The+Historical+Context

Between 300 BCE and 500 CE, the interconnections among societies of Afroeurasia intensified to an unprecedented level. The silk roads are the best known example of this process, but they do not represent the whole story. Human ability to travel great distances in varied seasons and climates grew by leaps and bounds, which led to an increasing awareness of peoples and societies with one another. It is no accident, then, that this Big Era witnessed the development and spread of various universal religions in Afroeurasia, most famously Buddhism and Christianity, but also Zoroastrianism. States grew both extensively and intensively in the period as well. Indeed, the east-west axis of Afroeurasia was marked at its poles by two of the most long-lasting and stable states of the ancient world: the Roman empire in the west and the Qin-Han empire in China. Most middle and high school history students learn something about these two empires, but other large states existed as well: Kush and Axum in northeastern Africa, Parthia in Persia, Kushana in Inner Eurasia and India, and the Xiongnu empire, which emerged on China’s northwestern frontier. The period is not simply the story of Rome and Qin-Han China, but rather the development of a chain of states and empires that stretched all the way across the hemisphere and that interacted with one another in complex ways.
 * The Historical Context **