1 gen 1600 anni a. C. - La route du thé

Descrizione:

This ancient route winds precipitously for more than 6000 miles,
through the Hengduan Mountains—a major tea-producing area in China—and
on to Tibet and India. The road also crosses numerous rivers, making it
one of the most dangerous
of the ancient trade routes. The main goods traveling the route were
Chinese tea and Tibetan warhorses, with direct trades of tea-for-horses
and vice versa being the main goal of merchants plying the route. Parts
of the route were used starting c.1600 BCE, but people began using the
entire path for trade from around the seventh century CE, and
large-scale trade began taking place starting in the Song dynasty
(960–1279).
At least one piece of research suggests that between 960–1127, some 20,000 Tibetan warhorses
were traded along the route every year in exchange for an eye-watering
8000 tons of tea. As sea routes became more popular, the road’s
significance lessened. But during World War II, it once again gained
importance as the Japanese blocked many seaports, and the Tea Horse Road
became a key route for supplies traveling between inland China and
India.