Blood Sweating Horses and the Discovery of the Silk Road
Everything you need to know about the origins of the Silk Road
In 138 BC, the emperor of China, Han Wudi, summoned one of his officers. He presented the commander with a staff bearing the imperial emblem and briefed him about a mission. His task was to locate the whereabouts of a tribe and seal an alliance with them.
The Han Empire’s future was at stake.
The emperor gave him 99 men and dispatched them into the dangerous Gobi Desert, far from the imperial borders. After thirteen years, the ambassador returned. He had failed. Yet, he was hailed as a hero.
The information he brought back altered the course of Chinese history. It helped the Han Empire defeat its arch-nemesis, the Xiongnu.
The diplomat stumbled onto something more valuable than an ally.
He found that Chinese goods were sold as far away as Mesopotamia and Rome. He reported how their commodities moved west across the Himalayas, through Central Asia, over the Zagros Mountains, to the river valleys of Mesopotamia, and on to the Eternal City, Rome.
The discovery helped the Chinese to bypass several middlemen and establish a long-distance trade, laying the groundwork for globalization over a thousand years before Marco Polo. As a result, the Silk Road was born, connecting the East with the West.
The Han ambassador who discovered the Silk Road by accident was Zhang Qian. The emperor rewarded him with one of the highest offices for his efforts.
Who was taking silk from China? Why did the Han emperor send Zhang to search for an ally?
Let’s find out.
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The Curious Case of the Missing Silk
The Xiongnu were a confederacy of nomadic tribes that lived in the northern regions of China and Mongolia. For a deep dive on their origins, check out my earlier story:
The Rise of the Xiongnu: How a Father’s Betrayal Forged an Empire
The prince mounted his horse and rode out on his hunt across the expansive Steppes. The king, his father, had joined him. A band of devoted followers trailed the prince as he found a stag.
After the Xiongnu defeated the Han dynasty in the Battle of Baideng in 200 BC, they forced the Chinese to sign a humiliating treaty. Every year, the Han were required to deliver their princesses in marriage and silk to the nomads. This policy was known as heqin.
What did the Han get in exchange?
A few horses. Sounds like a raw deal.
In 138 BC, Emperor Han Wudi was fed up with this unfair treaty and planned to launch an attack against the Xiongnu. But there was a significant roadblock. The Xiongnu had a large army of well-trained horseback warriors, and the infantry-based Han army was no match for them.
The Han were not the only enemies of the Xiongnu. In the 2nd century BC, the Yuezhi (later known as Kushans), a nomadic confederacy centered in the Gansu region in northwest China, fought with the Xiongnu.
The Yuezhi were defeated and driven away from China.
Where did they go?
That’s what Han Wudi wanted to know. He trusted Zhang Qian to track down the Yuezhi and seal a military alliance with them. The Han and the Yuezhi had scores to settle with their common enemy, the Xiongnu.
Luckily, the Han had captured a Xiongnu warrior called Ganfu. He agreed to guide the Han delegation to the Yuezhi. Ganfu showed the way through the Gobi Desert. But Zhang and his men hadn’t ventured far when the Xiongnu captured them.
Zhang was brought to Junchen Chanyu, the head of the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu admired bold men regardless of their ethnicity. Zhang’s physical prowess and intellect impressed the Chanyu. Though Zhang was a prisoner, the Xiongnu treated him like nobility. They provided him with food, clothing, a tent, horses, and even a bride. Sounds like an offer the Chinese diplomat couldn’t refuse!
The arrangement was perhaps too favorable because it explains why Zhang spent ten of his thirteen years in Xiongnu captivity. He had a son with his wife.
But during his days with the Xiongnu, something caught his eye.
The Xiongnu were a tough, nomadic people who taught their children to hunt at an early age. The men grazed livestock during times of peace and doubled up as horseback archers during times of war. The hardy warriors had a taste for luxury, which explains why they demanded silk as a tribute from the Han. But they wore clothes made of animal skins.
Where did all the silk that the Chinese paid as tribute go? There wasn’t a single piece of silk clothing in sight!
Zhang knew they’d sold them, but to whom?
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