonder why those people don't show up.
In any case, weapons would still work their way, possibly from India to China. Damascus steel weapons in India, frex.
Precious metals, gems, metal goods, porcelains, silk and other textiles, spices, and tea in peacetime; weapons, ammunition, and medicines in wartime. By the eighteenth century OTL almost all this trade was by sea. Why? Speed; land transport is at best 20 km per day, while a ship could average 10 km per hour, or 240 km per day. Capacity; an average pack animal can carry 200 kg or so and an average trading ship 100 metric tons or more; it would take at least 500 pack animals to equal the capacity of one such ship, and the ship is far cheaper to operate.
So what would move by the Silk Road? Over short distances, almost anything; all that is required is that the item sell for more than it cost to buy and transport. Over long distances, the list is much shorter. Melons and other perishables are out; spoilage will eat up all your profits. Bulk goods like raw cotton are out as well; the profit margin is too small to cover the cost of long-distance transport. To be profitable the items have to be small, light, non-perishable, and high value. Hence the above lists.
EDIT: For those of you interested in such things, I recommend the game Port Royale 2 (Ascaron Entertainment; $10 or so.); it is a decent simulation of a Caribbean trading empire, educational, and fun as well.
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Ah. Thanks. Beyond what you've mentioned, would there be anything else worth trading by land, whether it arrives through or from Central Asia? And what about furs from Russia?
Lord McCartney's mission to China took clockwork, though it didn't go down too well.
Would any customer be interested in the others' art?
If one place is definitely ahead in some science (medicine comes to mind) apprentices might regularly chose to emigrate.
You'll already have taken into account, there might be items such as hides and honey, which wouldn't pay to haul the whole Silk Road, but which would if you took them between two neighbours.
Would any customer be interested in the others' art?
If one place is definitely ahead in some science (medicine comes to mind) apprentices might regularly chose to emigrate.
You'll already have taken into account, there might be items such as hides and honey, which wouldn't pay to haul the whole Silk Road, but which would if you took them between two neighbours.
Lapis was also used as a pigment for paints. Actually, its use as a pigment was probably more important than its use as a gemstone.
While we're talking about blue pigments, indigo and cobalt would be very important trade goods between India, Central Asia, and China. More minor ones would be other mineral pigments like malachite, orpiment, cinnabar, and realgar. Other dyes such as lac, kermes, madder, gamboge, and alkanet would travel in both directions.
Hadn't known that. Thanks.
2nd that, thanks for dropping the knowledge
. This makes me happy I asked the question in the first place.Mosodake is right; dyestuffs are indeed perfect trade items. Furs would be traded, but not as much, since they're bulky. Alcohol products as well; everybody likes to drink, right?
The most valuable item though, as others have pointed out, is information. From political and military secrets to mundane items like weather and road conditions, knowledge is power.
No problem. Glad to help2nd that, thanks for dropping the knowledge
Dyes are good because they can be traded in both directions. Raw dyestuffs in exchange for finished, dyed and woven cloth. Same with minerals like cobalt. Much of the cobalt used in Chinese porcelain came from Central Asia, I think, and the finished porcelain later traveled back west along the Silk Road. I'm not sure alcohol would travel well on land. Liquid is heavy and awkward to transport in caravans.