History of 2 thousand year old road-let's know!
China's ambassador to india, Shu Feihong, posted on X told about the Tea Horse Road. This route was more than 2,000 kilometers long. It connected china to india via Tibet. He wrote, "The old Tea-Horse Road is a witness to the dialogue and exchange between china and india in the long river of history."
This route is not as famous as the Silk Road. The Silk Road connected china to Europe. But the Tea Horse Road was also very important for trade for hundreds of years. The ambassador wrote, "Tea from all over china was taken to Xizang (Tibet). Then it was sent to kolkata through the Himalayan routes. From there it was sold on a large scale in europe and Asia.
What was the Tea Horse Road?
The Tea Horse Road was not a single road. It was a network of roads. It connected south-west China to India. This route passed through the cities of Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan province. It reached Lhasa in Tibet. Then it extended to india, nepal and Bangladesh. It was a very old and big trade route. people used to carry goods through this route. It was full of mountains and rivers.
Why was the Tea Horse Road important?
The Tea Horse Road was very important. It increased trade between china and India. The people of tibet needed tea. They used to mix tea with yak butter. It was an important part of their diet. It gave them strength in the cold place. On the other hand, china needed horses. Horses were necessary for the army and travel. Good horses were available in tibet and Yunnan. That is why tea and horses were traded through this route. This made the trade route special.
When did the Tea Horse Road start?
The Tea Horse Road is very old. It started in the Tang Dynasty of China. The Tang Dynasty lasted from 618 to 907 AD. Yijing, a Buddhist monk of that time, wrote about it. He told that goods used to go from southwest china to tibet and India. The Chinese people used to send tea, sugar, clothes and rice noodles. In return, they used to get horses, leather, Tibetan gold, saffron and herbs. This is how this trade started.
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