Posts
I,
Prester John, am the lord of lords, and I surpass all the kings of the entire
world in wealth, virtue and power…Milk and honey flow freely in our lands;
poison can do no harm, nor do any noisy frogs croak. There are no scorpions, no serpents creeping
in the grass.
-
Purported letter of Prester John to Rome and
Constantinople, twelfth century.
The
Silk Roads: A New History of the World, by Peter Frankopan.
I am beginning a new, exotic journey, a journey through the
history of the Silk Roads – the region from Mesopotamia east to western China. When the author opens with a purported letter
from a legendary figure
– supposedly descended from the three Magi – who leads an unknown congregations
of believers somewhere in the east…well, this will be quite a journey.
Even today, the names of the countries are colorful and
fascinating, to name a few: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan,
and Tajikistan. Major centers of
civilization are to be found in the history of this region, cities such as Harappa,
Mohenjo-daro, Babylon, Nineveh, Uruk, Akkad, Merv, Rayy, Constantinople,
Damascus, Isfahan, Samarkand, Kabul and Kashgar. Mystery piled on mystery.
A belt of towns formed a chain
spanning Asia.
Obviously, the Silk Roads are recalled as major trade
routes. Goods would travel from as far
away as Vietnam and Java to the Mediterranean.
This trade was not just for goods, but ideas: science, religion,
mathematics, language.
Even as long as 5000 years ago, some of these centers
offered civilizational advances not to be seen in Europe for thousands of years:
streets and sewage systems, libraries, places of worship, and
observatories. Over 1000 years ago, the
region offered major scholars such as Ibn Sīnā (also known as Avicenna), Al-Bīrūnī,
and Al-Khwārizmī.
Silk was known for something else – a luxury good that
became an international currency.
We think of globalisation as a
uniquely modern phenomenon; yet 2,000 years ago too, it was a fact of life, one
that presented opportunities, created problems and prompted technological
advance.
Capital would flea Rome in pursuit of these newfound luxury
goods. The amounts represented a
significant portion of the Roman budget.
This was not sustainable. Rome
decided it had to control the heart of the world in order to control the
trading centers and therefore collect the revenue. Plans were developed to push as far to the
east as the Caspian Gates in Persia.
From the beginning of time, the
centre of Asia was where empires were made.
And the greatest of these was Persia. It also was where empires were broken. The Persians pushed back.
Rome was weakened by its further dwindling tax revenues and
burgeoning deficits. Emperor Diocletian
did what all political leaders do in such times: he overhauled the tax code –
taking inventory of every single asset in the empire; he debased the coin; he established
price controls. We know what happened
next to Rome.
For me, the lasting mental image of the fall of Rome is not
the inflation, dwindling empire, or the advancing barbarians. It is this: citizens voluntarily offered
themselves as slaves to the barbarians; for the former citizens of this once
proud empire, this was better than the alternatives.
In the meantime, Constantine established eastern Rome. The location was the old town of Byzantion; he
would rename it Constantinople.
So, what happened?
Why did this burgeoning Central Asian civilization lose out when one
considers the history of the world? Well,
besides the fact that the victors write the history and that history is considered
through the lens of whichever power is currently on top?
Two events occurring within a few years of each other at the
end of the fifteenth century: Christopher Columbus sailed west, connecting two
huge land masses to Europe, and Vasco da Gama navigated the southern tip of
Africa, opening a sea route to India.
But before all of that, Frankopan has a story to tell.
Conclusion
The real crucible, the “Mediterranean”
in its literal meaning – the centre of the world – was not a sea separating Europe
and North Africa, but right in the heart of Asia.
Far from being on the fringe of
global affairs, these countries lie at its very centre – as they have done
since the beginning of history.
In other words, Mackinder’s
world island.
Is this a history book or a roadmap for the future?
Why not both?
“There was another clause prescribing the usual penalty for anyone who purchased a good at a higher price than the law allowed; again, Diocletian was well aware of the normal consequences of such attempts at economic regulation. … Parts of the price lists have been discovered in about 30 different places, mostly in the Greek-speaking portions of the empire. There were at least 32 schedules, covering well over a thousand individual prices or wages.” - Robert L. Scheuttinger / Eamonn F. Butler; from the book ‘Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls: How Not to Fight Inflation’
ReplyDelete“Maximum laws were passed—laws making the sales of goods compulsory, and fixing their price in paper money.” – Andrew D. White; ‘Fiat Money Inflation in France’
The years roll by, but the underlying current of suffering remains the same: government control of the money supply.
It isn't really clear who first said "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme," but whoever said it was wrong.
DeleteHistory repeats, it doesn't rhyme!
"Is this a History book, or a roadmap for the future?"
ReplyDeleteI think this future is now, at least it's starting now. Replace Silk Road with eCommerce, and Rome with Local Governments and the history at least rhymes.