Every traveler carried knowledge, beliefs, skills and goods. At every stop along the 5000 mile route, at every inn, marketplace and well, travelers talked and interacted with the local people. With every conversation, ideas and values were transmitted. Both traveler and resident saw new things and gained impressions of the other. Travelers learned about the lands in which they passed; local people learned about the world far away.
Through these small interactions ideas like Buddhism and Islam as well as technologies for building pagodas or manufacturing gunpowder were spread from one end of Asia to the other. The ancient world was, as a result, a much smaller and more connected place than we often believe; a small place that moved at the slow gait of a camel loaded with the wares of world.
A Journey of a Thousand Li* travels through:
- a history of the Silk Road through the lives of its long-distance travelers;
- a history of ideas and technologies transmitted along its length;
- teacher materials, project ideas, reading guides and bibliographies to help students use the information; as well as
- a description of the teaching techniques used to organize the creation of this student-designed website.
A
History of Travelers: Silk Road history
through the eyes of those who walked its length.
The Transmission of Ideas and Technologies
This
website was constructed by Bangor High School's Asian history students under
the direction of Ryan Bradeen, their
instructor. It is designed for use by Bangor students and guests. We acknowledge
the Bangor School Department and the
city of Bangor, Maine
for supporting this program and the opportunities, such as this website,
it has provided. Every effort has been made to represent the best of what
Bangor Schools offers its students.