Compare And Contrast The Sub-Saharan Trade Routes

Although the early post classical Silk Road and sub-Saharan trade routes were both very political trade routes, they had differences such as their level of exposure and outside influences and the cultural differences along the trade routes like musical rituals for Sub-Sahara and artisan goods on the Silk Road.

Both the Sub-Saharan and Silk Road trade routes had significant political involvement in their trading economies. The Sub-Saharan trade route was the basis of the economy and politics in southern Africa. There was great lack of outside exposure so the entire political system was based on what people had to trade and how advanced in skills and practices they were. Iron smelting and trading was one thing that majorly influenced the …show more content…
The occupations of people and what they had to trade and offer was a factor in determining classes especially when it revolved around the king’s hierarchy of subjects such as noblemen and servants. This was most likely because in most civilizations, the material possessions of a person showed wealth and class. Along the Silk Road, goods from prosperous cities like Samarkand and Bukhara were traded, giving other cities a chance to learn and thrive, while being ruled by a local prince. Trading demands was what brought the variety of ideas and goods to the Silk Road. More and more smaller cities wanted to thrive economically and politically and those traded ideas helped. Certain empires, like the Sassanid Empire, saw big opportunity in the Silk Road and used it to transfer goods, political ideas, and even religion, which ended up affecting other empires. The most likely reason for so much involvement in the Silk Road was probably because empires wanted