What was the rediscovery of the silk roads?

Answer 1

In the early 1900's, Sir Marc Aurel Stein, a British archeologist, set out to confirm his theories about rich past of the Silk Road. In three expeditions, Stein traversed 25,000 miles of Central Asia and western China, thus gaining the reputation of conducting "the most daring and adventurous raids upon the ancient world".

Since the expeditions of Zheng He, the east-west trade had steadily increased, but the bulk of trade moved by sea. The oasis towns that had thrived with the silk trade faded from bustling and wealthy rest stops for merchants linking the core trade arteries of the Asia to secondary routes far from the traffic of the world.

In 1644, the Qing dynasty replaced an ailing Ming. The Qing made China once again strong along the Silk Road. But by the 1900's, the Qing too was failing and its control over western China was quickly slipping. Islamic groups who lived in this region managed the interior trade routes and farmed nd moved their herds with or without Chinese control. In a series of independence movements and armed revolutions, the people of far western China attempted to break away from Qing rule

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