Shortly after prophet Muhammed founded Islam during the first half of the 7th century, the new religion spread to China through the Sea Silk Route. It also quickly expanded to North Africa where Muslims came to be known as “Moors”, a name given to them by the Europeans. Before the 10th century, Muslims of North African descent arrived in the Philippines over the oceanic trade route and founded families there.
The religious cults practiced by Central Asian nomadic tribes before the rise of the Sasanian Empire were varied, and some bore similarities to Zoroastrianism. Archaeological evidence from sites in Bactria, Magiana and Sogdia has revealed how the myths, gods and their representation as well as funerary rites in Central Asia evolved and spread from the Bronze Age until the arrival of Islam in the seventh century AD.
At the margins of the main Silk routes, numerous secondary routes equally contributed to the exchange of goods and works of art and the diffusion of languages, religions and cultural influences. Thus, several routes through the Himalaya connected India and China after the rise of the Kushan Empire in the 1st century AD. The route running through Nubra Valley in the Ladakh district saw the passage of several Western explorers, and it remained open until the middle of the 20th century.
With the rise of the Han Dynasty in China, the Silk trade between China and countries as far away as Iran flourished. However, silk was by no means the only merchandise that was traded between China and the West. The merchants, who were envied, esteemed and despised, led dangerous nomadic lives. Their caravans were often joined by missionaries, and merchants played a crucial role in favouring cultural exchange and the propagation of religions.
Sri Lanka was a popular stopover for merchants on their journeys between East and West. From the first centuries AD onwards, the island established constant and peaceful cultural, religious and economic relations with the Chinese Empire, and it was described in various accounts by Chinese travellers. In the fifteenth century, the political relations between Sri Lanka and China deteriorated temporarily due to a clash between the king of the island and the Chinese traveller Cheng Ho.
In the early centuries A.D., miniature Buddhist sculpture from Gandhara became wide spread on the territory of Eastern Turkestan and Middle Asia. This is supported by the finds of archaeological expeditions, as well as by numerous research publications. Samples of Gandharan miniature sculpture carved of stone and ivory were found in Khotan by the 1900–01 expedition of Aurel Stein. One of the first research publications on the subject was S. F Oldenburg’s article dedicated to Gandharan art relics found in Khotan. The majority of works described by S.
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 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.
In 2008, stone bases of different sizes, pilasters manufactured of limestone in Greek-Bactrian architectural style, and a stone mock-up of chartak were discovered during the course of archaeological prospecting in Parhar region of Tajikistan. Archaeological findings in this region indicate that a Zoroastrian fire temple must have towered above an underlying village.
