Stage 2 – Andrew Merfeld

Andrew Merfeld

1. Scope of the Project: I hope to figure out the historical background of the cultures that were formed due to the Silk Road. I plan to look more deeply into the areas of East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Mediterranean region. The time period that I am thinking about studying would be from about 130 BCE until roughly the 1400’s.
2. Possible Sources: I plan to use primary historical documents that are available on Blueline to help me take a deeper look into the cultures created during this time period. When looking through the online database, there were a couple of documents that stood out to me when looking up “Silk Road Culture” in the online database. Hopefully these documents can give me a better idea of some of the cultural exchanges that were cultivated due to the Silk Road.
3. As of right now, my plan is to use QGIS and do some sort of interactive web map through the program. I’m hoping I am able to pin point some of the cultures and where they were, and if they still exist and turn that into some sort of interactive map.
4. I am hopefully able to offer insight on the connectedness of some of the countries and areas that were along the Silk Road. I think it will be interesting to see if some of the values, beliefs, and practices are still alive today. I’m hoping that I can find reasons as to why some of the cultures that were around back then are no longer a thing, and vis versa.