The Classical Period, c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE: Content Summary 2.6: Trade Networks and Cultural Encounters in the Classical World

Rising urban expansion and increasing elite demand for luxury goods that could not be produced locally provided financial incentives to expand the Silk Roads. (2.6.A)

Merchants with common language and cultural practices typically operated along specific road segments. (2.6.A)

The specialized economies of pastoral nomads in central Eurasia encouraged trade in livestock and furs with agrarian and urban societies. (2.6.A)

The specialized economies of pastoral nomads in central Eurasia encouraged trade in livestock and furs with agrarian and urban societies. (2.6.A)

The specialized economies of pastoral nomads in central Eurasia encouraged trade in livestock and furs with agrarian and urban societies. (2.6.A)

The pack camel was the dominant form of transportation on the Silk Roads because it could travel long distances in arid climates and was cost-efficient compared to horse-drawn carts, which required the maintenance of roads and support networks for the animals. (2.6.A)

The pack camel was the dominant form of transportation on the Silk Roads because it could travel long distances in arid climates and was cost-efficient compared to horse-drawn carts, which required the maintenance of roads and support networks for the animals. (2.6.A)

It also holds that bodhisattvas are saints who postpone the achievement of nirvana to assist others on the path of enlightenment. (2.6.B)

Devotion to bodhisattvas is associated with protection and good fortune in daily temporal affairs. (2.6.B)

Mahayana Buddhists believe that the Buddha was a God and savior. (2.6.B)

The popular appeal of this salvationist and universal form of Buddhism facilitated its spread to parts of Central Asia and China. (2.6.B)

Mariners in the Indian Ocean understood the currents and monsoon wind patterns, and they used the reverse course of the monsoon winds to sail away from land. (2.6.C)

Malay and Arab mariners developed sail configurations, such as the lateen sail, that were parallel to the sides of the ship to navigate both with and against the wind. (2.6.C)

The Indian Ocean basin was a cosmopolitan space with Malay, Gujarati, Arab, Greek, Roman, and East African merchants conducting commerce and establishing trade diasporas. (2.6.C)

This trade also diffused South Asian cultural practices, such as Hinduism and Buddhism as well as Indic writing scripts, to Southeast Asia. (2.6.C)