The northern route became popular around the first century BC, when the Chiense Emperor Wu of Han , who reigned from to 87 BC, used his army to keep nomadic tribes from attacking travellers within his sphere of influence. After Kashgar, the routes split again, with a southern branch going down towards Termez and Balkh, and a northern branch going to Kokand and then west across the Karakum Desert. One branch of the northern route turned off to the northwest instead of continuing westwards.
The southern route went from China through the Karakoram mountains. Because of this, it was also known as the Karakoram route. The Karakoram mountain range spans the borders of Pakistan, India, and China, and also extends into Afghanistan and Tajikistan in the northwest. West of the Karakoram mountains, the southern route had many spurs heading south to the sea, since many travellers wished to continue by ship instead of going overland.
For those who did not head south to the ocean, the southern route continued over the Hindu Kush mountains and into Afghanistan, joining the northern routes before reaching Merv in Turkmenistan. From Merv, the southern route went westward in almost a straight line, through northern Iran, Mesopotamia and the northern outskirts of the Syrian Desert, to reach the Levant where ships were waiting to take the precious cargo across the Mediterranean to southern Europe.
Continued travel over land was also possible from the Levant, either north through Anatolia or south to North Africa. These islands of greenery, watered by rivers and springs, ranged in extent from a few square miles to hundreds of square miles, but even the largest were isolated by huge expanses of surrounding deserts. It extends from eastern Mongolia west all the way into Romania and Hungary. In prehistoric times, the steppe was inhabited for tens of thousands ofyears by groups of hunter-gatherers who lived off the abundant big game that the grasslands supported.
Gradually, hunting gave way to a lifestyle of living off managed herds, which in turn led gradually to the domestication of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. Hunters had become herdsmen, and pastoral nomadism developed into a highly specialized and sophisticated lifestyle that took maximum advantage of steppe resources. As with any short-grass prairie, some of the Eurasian steppe can beturned to agricultural use with the application of modern methods, including the steel plow and extensive irrigation.
The wheatlands of southern Russia and Ukraine are steppe lands put to the plow. Prior to the invention of such techniques, the steppe extended for thousands of miles in an unbroken belt, only partly interrupted by mountain ranges and forest. With the mobility afforded by the invention of horse- and ox-drawnwheeled vehicles, and later still by horseback riding, the steppe belt became a vast highway that facilitated the spread of populations, languages, and cultural traits across much of Eurasia long before the caravan trade routes of the more southerly Silk Road were ever imagined.
Over the centuries, many groups of horse-riding warriors, including Huns, Turks, and Mongols, conquered their way across Asia, creating sometimes extensive but usually short-lived empires. North China is characterized by a relatively dry climate, where crops, especially grains such as wheat and millet, grow in the fertile soil of broad plains and terraced valleys.
Geographically, North China is dominated by heavily eroded hills and valleys of loess soil in the northwest, and by the vast north-central flood plains of the Yellow River. The Yellow River has overflowed its banks many times throughout history, causing great damage to human settlements but also enriching the soil with a fresh layer of fertile silt. The northern frontier, site of the Great Wall of China, was long guarded against nomadic raiders, and people looked to the Silk Road and sea routes of the northeast for trade.
Transportation in North China was land based, using pack animals and drawn carts. South China has a monsoonal climate. Its soils, leached by the heavy seasonal rains, require heavy fertilization, and the staple crop is rice. Transportation was often provided by riverboat or canal barge. The strong geographical and agricultural differences between North China and South China tended to make the country fracture into northern and southern political entities during the periods of disunion.
Some trade routes in China historically fed into the Silk Road or distributed goods from it. Other trade routes competed with the Silk Road, including maritime trade from southeastern ports across the South China Sea, and a route from the mountainous southwest down the Red River to Hanoi and Haiphong in what is now Vietnam.
In China, people were likely to look variously inland, toward Central Asia, or seaward for trade. The Mediterranean The Mediterranean is the western convergence point of the overland and the maritime trans-Eurasian trade routes.
When a company such as Silk Road Medical conducts a reverse share split, it is usually because shares have fallen to a lower per-share pricepoint than the company would like. This can be important because, for example, certain types of mutual funds might have a limit governing which stocks they may buy, based upon per-share price.
Stock exchanges also tend to look at per-share price, setting a lower limit for listing eligibility. So when a company does a reverse split, it is looking mathematically at the market capitalization before and after the reverse split takes place, and concluding that if the market capitilization remains stable, the reduced share count should result in a higher price per share.
Looking at the Silk Road Medical stock split history from start to finish, an original position size of shares would have turned into Latest Stock Splits. Equitable Group Inc. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you. How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland.
0コメント