IN SEARCH FOR AL-ANDALUS, Part III. - Uzbekistan and the Silk Road

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The Silk Road – Instrument for Transfer of Knowledge and Innovations But Silk Road was not only the most important trade road from Far East to the West. At those times neither letters and post offices, nor telephone or Internet did exist. Thus, before the discovery of paper and book printing, all over the world all kinds of news or events were transmitted from country to country through oral traditions. Fabric merchant, Samarkand. Merchants display includes silk, cotton, and wool fabrics, as well as few carpets. Picture was taken between 1905 and 1915 by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944) 11 The Silk Road turned to be the “Road of cultural and scientific exchange”, an instrument for the transport of ideas and innovations, for the transfer of scientific discoveries and new technologies. Even religions took that trail: Christian missionaries came along the Silk Road to China and Buddhist monks went from India to China and to Europe. So we can say that the Old Uzbekistan was a melting pot for all kind of cultures, a turntable not only for trade of products, but also for transfer of knowledge and technical progress from Eastern countries to the Western World and back. The secret of silk production Wooden weaving- loom still in use in Morocco. In the village Bzou women continue weaving fabrics for high priced men clothing following the old Andalusian tradition of mixing silk and cotton Production of silk started in China probably 5.000 years ago in the 3rd or 2nd millennium AD. It was forbidden under pain of death to takeout from China silk worms and eggs of the silk-spinner butterfly. During 2.000 years the secret could be kept. According to an ancient legend, two monks were successful in “exporting” eggs and silk worms in their hollow walking sticks. Once the secret of silk production and the very first silk worms had succeeded to cross the Chinese border towards the West, Uzbekistan was one of the very first countries to start cultivating and producing silk. Thanks to the excellent soil composition in Fergana Valley Area, the mulberry trees grew nearly better here than in China. 11 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gorskii_03948u.jpg 10
Thanks to oral transmissions from traders travelling along the Silk Road to the West, the precious knowledge about silk producing and the first silk worms were brought also to Arabia. Due to its hot and dry climate, Arabia was not the best place to cultivate mulberry trees, but al-Andalus was an excellent country for that purpose. Andalusian Arabs quickly learned how to produce silk and how to weave precious carpets, beautiful tapestries for the walls, pillow covers, textiles as well as all kind of robes and dresses. On the Southern flank of the Andalusian mountain range Sierra Nevada, the Spanish region Alpujarra offered the best climatic conditions for planting and cultivating mulberry trees. All valleys and hills in that area were covered with mulberry trees. In the Alpujarra area and around the Andalusian city of Granada there existed thousands of small weaving-looms, we can say that nearly even the smallest house had a weaving-loom. The Mediterranean town of Almeria (Andalusia) was the home port of the Caliphs large fleet of commercial ships. We can read in historical chronicles that in the 11th century, around 5.000 wooden-looms were counted in Almería and every week dozens of ships to all Mediterranean ports were loaded with all kinds of silkware. Even though Venice (Italy) also had a silk weaving tradition at that time, the typical Arabic oriental patterns and colors were highly demanded not only in Arabia or North Africa but even by Christian rulers, noblemen and feudal lords. Among several other lucrative essential merchandises the trade based upon silk production and weaving industry was one the main income of all rulers of al-Andalus. The Art of papermaking … Arab handwritten prayer book, 18th/19th century. … also came from Far East. Traces were found that China used paper since the 2nd century BC. Before that, Chinese chroniclers wrote and even painted on silk or on tablets of bamboo. For valuable and precious manuscripts Arabs used gazelle (gazal) skin/leather. But that new Chinese invention marked a new era in the history of human evolution. Papermaking spread from Far East across the Western World. First it reached those countries and cities located along the Silk Road which displayed a high intellectual level, as it was the case of Uzbekistan during the socalled Golden Age of Islam in Central Asia same as in Arabic countries (9th century to 13th). Papermaking started in Samarqand and Bukhara mid 8th A.D. and end of 8th century in Baghdad. By the end of 10th beginning of 11th century it was transmitted to al-Andalus. From Spain the art of papermaking was transmitted to the rest of Europe in 13th century. A new industry was born contributing not only to a dynamic economic development but representing one of the strongest impulses to the development of Commerce and Sciences, of Fine Arts and Literature the World had ever seen. Ψ 11
Page 1 and 2: IN SEARCH FOR AL-ANDALUS in Morocco
Page 3 and 4: Uzbekistan, the Silk Road and al-An
Page 5 and 6: The School of Translaters in Toledo
Page 7 and 8: The Silk Road and the Role of the A
Page 9: Wall painting from the archeologica
Page 13 and 14: Page from a Latin translation of al
Page 15 and 16: Nowadays the Tales are considered t
Page 17 and 18: GESCHICHTEN AUS AL-ANDALUS (3. Aufl
Page 19: MAURENLAND, CHRISTENLAND Ein Ritter

IN SEARCH FOR AL-ANDALUS, Part III. - Uzbekistan and the Silk Road

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