About Silk (part 2)

Trade: Perhaps the first evidence of the silk trade is that of an Egyptian mummy of 1070 BC. In subsequent centuries, the silk trade reached as far as the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. This trade was so extensive that the major set of trade routes between Europe and Asia has become known as the Silk Road.

Europe: 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. Since this moment the silk worked in province of Como has been the most valuable all around the world. 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. Mass emigration (especially of Huguenots) during periods of religious dispute seriously damaged the industry and instead promoted various textile industries, including silk, elsewhere. James I attempted to establish silk production in England, purchasing and having planted 100,000 Mulberry trees, some on land adjacent to Hampton Court Palace, but they were a species unsuited to silk worms and the attempt failed.

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