2023

詳細資料

標題
The Third Silk Road: Pirates, Buried Treasure, and Sunken Ships
作者
Robert J. Antony
簡介

Most people know something about the overland Silk Road, but less about the maritime Silk Road, although both are equally important in history. Discussions about both the overland and maritime Silk Roads have focused on their importance in facilitating international trade and cultural exchanges. However, there is a third Silk Road, one that is seldom if ever mentioned, but is also important to history, archaeology, and cultural heritage. This third Silk Road is the pirates’ Silk Road. Wherever there was a flourishing trade, there were sure to be pirates who preyed on that trade, and who also created their own networks of exchange through black markets and friendly ports. Wherever there was cultural exchange, there were pirates who actively participated in cultural dissemination. In this article, I develop these themes with specific examples from history (with a focus on East and Southeast Asia). First, I discuss the routes relating to the maritime Silk Road and their connections to piracy. Next, I examine several pirate lairs located along these routes, places where pirates purportedly buried their treasures. Then I discuss the exciting field of maritime archaeology to examine what has been uncovered about alleged sunken pirate ships along the maritime Silk Road. Finally, I explore some of the contributions that pirates have made to the dissemination of folk religion and popular culture, as well as possible contributions that the pirates’ Silk Road can make to contemporary historical and cultural heritage projects.

關鍵字
Maritime Silk Road; Piracy; Maritime archaeology; Cultural heritage; South China
標題