Steppe Route

Eurasian Steppe Route
Precursor of the Silk Road
View of the Kazakhstan steppe
Route information
Length:	6,214 mi (10,000 km)
Time period:	Upper paleolithic to dynastic ages
Cultural significance:	stretches West to East from the Mediterranean to the Korean Peninsula and Japan
Known for:	facilitating trade and cultural exchange between nomadic communities
Related routes:	Silk Road, Oasis Route, Maritime Route

The Eurasian Steppe Route was an overland ancient route that was an active precursor of the Silk Roads : silk and horses were traded as key commodities. Secondary trade included furs, weapons, music instruments, precious stones (turquoise, lapis lazulis, agate, nephrite) and jewels. This route reached all the way across the northern steppes of Central Eurasia between 40 degrees north latitude stretching some 10 degrees north and south. Trans-Eurasian trade through the steppe route(s) precede the conventional date for the origins of the Silk Roads by at least two millennia. The first known steppe route is that of the northern steppes.

The route centers on the North Asian steppes and connects the West to north-eastern China. The Eurasian Steppe has a wide and plane topography, and a unique ecological system. The Steppe Route extends almost six thousand miles from near the mouth of the Danube River almost to the Pacific Ocean. It is bounded on the north by the forests of Russia and Siberia. There is no clear southern boundary although the land becomes gradually dryer as one moves to the southern semi-deserts and deserts. The principal characteristic of the steppe landscape is its continental climate and the deficiency of moisture which create unstable conditions for farming. The steppe is interrupted at three points - the Ural mountains, the Altai mountains which gradually turn into the Sayan mountains in the east and the Greater Khingan range, dividing it into four segments which could be crossed by horsemen. The altitude of some mountainous barriers such as the Altai Mountains, with elevations up to 4,000 meters - the highest in Siberia originally kept some regions self contained, however it is likely that some sort of connectivity existed. Contacts between communities and cross-cultural influences caused enlarged families to mix genes in joining larger groups – this was to play a great part in the ethnic history of mankind.

The vast territory stretching alongside the Eurasia route is surprisingly diversified and includes dry steppe, desert, towering mountains, oases, lakes, rivers and river deltas, lowland-steppe, mountain-steppe, and forest-steppe regions. Its wildlife in general was a permanent source of inspiration for artists and early craftmanship. Geography also explains why there has been such variations in the pace of its communities' cultural development. Hippocrates reflected on the impact of climatic changes, on subsistence, and advanced the idea of their influence on the organisation of human communities, as an explanation to populations migration. The demographic pressure on farming areas on the Steppe Route probably led the more fragile groups located at the periphery of those farming areas to migrate in search of better living conditions. Since rich pastures were not always available, it fostered the transition to a nomadic existence. This life-style was conducive to human mobility and fostered a military culture necessary to protect herds and to conquer new territories. The specific geography of the steppe created an ecosystem capable of mixing critical development features including the diffusion of modern humans, animal domestication and animal husbandry, spoke-wheeled chariot and cavalry warfare, early metal production (copper) and trade, Indo-European languages, and the political rise of nomadic civilizations.