TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Overland and Maritime Silk Routes in the Post-Mongol World
AU  - LEE, Joo-Yup 
JO  - Acta Via Serica
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/1/1
DO  - 10.22679/avs.2023.8.2.007
KW  - Silk Routes
KW  - Silk Road
KW  - Mongol empire
KW  - Pax Mongolica
KW  - Yuan Dynasty
KW  - Timurid empire
KW  - Mughal empire
KW  - Uzbek khanate
KW  - Ottoman empire
KW  - Manchu Qing
KW  - Russian empire
AB  - Trade along the Silk Routes reached its zenith during the Pax Mongolica, a period of relative stability in Eurasia that was created by the Mongol empire in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is generally believed that the Silk Routes declined after the disintegration of the Mongol empire in the second half of the 14th century and that they fell into disuse after the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Constantinople as the Europeans sought alternative maritime routes to Asia. This paper examines the aftermath of the Mongol-era overland and maritime Silk Routes from a non-Eurocentric perspective. Seen from the standpoint of various successors to the Mongol empire, such as the Timurid empire, the Mughal empire, the Uzbek khanate, the Ottoman empire, Manchu Qing, and Russia, the overland and maritime Silk Routes did not really collapse or sharply decline during the post-Mongol period. These Mongol successor states maintained close and thriving overland trade relations with each other or some important maritime trade relations with Southeast Asia. It may be argued that the Silk Routes in the post-Mongol world functioned rather independently of European seaborne commerce.