Madelyne Rossmann’s Reviews > The Silk Roads: A New History of the World > Status Update

The Russian empire flexing its political power in the mid- to late-1800s. Britain and France being upset and banding together to (attempt to) neuter it. Russia threatening British interests in India by expanding southeast. So curious how everything awful and inflammatory is being driven by financial interests. I wonder if that could be a bad thing? Who knows!

The rise of the British Empire. The use of the East India Company as a proxy government in India and Bangladesh. The loss of the thirteen colonies from the empire. The smothering of overland trade routes in Central Asia as Britain secures its stronghold. Yikes. Also, kind of neat to learn the history behind the namesake of Yale.

The rise of Britain and its partnership with more powerful Islamic governments to enact retribution against the Catholics. The rise to prominence of the Dutch as they colonized around the world to establish a strong naval presence and gain economic power. The decline of southern Europe as a result. I'm tired. Author doesn't use Oxford comma (boo).

Globalization is achieved. Columbus made it to the Americas, and de Gama made it to India. The author is finally spending more time on India and China, which I'm happy about. I also didn't know that Manila was established as the city linking the East with the West! The "first globalized city" the author called it. The next chapter is about Britain... sad.

Mansa Musa mentioned! Anyway, Christopher Columbus (boo) just made it to the Americas. Conquistadores are ripping through Central America. The transatlantic slave trade is rapidly gaining momentum. Genocide of native populations by Europeans. World economic power has largely shifted to Europe. Don't forget about those crazy Christians continuing to be a fucking problem worldwide (and still are).

The deflation of the Mongols, the Black Death, and Timur... now the stage is set for the discovery of the New World. I'd like to look up if anything from Timur's reign remains, it sounds like the architecture would be insane to see. I also like how the author is able to, quite practically, explain the way northwest Europe was able to gain more prominence following the plague. Also... the Ottoman Empire begins...

The Mongols have invaded Central Asia! I didn't know that there were steppe nomads in Egypt that actually clashed with the Mongols as they made their way West towards the Mediterranean. It is also interesting, as the author points out, how history remembers the Mongols. Apparently they did appreciate the arts and "higher society" in the bigger cities captured. Not all barbarism all the time, I guess.

Okay, this author is brilliant. His transitions and introductions are so seamless that it honestly took me until just now to understand them. Using a change in principal commodity to signify a shift in power or time is so incredibly smart that my little brain only just now understood. Anyway, we are at the brink of the Crusades - where geopolitical power is teetering in the direction of the west.

Pretty cool to read about the unification of about 25 nomadic tribes on the steppes into Khazar. Also cool how the khagan summoned representatives each from the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faith and made them present the virtues of their respective religions. He chose Judaism and immediately circumcised himself. Crazy. Also... we have officially been introduced to the Vikings! But not for good reason...

Listening to "Iranian instrumental chillout" music and reading about the origin, spread, and rule of Islam. Their technique, at least initially, for conquering territory is interesting: let people believe what they believe and tax them (basically). There wasn't much focus on the schism within Islam, which was okay because we had other, more global, topics to touch on.