Silk Road Civ Hint?

[Ikael]

Afganistan was a key piece of the silk route and it is still relevant today, so that would be my dark horse candidate

 

[MAHRana]

The Khazar Khaganate didn't really lie in the main silk road either though, but the Timurids are an interesting mention seeing as the focus of their empire was largely Samarqand, although they can be considered more of a dynasty.

 

[Sikandar]

A Timurid civilization would be cool. The UA could be where when they capture a city the city specialists who have been settled in that city go back to the Timurid capitol.

 

[shaglio]

Please forgive my ignorance of the Silk Road, but was there actually a trade-based civilization in Central Asia? If there was, it seems highly unlikely that there would be a need for the Silk Road at all. Why would Europeans and Middle Easterners trek all the way across Central Asia to trade with East Asia if there was a trade-based empire in the middle that they could trade with instead? As I said, though, I know very little about the Silk Road. I’m just trying to add logic to what little knowledge I do have on the subject.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Think of the Silk Road as more of a long series of middle-men. The commodity changes hands every few stations, moving farther and farther west, while silver changes hands and moves farther and farther east. The middle-men conduct their trade in the markets of the Silk Road civs which rose and fell in various forms throughout the centuries. The people from the western terminus rarely met anyone from the eastern terminus except as emissaries and vice versa.

Such was the impetus to sail east around Africa or west across a giant ocean: to cut out the middle-men.

 

[Depravo]

Think of the Silk Road as more of a long series of middle-men. The commodity changes hands every few stations, moving farther and farther west, while silver changes hands and moves farther and farther east. The middle-men conduct their trade in the markets of the Silk Road civs which rose and fell in various forms throughout the centuries. The people from the western terminus rarely met anyone from the eastern terminus except as emissaries and vice versa.

Such was the impetus to sail east around Africa or west across a giant ocean: to cut out the middle-men.

Yes. It was a big deal when any individual made it from one end of the network to another cf Marco Polo.

 

[shaglio]

Think of the Silk Road as more of a long series of middle-men. The commodity changes hands every few stations, moving farther and farther west, while silver changes hands and moves farther and farther east. The middle-men conduct their trade in the markets of the Silk Road civs which rose and fell in various forms throughout the centuries. The people from the western terminus rarely met anyone from the eastern terminus except as emissaries and vice versa.

Such was the impetus to sail east around Africa or west across a giant ocean: to cut out the middle-men.

Wow, I feel so dumb now. I knew about the attempts to travel around the Cape of Good Hope and Columbus sailing west to try to find a route to the Indies (and consequently discovering the Americas for Europe), but I just never put it all together in my head.

I was just thinking mostly of Marco Polo and assuming that all traders traversed the entirety of the Silk Road, rather than the goods being exchanged at multiple points along the way.

My High School history teachers would be rolling in their graves if they saw how little their efforts sunk in. But, thanks to the knowledgable people on these boards, I'm learning more than I ever did in class.

 

[ferretbacon]

Assuming trade routes pass can pass through rival territory, possible Silk Road UA:

Receive 25% of the gold value of each trade route that passes through your territory.