S1 • E2 Dec 22, 2016 50m
For more than a thousand years, flourishing trade has taken place along the "Silk Road of the Seas", wars of religion and conquest have been waged, and treasure fleets have passed by the coasts. The trade goods of this sea route have had a lasting influence on European culture. Chinese porcelain reaches the west on this route, merchants travel east in search of exotic spices. With its sought-after export goods, China becomes a naval power from the first millennium onwards. Initially, river junks developed into seaworthy ships with which the navigator Zheng He travelled the world in the 15th century. His fleet, also known as the Treasure Fleet, was larger and more powerful than anything that had previously travelled the Silk Road of the Seas. Only after the end of these Chinese discoveries did the European conquerors appear on the scene: with Vasco da Gama a Portuguese "finds" the sea route via India to the Far East. Soon Dutchmen, Englishmen and Spaniards followed and from now on decisively shaped the development of the maritime Silk Road. For centuries, Europe was supplied with the luxury goods of the East via this route. The history of this route does not only describe the legacies of past centuries, but also leads into the living present of today's cultural exchange and trade. (Text: arte)
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator