A North-South trade route existed in Asia long before the East-West Silk Road appeared: many Chinese items such as mirrors and pieces of silk fabric were found in tombs in Southern Siberia. The Indus River also allowed the existence of a route from China –where the powerful Shule kingdom was located– to India and Pakistan. There are evidences that objects found in Thailand and Japan, such as coins and ornamental plates, were influenced by Chinese and Central Asian handicrafts as well.
The Great Silk Road is a system of caravan routes of ancient times and in the Middle Ages which connected Asia with the Mediterranean and European world. These routes highly influenced the development of trade interactions and cultural ties between the West and the East. The Silk Road served not only as route for exporting goods such as silk, spices, precious metals, minerals handicrafts, architecture and paintings but also transmitted cultural exchange including theatric performance, dance and music art.
The Arabic language spread all over the former Islamic State from the Atlantic Ocean to the banks of the Indus. The advent of Islam, therefore, marked a crucial stage in the history of the Arabic language. Contacts between the Arabic world and modern Europe in the 18th/19th century left major imprints on the Arabic language and converted classical Arabic into modern Arabic. Also Arabic grammar and lexicography went through different stages of development in the last centuries.
The Silk Road has had a unique role in foreign trade and political relations leaving its mark on the development of civilisations on both sides of the continent. We can speak of a cross-fertilization of ideas, technologies and cultures that led to mutually beneficial developments on the cultural, social and economic levels for the peoples concerned.
Contrary to common the thesis, G. Sultonova argues that in the 16th and early 17th centuries trade relations between Bukhara and Yarkend khanates did not lose their importance despite long periods of political instability in the region. It was the stabilization of political situation in both states that increasingly consolidated these relations. In turn, this process contributed to the development of trade relations not only within the limits of the Central Asian region but also between the countries of the East and West.
The migrations typical for in the Central Asia in the 2 century B.C first ever put in the forefront authentic Turkic-speaking peoples. The origination of Turkic peoples in the history is not attributable to the name or the people of Turk that appeared in the south, near the Great Wall of China in the 5 century A.D. One should therefore not derive ethnic and cultural history of all ancient, medieval and contemporary peoples speaking languages of the Turkic group from this people only.
Turkmenistan’s ceramics industry has increasingly developed during the Neolithic, Eneolithic, and Bronze ages. In the Neolithic ages primitive kinds of pottery images and ornaments emerged. These pottery technics were further developed during the Eneolithic ages and became even more complex in the Bronze Age. Situated both at the heart of the Silk Road and regions of ancient South Turkmenistan did not only conserve its original culture but also enriched itself due to cultural influences and exchanges from surrounding regions.
Governor-generals of Abbasid Egypt that were natives of the Central Asia, played an important role not only in the military and political-administrative spheres but also left their appreciable imprint on the cultural life of the region. These influences are obvious especially in architectural masterpieces, such as mosque of Ibn Tulun, civil buildings, engineering and artistic patterns that brought fame and glory to Egypt.
