THE FORMATION OF THE SILK ROAD BEFORE THE MONGOL EMPIRE

Abstract

This paper focuses on the cultural, technological and economic exchanges along the silk road from the early times to the dissolution of the Mongol Empire and the role of the nomadic peoples inhabiting along the silk road for the development of it. Since the role of the nomadic peoples have long been either disregarded or have been a victim of stereotypes and prejudices, it is important to examine their role within a new perspective. In this respect, by putting the Central Eurasian steppe area to the centre, and the sedentary areas around it to the peripheries, this paper approaches the formation of the silk roads in a steppe-centered manner. In fact, without the nomadic empires, there would probably be no silk road, since without their protection and permission, no Chinese, Persian or European could take up the arduous journey between different points of Eurasia all of which were connected via the Central Eurasian steppe stretching from Hungary to Manchuria.