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[23] [24] The Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the civilizations of China, India, Ancient Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Ancient Rome. Though silk was certainly the major trade item from China, many other goods were traded, and various technologies, religions and philosophies, as well as the bubonic plague (the " Black Death ...
The production of silk originated in China in the Neolithic period, although it would eventually reach other places of the world (Yangshao culture, 4th millennium BC). Silk production remained confined to China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the latter part of the 1st millennium BC, though China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk production for another thousand years.
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth is the most widely used and intensively studied silkworm.
The Latin forms Serica and Seres derive from the Greek Sērikḗ (Σηρική) and Sḗres (Σῆρες). [5] This seems to derive from their words for silk (Ancient Greek: σηρικός, sērikós; Latin: sericum), which since Klaproth [6] has often been linked to the Chinese 絲, [7] whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as /*[s]ə/.
Kausheya (kauseya, [1] [2] Kiau-she-ye, [3] Kaushika [4]) was a wild variety of ancient silk from India. Domesticated and undomesticated silk (also known as wild silk) were produced in both India and China. [5]: 9 Silk weaving is mentioned in Indian texts from the 3rd century BC.
Silk taken from various species has been used since ancient times, either in its natural state or after some form of preparation. Spider webs were used as a wound dressing in ancient Greece and Rome, [2] and as a base for painting from the 16th century. [3] Caterpillar nests were used to make containers and fabric in the Aztec Empire. [1] [4]
A letter from the Chanyu of the Xiongnu to the Chinese emperor, in which the Chanyu boasted of conquering Loulan, as well as the Yuezhi, Wusun, Hujie (呼揭) and another "26 states nearby". In the same year, the Chinese envoy Zhang Qian described Loulan as a fortified city near the great salt lake or marsh known as Lop Nur. [13]
Silk spinning mill, Suzhou, China The filaments of six cocoons are used to form one thread for spinning silk (Suzhou, 1987) Women weaving silk. Kashgar. Local governments have and are continuing to introduce new facilities that are expected to bring in latest high-end silk manufacturing machinery that will elevate both the quality and the quantity of the silk being produced in China.