HISTORY OF SILk

HISTORY OF SILK
Introduction:
Silk is the finest form of fibre among all the forms of textile fibre, natural or man-made. It is
rightly termed as the queen of textiles. From time immemorial human society has used silk as
nature’s gift to produce silk fabrics having incomparable lustre and delicacy. Silk is a fibroin
made of proteins secreted in the fluid state as single filament by a caterpillar, popularly known as
'silkworm'. Historically, the breeding of silkworms started in China around 2700 B.C. These
silkworms feed on the selected food plants and spin cocoons as a 'protective shell' to perpetuate
the life.
Silkworm has four stages in its life cycle viz., egg, silkworm, pupa and moth. Man interferes
this life cycle at the cocoon stage to obtain the silk, a continuous filament of commercial
importance, used in weaving of the dream fabric. Silk is considered a premier textile material in
the world due to its high tensile strength, its shine and ability to bind chemical dyes.The strength
of silk 500 to 2000 meters in length. Single filaments are too thin for utilization. The silk worm
moves its head to create a cocoon about size of a pigeons egg. The process from pupu to moth
takes about 14 days. The moth dissolves a protein of the cuccon wall and crawls out. The moths
mate, the female lays and both die immediately after mating for 12 to 24 the pair will separate
and the female will begin to lay her eggs. After they change to dark grey they can be placed into
cold storage. There the ideal temperature is between 35 degree Fahrenheit to 40 degree
Fahrenheit. The harvest from 50000 silk is about 1000kg of cucoons, which yield about 120 kg
of raw silk.
The Legend:
According to well-established Chinese legend, Empress Hsi Ling Shi, wife of Emperor Huang
Ti (also called the Yellow Emperor), was the first person to accidentally discover silk as
weavable fiber. One day, when the empress was sipping tea under a mulberry tree, a cocoon fell
into her cup and began to unravel. The empress became so enamored with the shimmering
threads, she discovered their source, the Bombyx mori silkworm found in the white mulberry.
The empress soon developed sericulture, the cultivation of silkworms, and invented the reel and
loom. Thus began the history of silk.
Whether or not the legend is accurate, it is certain that the earliest surviving references to silk
history and production place it in China; and that for nearly 3 millennia, the Chinese had a global
monopoly on silk production.
A Well-kept Secret:
The Chinese realized the value of the beautiful material they were producing and kept its secret
safe from the rest of the world for more than 30 centuries. Travelers were searched thoroughly at
border crossings and anyone caught trying to smuggle eggs, cocoons or silkworms out of the
country were summarily executed. Thus, under penalty of death, the mystery of sericulture
remained a well-kept secret for almost three thousand years.
The Silk Road:

Though first reserved for Chinese royalty, silk spread gradually through the Chinese culture both
geographically and socially. From there, silken garments began to reach regions throughout Asia.
Silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric in the many areas accessible to Chinese merchants,
because of its texture and luster.
Demand for this exotic fabric eventually created the lucrative trade route now known as the Silk
Road, taking silk westward and bringing gold, silver and wools to the East. It was named the Silk
Road after its most valuable commodity – silk was considered even more precious than gold!
Clearly, a basic understanding of silk history would not be complete without understanding the
crucial role played by the Silk Road in its global trade and introduction to the world outside of
China.
The Silk Road was some 4,000 miles long stretching from Eastern China to the Mediterranean
Sea. A caravan tract, the Silk Road followed the Great Wall of China to the north-west,
bypassing the Takla Makan desert, climbing the Pamir mountain range, crossing modern-day
Afghanistan and going on to the Levant, with a major trading market in Damascus. From there,
the merchandise was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea. Few people traveled the entire route;
goods were handled mostly by a series of middlemen.
Sericulture Spreads into Asia and Europe:

With the mulberry silk moth native to China, the Chinese had a monopoly on the world's silk
production until about BCE 200 when Korea saw the emergence of its own silk industry thanks
to a handful of Chinese immigrants who had settled there. By about CE 300, sericulture had
spread into India, Japan, and Persia – thus making silk a part of the history of these cultures.
The Roman Empire knew of and traded in silk. Despite its popularity, however, the secret of
silk-making was only to reach Europe around CE 550, via the Byzantine Empire. According to a
legend well enshrined in silk history, monks working for the emperor Justinian smuggled
silkworm eggs to Constantinople in hollow bamboo walking canes. The Byzantines were as
secretive as the Chinese, and for many centuries the weaving and trading of silk fabric was a
strict imperial monopoly.
In the seventh century, the Arabs conquered Persia, capturing their magnificent silks in the
process. Sericulture and silk weaving thus spread through Africa, Sicily, and Spain as the Arabs
swept through these lands. Andalusia was Europe's main silk-producing center in the tenth
century.
By the 13th century, however, Italy had gained dominance and entered the hall of fame in silk
history. Venetian merchants traded extensively in silk and encouraged silk growers to settle in
Italy. By the 13th century, Italian silk was a significant source of trade. Even now, silk processed
(finished, dyed, printed) in the province of Como enjoys an esteemed reputation.
Italian silk was so popular in Europe that Francis I of France invited Italian silkmakers to France
to create a French silk industry, especially in Lyon. By the 17th century France was challenging
Italy's leadership, and the silk looms established in the Lyons area at that time are still famous
today for the unique beauty of their weaving.
In Medieval Europe, silk was used only by the nobility.
Sericulture Today:
The nineteenth century and industrialization saw the downfall of the European silk industry.
Cheaper Japanese silk, especially driven by the opening of the Suez Canal, was one of the many
factors driving the trend. Additionally, advent of manmade fiber, such as nylon, started to
dominate traditionally silk products such as stockings and parachutes. The two world wars,
which interrupted the supply of raw material from Japan, also stifled the European silk industry.
After the Second World War, Japan's silk production was restored, with improved production
and quality of raw silk. Japan was to remain the world's biggest producer of raw silk, and
practically the only major exporter of raw silk, until the 1970s.
China gradually re-captured her position as the world's biggest producer and exporter of raw silk
and silk yarn – proving that the history of silk follows its own boomerang principles. Today,
around 125,000 metric tons of silk is produced in the world. Almost two thirds of that production
takes place in China.
The other major producers are India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, and Brazil.
United States is by far the largest importer of silk products today.

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The Silk Road:

Sericulture Spreads into Asia and Europe:

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