Qin dynasty
The Maritime Silk Road actually existed for a long time. The maritime traffic routes in Hanshu Geography are actually the early maritime Silk Road, when the "groceries" carried by ships were all kinds of silks. As early as BC, China's silk exports had two routes from the East China Sea to the South China Sea. South China is the birthplace of Austronesian language family. Known as Baiyue nationality in the pre-Qin period, it is one of the most widely distributed nationalities in the world. They have excellent sailing experience and adventurous spirit, and have traveled all over the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. They have migrated to the ocean since prehistoric times, and they are distributed in Madagascar, Hawaii and New Zealand, and their culture has indirectly influenced the Indian Ocean coast and its islands. After Qin Shihuang unified Lingnan, it developed rapidly. At that time, Panyu already had a shipbuilding industry of considerable scale and high technical level. The maritime traffic in Lingnan area in the pre-Qin period laid the foundation for the formation of the Maritime Silk Road. The main trading ports are Panyu (now Guangzhou) and Xuwen (now Xuwen), as evidenced by the cultural relics unearthed from the tomb of Nanyue King.
1At the end of 974, the palace ruins of Nanyue State were discovered on Zhongshan 4th Road in Guangzhou, and the Qin Dynasty shipyard was found under the palace ruins. Judging from the unearthed cultural relics, this is the shipyard site of Panyu, the first army, when Qin Shihuang unified Lingnan. 1975 excavation of the shipbuilding site in Qin dynasty began, and a 29-meter-long berth was cleared. 1997 found a 3,600-square-meter shipbuilding wood processing plant. At that time, it was found that the palace in South Vietnam was right above the workshop, because the palace was no longer excavated. After many explorations and studies, it is concluded that the factory is composed of three east-west parallel wooden shipyards 100 meters long and a wood processing factory in the south, which can build wooden boats with a width of 8 meters, a length of 30 meters and a load of 50 to 60 tons.
Western Han Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty
The Maritime Silk Road really took shape and began to develop in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Western Han Dynasty, the sea route between South Guangdong and the Indian Peninsula was opened. After the destruction of South Vietnam by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the scale of maritime trade expanded from the sea, so the Maritime Silk Road rose. Hanshu? According to geographical records, its route is: starting from Xuwen (now xuwen county, Guangdong Province) and Hepu (now Hepu County, Guangxi Province), passing through the South China Sea, entering the Malay Peninsula, the Gulf of Siam and the Bay of Bengal, and reaching the kingdom of Huang in the south of the Indian Peninsula and the country that has never been to (now Sri Lanka). This is the earliest written record of the Maritime Silk Road.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the first contact with the Roman Empire was also recorded: ships in the Eastern Han Dynasty used sails, and China merchants arrived in Guangzhou by sea for trade. Silk and porcelain were shipped to India by sea through Malacca and Sumatra, and spices and dyes were bought and shipped back to China. Indian merchants then transported silk and porcelain to Cairo Port in Egypt via the Red Sea or to Antioch via the Persian Gulf, and then Greek and Roman merchants transported them from Alexandria and Gaza in Egypt to the cities and countries of the two Greek and Roman empires via the Mediterranean Sea.
This marks the formation of the Maritime Silk Road that truly spans Asia, Africa and Europe. Sailing westward from Panyu, Xuwen and Hepu, Guangdong, China, and meeting and docking with sea routes sailing eastward from Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean coastal ports in the Indian Ocean, Guangdong became the origin of the Maritime Silk Road. With the development of sericulture and textile industry in Han Dynasty, silk products became the main export products in this period.
Three Kingdoms
During the Three Kingdoms period, Wei, Shu and Wu all produced silk, while Wu lived in the east of the Yangtze River. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms were in a critical period when the Maritime Silk Road turned from land to sea. During the Three Kingdoms period, due to the needs of Sun Wu, Cao Wei and Liu Shu's fighting on the Yangtze River and maritime traffic, the navy was actively developed, and the design and manufacture of ships made great progress, with advanced technology and huge scale. Other southern regimes (Eastern Jin, Song, Qi, Liang and Chen) after the Three Kingdoms have also been confronting the North, which has also promoted the development of marine and navigation technology and accumulated navigation experience, and provided good conditions for the development of the Maritime Silk Road.
According to literature research, Sun Wu's shipbuilding industry is particularly developed. At that time, Sun Wu's shipbuilding industry had reached the international leading level. The ships built by Sun Wu are mainly warships, followed by merchant ships, with large number, large hull and high quality keel structure. This has played a positive role in promoting the development of trade and transportation and the further formation of the Maritime Silk Road. At the same time, Sun Wu's silk industry has far exceeded the level and scale of the Han Dynasty, and started official silk weaving, with its own unique innovation and development. This has also greatly promoted and promoted the development of China silk industry. It has the subjective and objective conditions for sailing to sea, thus forming the East China Sea Silk Road.
Jin Wei
After Wei and Jin Dynasties, a coastal route was opened. Guangzhou has become the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, passing through the eastern waters of Hainan Island, reaching the countries in the South China Sea through the Xisha Islands, and then passing through the Straits of Malacca, heading for the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Foreign trade involves fifteen countries and regions, and silk is the main export commodity.
Sui and Tang Dynasties
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Guangzhou became the largest port in China and a world-famous oriental port city. The route from Guangzhou to the Persian Gulf countries via the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean was the longest route in the world at that time.
After the opening of the Maritime Silk Road, before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, that is, in the 6th and 7th centuries, it was only a supplementary form of the onshore Silk Road. However, during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, due to the constant wars in the western regions, the Silk Road on land was blocked by the war. Instead, it was the Maritime Silk Road. In the Tang Dynasty, with the development of shipbuilding and navigation technology in China, the sea routes from China to Southeast Asia, Malacca Strait, Indian Ocean, Red Sea and African continent were successively opened and extended, and the Maritime Silk Road finally replaced the land Silk Road and became the main channel for China's foreign exchanges.
According to New Tang Book? According to geographical records, in the Tang Dynasty, there was a sea route along the southeast coast of China to Southeast Asia, countries in the northern Indian Ocean, the coast of the Red Sea, northeastern Africa and countries in the Persian Gulf, which was called "Guangzhou Tonghai Island", which was the earliest name of the Maritime Silk Road in China. At that time, the commodities exported through this channel were mainly silk, porcelain, tea and copper and iron. The main imports are spices, flowers and other rare treasures for the court to enjoy. This situation continued until the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
Route: Set sail from Guangzhou or Quanzhou, passing through Hainan Island, Guo Huan (in today's Vietnam), Mendu, Guwan, Longyamen, Luoyue, Sri Lifo, Hu Ling, Guluo, Koguryo, Shengdeng, Bulu, Lion, Nantianzhu, Brahman, Xinduhe and Tirolu. At the same time, people from the Tang Dynasty emigrated overseas. Among them, in 200 1 year, the South Korean Lin family went to Pengcheng, Hui 'an, Quanzhou to seek roots and worship their ancestors, which is even more legendary. Tang Lin's ancestors crossed the sea in South Korea, and so far they have multiplied 6.5438+0.2 million people.
Song dynasty
In the Song Dynasty, shipbuilding and navigation techniques were improved obviously, compasses were widely used in navigation, and the navigation ability of China merchant ships was greatly enhanced. During the Song Dynasty, it maintained friendly relations with southeast coastal countries, and Guangzhou became the largest overseas trading port. "Yuanfeng Ship" marks the beginning of another development stage of China's ancient foreign trade management system, and folk maritime trade has been greatly developed with the encouragement of the government. However, in order to prevent the outflow of coins, the Southern Song government ordered silk and porcelain to be exchanged for foreign imports in 12 19. In this way, the quantity and scope of China silk and porcelain spread to the outside world are increasing.
The continuous development of the Maritime Silk Road in Song Dynasty greatly increased the deep financial revenue of the imperial court and port cities, promoted economic development and urbanized life to a certain extent, and provided convenient conditions for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. However, the Yuan Dynasty adopted a mercantilist policy in economy and encouraged overseas trade. The countries and regions that trade with China expanded to Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States, and formulated the first systematic foreign trade management rules in the history of China. The development of the Maritime Silk Road entered its heyday.
Quanzhou's overseas traffic originated in the Southern Dynasties and developed in the Tang Dynasty. At the turn of the Tang and Song Dynasties, China's economic center of gravity has begun to shift to the south, and the southeast economy has developed rapidly. There were three major foreign trade ports in Song Dynasty, namely Guangzhou, Ningbo and Quanzhou. The geographical convenience of this port is very important to overseas businessmen. Businessmen from Japan and the Korean peninsula in the north hope that the main ports of the Song Dynasty will be as far north as possible, while the Arab world and South China Sea countries with larger trade volume hope that the ports will be as far south as possible. The resultant point of the two directions will be balanced in Quanzhou, which was located at the midpoint of the north and south coasts. It is this geographical advantage of north-south radiation that makes Quanzhou quickly surpass Mingzhou Port (Ningbo) after the establishment of the Municipal Navigation Office (1087).
the Yuan Dynasty
In the 14th year of Yuan Dynasty (1277), Yuan Shizu allowed the reconstruction of Bos in Quanzhou for the first time, which remained unchanged in Yuan Dynasty. He also ordered Suodu and Pu Shougeng to "sue each other", appointed Pu Shougeng's eldest son Pu as Deputy Marshal Zuo, and appointed him as an overseas ambassador. Quanzhou's overseas transportation trade entered a golden age. Maritime trade extends to Japan in the east and southeast Asia, Persia, Arabia and Africa in the west. Haijiang ant colony is highly respected. "Erythrina is one of the largest ports in the world." It exports ceramics, silks and satins, tea, steel and so on. And import spices, peppers, medicinal materials, pearls, etc.
During Kublai Khan's reign in Yuan Shizu, he was banned for four times because of years of foreign wars and failures. The first "maritime ban" occurred at the beginning of the 22nd year of Zhiyuan (1285). The first sea ban lasted from 1292 to 1294. The second sea ban lasted from 1303 to 1308. The third sea ban lasted from 13 1 1 to 13 14. The fourth sea ban ended from 1320 to 1322. 1322 Shipbuilders in Quanzhou, Qingyuan (Ningbo) and Guangzhou were relocated, and then the sea was no longer banned. China's great navigator, Wang Dayuan, sailed to Egypt from Quanzhou Port and wrote a book "Island Brief", which recorded the 100 countries he visited.
tomorrow
15 to 18 century is an era of great changes in human history. Europeans have successively carried out global maritime expansion activities, especially geographical discoveries, which opened up the era of great navigation and opened up a new era of world maritime trade. The overseas expansion of western European businessmen changed the characteristics of the traditional Maritime Silk Road based on peaceful trade. Commercial activities are often accompanied by war smoke and armed robbery.
During this period, the Maritime Silk Road route of the Ming Dynasty has been extended to the whole world: (1) Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Ocean: this was a large-scale sailing activity organized by the Ming government, which reached 39 countries and regions in Asia and Africa, and played a leading role in later da Gama's opening of local routes from Europe to India and Magellan's voyage around the world. (2) Eastbound "Guangzhou-Latin America Route" (1575): set sail from Guangzhou, go to sea via Macau, and arrive at Manila Port in the Philippines. Cross the San Bernardino Strait into the Pacific Ocean and head east to the west coast of Mexico. In this way, the Maritime Silk Road, which began in the Han Dynasty, developed day by day during the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties and reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty. The success of Zheng He's voyage to the Western Ocean marked the heyday of the development of the Maritime Silk Road.
In Ming Dynasty, the sea was forbidden, and Quanzhou Port declined. Throughout the Ming Dynasty, the role of Quanzhou Port was only reflected in providing supplies for professionals and ships during Zheng He's pilgrimage to the West, and maintaining part of the tribute with Ryukyu. The sea ban in this period forced private overseas trade to be smuggled, because the government's control was weak and local business officials formed a certain profit-seeking force, which made private commercial trade have enough living space to grow. Although the official business system in Song and Yuan Dynasties has been replaced by private business, the overseas development of private business has greatly declined. Facing the frequent smuggling activities of coastal businessmen relying on geographical advantages, the Ming government tried to control and resolve the illegal trade of other smuggling ports by mastering some ports, among which Zhangzhou Yuegang rose after the official relaxed the ban several times and became the largest private commercial port in the southeast coast. In the era of Guangdong and Hong Kong, galleons kept going back and forth between China and the Philippines, and trade continued. Spanish silver shipped from Mexico to the Philippines continuously flows to China through China maritime business, while China commodities and immigrants flow to the Philippines, and a Chinese business network and Chinese business society have begun to take shape.
Ching Dynasty
In the Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou became the only big commercial port open to the outside world on China's Maritime Silk Road because of the government's maritime ban policy. During the Bitang and Song Dynasties, the maritime Silk Road trade in Guangzhou had a greater development, forming an unprecedented global circular trade, which continued and maintained until the eve of the Opium War. This is also an important turning point in the history of foreign trade in the Qing Dynasty. Among the imported commodities, opium gradually occupies the first place, and has evolved from smuggling to legalization.
After the Opium War, China lost its sea power and became a semi-colony of western powers, and its coastal ports were forced to open, becoming a market for western dumped goods, plundering China resources and monopolizing the export trade of China's silk, porcelain, tea and other commodities. Since then, the Maritime Silk Road has fallen into a recession. This situation continued throughout the Republic of China until the eve of the founding of New China.