Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Silk road simulation

On the meta level, I learned that the Silk Road was not an actual road...I believe it was both beneficial and not. First off, it did spread culture and goods, and helped distant lands proliferate and kept their economy stable.

However, My view on the road has altered after today. First off, as a banker, it was tempting to accept bribes from societies in order to 'raise' their currency above what it is really worth. Next, my society got robbed twice: the first time we asked for a refund and did not get one and the other time I was threatened. Next, I also noticed how the translators were trying to make some quick cash by abusing their power as the middle man. Take for example Aman, who deliberately charged more money for the price of goods in order to accumulate his own wealth. I believe this simulation gave me a good idea of how the silk road worked. The pros of the silk road was support for economic stability and the spread of culture and goods. However the cons were bribery, muggers, threats to the traders, and untrusted middlemen. I think this was an interesting way to learn about the Silk road since it seemed a little confusing while reading about it in the book. It helped me understand the history better. We should defiantly try this again. Credits to Mr. Whitten for coming up with a brilliant idea.

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