Silk Road

Trade routes through Asia connecting China to the Mediterranean Sea

This article is about the series of trade routes. For other uses, see Silk Road (disambiguation).

For online dark web marketplace that sold illegal drugs, see Silk Road (marketplace).

File:Ambox important.svg

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)

File:Question book-new.svg

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Silk Road" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

|

File:Wiki letter w.svg

This article is missing information about the decline and collapse of the Silk Road. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (April 2021)

|

(Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Silk Road

File:SeidenstrasseGMT.JPG

Main routes of the Silk Road

Route information
Time period| Around 114 BCE – 1450s CE

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Official name| Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan
Type| Cultural
Criteria| ii, iii, iv, vi
Designated| 2014 (38th session)
Reference no.| 1442
Region| Asia-Pacific

The Silk Road (Chinese: 絲綢之路)[1] was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.[2] Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the East and West.[3][4][5] The name "Silk Road", first coined in the late 19th century, has fallen into disuse among some modern historians in favor of Silk Routes, which more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and Europe.[2]

The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of silk textiles that were produced almost exclusively in China. The network began with the Han dynasty's expansion into Central Asia around 114 BCE, which largely pacified the once untamed region. Imperial envoy Zhang Qian was commissioned to explore the unknown lands beyond the region in search of potential trading partners and allies.[6] The information and goods gathered by these expeditions piqued Chinese interest and prompted formal diplomatic and commercial dispatches, as well as efforts to protect the routes with soldiers and an extension of the Great Wall.[7]

The expansion of the Parthian Empire, which stretched from eastern Anatolia to Afghanistan, provided a bridge to East Africa and the Mediterranean, particularly the nascent Roman Empire. By the early first century CE, Chinese silk was widely sought-after in Rome, Egypt, and Greece.[2] Other lucrative commodities from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, and porcelain; among Western exports were horses, camels, honey, wine, and gold. Aside from generating substantial wealth for emerging mercantile classes, the proliferation of goods such as paper and gunpowder greatly altered the trajectory of various realms, if not world history.

During its roughly 1,500 years of existence, the Silk Road endured the rise and fall of numerous empires and major calamities such as the Black Death and the Mongol conquests; after almost every disruption, the network reemerged stronger than before, most notably under the Mongol Empire and its offshoot the Yuan Dynasty. As a highly decentralized network, security was sparse. Travelers faced constant threats of banditry and nomadic raiders, and long expanses of inhospitable terrain. Few individuals crossed the entirety of the Silk Road, instead relying on a succession of middlemen based at various stopping points along the way.

The Silk Road trade played a significant role in opening political and economic relations between China, Korea,[8] Japan,[4] India, Iran, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia.[9] In addition to goods, the network facilitated an unprecedented exchange of ideas, religions (especially Buddhism), philosophies, and scientific discoveries, many of which were syncretised or reshaped by the societies that encountered them.[10] Likewise, a wide variety of people utilized the routes, including migrants, refugees, missionaries, artisans, diplomats, and soldiers. Diseases such as plague also spread along the Silk Road, possibly contributing to the Black Death.[11]

Despite repeatedly surviving many geopolitical changes and disruptions, the Silk Road abruptly ended with the rise of the Ottoman Empire in 1453, which almost immediately severed trade between East and West. This prompted European efforts to seek alternative routes to Eastern riches, thereby ushering the Age of Discovery, European colonialism, and a more intensified process of globalization, which had arguably begun with the Silk Road. The network's influence survives into the 21st century. One of the world's best known historical figures, Marco Polo, was a Medieval Venetian merchant who was among the earliest Westerners to visit and describe the East. The name "New Silk Road" is used to describe several large infrastructure projects seeking to expand transportation through many of the historic trade routes; among the best known include the Eurasian Land Bridge and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In June 2014, UNESCO designated the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site, while the Indian portion remains on the tentative site list.

## Contents

* 1 Name
* 2 Precursors
* 2.1 Chinese and Central Asian contacts (2nd millennium BCE)
* 2.2 Persian Royal Road (500–330 BCE)
* 2.3 Expansion of the Greek Empire (329 BCE–10 CE)
* 3 Initiation in China (130 BCE)
* 4 Evolution
* 4.1 Roman Empire (30 BCE–3rd century CE)
* 4.2 Byzantine Empire (6th–14th centuries)
* 4.3 Tang dynasty (7th century)
* 4.4 Sogdian–Türkic tribes (4th–8th centuries)
* 4.5 Islamic era (8th–13th centuries)
* 4.6 Mongol empire (13th–14th centuries)
* 4.7 Decline and disintegration (15th century)
* 4.8 Partial revival in West Asia
* 4.9 Collapse (18th century)
* 5 New Silk Road (20th–21st centuries)
* 5.1 Maritime Silk Road
* 5.2 Railway (1990)
* 5.3 Revival of cities (1966)
* 5.4 Belt and Road Initiative (2013)
* 6 Routes
* 6.1 Northern route
* 6.2 Southern route
* 6.3 Southwestern route
* 6.4 Maritime route
* 7 Expansion of religions
* 7.1 Transmission of Christianity
* 7.2 Transmission of Buddhism
* 7.3 Judaism on the Silk Road
* 8 Expansion of the arts
* 9 Commemoration
* 10 Gallery
* 11 See also
* 12 References
* 12.1 Citations
* 12.2 Sources
* 13 Further reading
* 14 External links

## Name[edit | edit source]

File:Woven silk, Western Han Dynasty.jpg

Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the Western Han Era, 2nd century BCE

The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk, first developed in China,[12][13] and a major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive transcontinental network.[14][15] It derives from the German term Seidenstraße (literally "Silk Road") and was first popularized in 1877 by Ferdinand von Richthofen, who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872.[16][15][17][18] However, the term itself has been in use in decades prior.[19] The alternative translation "Silk Route" is also used occasionally.[20] Although the term was coined in the 19th century, it did not gain widespread acceptance in academia or popularity among the public until the 20th century.[18] The first book entitled The Silk Road was by Swedish geographer Sven Hedin in 1938.[18]

The use of the term 'Silk Road' is not without its detractors. For instance, Warwick Ball contends that the maritime spice trade with India and Arabia was far more consequential for the economy of the Roman Empire than the silk trade with China, which at sea was conducted mostly through India and on land was handled by numerous intermediaries such as the Sogdians.[21] Going as far as to call the whole thing a "myth" of modern academia, Ball argues that there was no coherent overland trade system and no free movement of goods from East Asia to the West until the period of the Mongol Empire.[22] He notes that traditional authors discussing east–west trade such as Marco Polo and Edward Gibbon never labelled any route a "silk" one in particular.[18]

The southern stretches of the Silk Road, from Khotan (Xinjiang) to Eastern China, were first used for jade and not silk, as long as 5000 BCE, and is still in use for this purpose. The term "Jade Road" would have been more appropriate than "Silk Road" had it not been for the far larger and geographically wider nature of the silk trade; the term is in current use in China.[23]

## Precursors[edit | edit source]

### Chinese and Central Asian contacts (2nd millennium BCE)[edit | edit source]

File:ChineseJadePlaques.JPG

Chinese jade and steatite plaques, in the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes. 4th–3rd century BCE. British Museum.

Central Eurasia has been known from ancient times for its horse riding and horse breeding communities, and the overland Steppe Route across the northern steppes of Central Eurasia was in use long before that of the Silk Road.[13] Archeological sites such as the Berel burial ground in Kazakhstan, confirmed that the nomadic Arimaspians were not only breeding horses for trade but also produced great craftsmen able to propagate exquisite art pieces along the Silk Road.[24][25] From the 2nd millennium BCE, nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region of Yarkand and Khotan to China. Significantly, these mines were not very far from the lapis lazuli and spinel ("Balas Ruby") mines in Badakhshan, and, although separated by the formidable Pamir Mountains, routes across them were apparently in use from very early times.[citation needed]

The Tarim mummies, mummies of non-Mongoloid, apparently Caucasoid, individuals, have been found in the Tarim Basin, in the area of Loulan located along the Silk Road 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Yingpan, dating to as early as 1600 BCE and suggesting very ancient contacts between East and West. These mummified remains may have been of people who spoke Indo-European languages, which remained in use in the Tarim Basin, in the modern day Xinjiang region, until replaced by Turkic influences from the Xiongnu culture to the north and by Chinese influences from the eastern Han dynasty, who spoke a Sino-Tibetan language.[citation needed]

Some remnants of what was probably Chinese silk dating from 1070 BCE have been found in Ancient Egypt. The Great Oasis cities of Central Asia played a crucial role in the effective functioning of the Silk Road trade.[26] The originating source seems sufficiently reliable, but silk degrades very rapidly, so it cannot be verified whether it was cultivated silk (which almost certainly came from China) or a type of wild silk, which might have come from the Mediterranean or Middle East.[27]

Following contacts between Metropolitan China and nomadic western border territories in the 8th century BCE, gold was introduced from Central Asia, and Chinese jade carvers began to make imitation designs of the steppes, adopting the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes (depictions of animals locked in combat). This style is particularly reflected in the rectangular belt plaques made of gold and bronze, with other versions in jade and steatite.[citation needed] An elite burial near Stuttgart, Germany, dated to the 6th century BCE, was excavated and found to have not only Greek bronzes but also Chinese silks.[28] Similar animal-shaped pieces of art and wrestler motifs on belts have been found in Scythian grave sites stretching from the Black Sea region all the way to Warring States era archaeological sites in Inner Mongolia (at Aluchaideng) and Shaanxi (at Keshengzhuang [de]) in China.[28]

The expansion of Scythian cultures, stretching from the Hungarian plain and the Carpathian Mountains to the Chinese Kansu Corridor, and linking the Middle East with Northern India and the Punjab, undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road. Scythians accompanied the Assyrian Esarhaddon on his invasion of Egypt, and their distinctive triangular arrowheads have been found as far south as Aswan. These nomadic peoples were dependent upon neighbouring settled populations for a number of important technologies, and in addition to raiding vulnerable settlements for these commodities, they also encouraged long-distance merchants as a source of income through the enforced payment of tariffs. Sogdians played a major role in facilitating trade between China and Central Asia along the Silk Roads as late as the 10th century, their language serving as a lingua franca for Asian trade as far back as the 4th century.[29][30]

### Persian Royal Road (500–330 BCE)[edit | edit source]

File:Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent according to Oxford Atlas of World History 2002.jpg

Achaemenid Persian Empire at its greatest extent, showing the Royal Road.

By the time of Herodotus (c. 475 BCE), the Royal Road of the Persian Empire ran some 2,857 km (1,775 mi) from the city of Susa on the Karun (250 km (155 mi) east of the Tigris) to the port of Smyrna (modern İzmir in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea.[31] It was maintained and protected by the Achaemenid Empire (c. 500–330 BCE) and had postal stations and relays at regular intervals. By having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages and traverse the length of the road in nine days, while normal travelers took about three months.[32]

### Expansion of the Greek Empire (329 BCE–10 CE)[edit | edit source]

Main article: Alexander the Great

File:UrumqiWarrior.jpg

Soldier with a centaur in the Sampul tapestry,[33] wool wall hanging, 3rd–2nd century BCE, Xinjiang Museum, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China.

The next major step toward the development of the Silk Road was the expansion of the Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great into Central Asia. In August 329 BCE, at the mouth of the Fergana Valley, he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate or "Alexandria The Furthest".[34]

The Greeks remained in Central Asia for the next three centuries, first through the administration of the Seleucid Empire, and then with the establishment of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (250–125 BCE) in Bactria (modern Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan) and the later Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BCE – 10 CE) in modern Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. They continued to expand eastward, especially during the reign of Euthydemus (230–200 BCE), who extended his control beyond Alexandria Eschate to Sogdiana. There are indications that he may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar on the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert, leading to the first known contacts between China and the West around 200 BCE.[citation needed] The Greek historian Strabo writes, "they extended their empire even as far as the Seres (China) and the Phryni."[35]

Classical Greek philosophy syncretised with Indian philosophy.[36]

## Initiation in China (130 BCE)[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Protectorate of the Western Regions, War of the Heavenly Horses, Han–Xiongnu War, and History of the Han dynasty

See also: Sino-Roman relations, China–India relations, and Zhang Qian

File:Silk from Mawangdui 2.jpg

File:Silk from Mawangdui.jpg

Woven silk textiles from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, Western Han dynasty period, dated 2nd century BCE

The Silk Road was initiated and spread by China's Han dynasty through exploration and conquests in Central Asia. With the Mediterranean linked to the Fergana Valley, the next step was to open a route across the Tarim Basin and the Hexi Corridor to China Proper. This extension came around 130 BCE, with the embassies of the Han dynasty to Central Asia following the reports of the ambassador Zhang Qian[37] (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu). Zhang Qian visited directly the kingdom of Dayuan in Ferghana, the territories of the Yuezhi in Transoxiana, the Bactrian country of Daxia with its remnants of Greco-Bactrian rule, and Kangju. He also made reports on neighbouring countries that he did not visit, such as Anxi (Parthia), Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), Shendu (Indian subcontinent) and the Wusun.[38] Zhang Qian's report suggested the economic reason for Chinese expansion and wall-building westward, and trail-blazed the Silk Road, making it one of the most famous trade routes in history and in the world.[39]

After winning the War of the Heavenly Horses and the Han–Xiongnu War, Chinese armies established themselves in Central Asia, initiating the Silk Route as a major avenue of international trade.[40] Some say that the Chinese Emperor Wu became interested in developing commercial relationships with the sophisticated urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria, and the Parthian Empire: "The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan "Great Ionians") and the possessions of Bactria (Ta-Hsia) and Parthian Empire (Anxi) are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China" (Hou Hanshu, Later Han History). Others[41] say that Emperor Wu was mainly interested in fighting the Xiongnu and that major trade began only after the Chinese pacified the Hexi Corridor. The Silk Roads' origin lay in the hands of the Chinese. The soil in China lacked Selenium, a deficiency which contributed to muscular weakness and reduced growth in horses.[42] Consequently, horses in China were too frail to support the weight of a Chinese soldier.[43] The Chinese needed the superior horses that nomads bred on the Eurasian steppes, and nomads wanted things only agricultural societies produced, such as grain and silk. Even after the construction of the Great Wall, nomads gathered at the gates of the wall to exchange. Soldiers sent to guard the wall were often paid in silk which they traded with the nomads.[44] Past its inception, the Chinese continued to dominate the Silk Roads, a process which was accelerated when "China snatched control of the Silk Road from the Hsiung-nu" and the Chinese general Cheng Ki "installed himself as protector of the Tarim at Wu-lei, situated between Kara Shahr and Kucha." "China's control of the Silk Road at the time of the later Han, by ensuring the freedom of transcontinental trade along the double chain of oases north and south of the Tarim, favoured the dissemination of Buddhism in the river basin, and with it Indian literature and Hellenistic art."[45]

File:HanHorse.jpg

A ceramic horse head and neck (broken from the body), from the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty (1st–2nd century CE)

File:Bronze coin of Contantius II 337 361 found in Karghalik.jpg

Bronze coin of Constantius II (337–361), found in Karghalik, Xinjiang, China

The Chinese were also strongly attracted by the tall and powerful horses (named "Heavenly horses") in the possession of the Dayuan (literally the "Great Ionians", the Greek kingdoms of Central Asia), which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic Xiongnu. They defeated the Dayuan in the Han-Dayuan war. The Chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies, around ten every year, to these countries and as far as Seleucid Syria.

> Thus more embassies were dispatched to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai [who later joined the Alans ], Lijian [Syria under the Greek Seleucids], Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), and Tianzhu [northwestern India]... As a rule, rather more than ten such missions went forward in the course of a year, and at the least five or six. (Hou Hanshu, Later Han History).

These connections marked the beginning of the Silk Road trade network that extended to the Roman Empire.[46] The Chinese campaigned in Central Asia on several occasions, and direct encounters between Han troops and Roman legionaries (probably captured or recruited as mercenaries by the Xiong Nu) are recorded, particularly in the 36 BCE battle of Sogdiana (Joseph Needham, Sidney Shapiro). It has been suggested that the Chinese crossbow was transmitted to the Roman world on such occasions, although the Greek gastraphetes provides an alternative origin. R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy suggest that in 36 BCE,

> [A] Han expedition into Central Asia, west of Jaxartes River, apparently encountered and defeated a contingent of Roman legionaries. The Romans may have been part of Antony's army invading Parthia. Sogdiana (modern Bukhara), east of the Oxus River, on the Polytimetus River, was apparently the most easterly penetration ever made by Roman forces in Asia. The margin of Chinese victory appears to have been their crossbows, whose bolts and darts seem easily to have penetrated Roman shields and armour.[47]

The Roman historian Florus also describes the visit of numerous envoys, which included Seres (China), to the first Roman Emperor Augustus, who reigned between 27 BCE and 14 CE:

> Even the rest of the nations of the world which were not subject to the imperial sway were sensible of its grandeur, and looked with reverence to the Roman people, the great conqueror of nations. Thus even Scythians and Sarmatians sent envoys to seek the friendship of Rome. Nay, the Seres came likewise, and the Indians who dwelt beneath the vertical sun, bringing presents of precious stones and pearls and elephants, but thinking all of less moment than the vastness of the journey which they had undertaken, and which they said had occupied four years. In truth, it needed but to look at their complexion to see that they were people of another world than ours.

> — Henry Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither (1866)

The Han Dynasty army regularly policed the trade route against nomadic bandit forces generally identified as Xiongnu. Han general Ban Chao led an army of 70,000 mounted infantry and light cavalry troops in the 1st century CE to secure the trade routes, reaching far west to the Tarim Basin. Ban Chao expanded his conquests across the Pamirs to the shores of the Caspian Sea and the borders of Parthia.[48] It was from here that the Han general dispatched envoy Gan Ying to Daqin (Rome).[49] The Silk Road essentially came into being from the 1st century BCE, following these efforts by China to consolidate a road to the Western world and India, both through direct settlements in the area of the Tarim Basin and diplomatic relations with the countries of the Dayuan, Parthians and Bactrians further west. The Silk Roads were a "complex network of trade routes" that gave people the chance to exchange goods and culture.[9]

File:Buddhist Expansion.svg

The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism: Mahayana Buddhism first entered the Chinese Empire (Han dynasty) during the Kushan Era. The overland and maritime "Silk Roads" were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".[50]

A maritime Silk Route opened up between Chinese-controlled Giao Chỉ (centred in modern Vietnam, near Hanoi), probably by the 1st century. It extended, via ports on the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, all the way to Roman-controlled ports in Roman Egypt and the Nabataean territories on the northeastern coast of the Red Sea. The earliest Roman glassware bowl found in China was unearthed from a Western Han tomb in Guangzhou, dated to the early 1st century BCE, indicating that Roman commercial items were being imported through the South China Sea.[51] According to Chinese dynastic histories, it is from this region that the Roman embassies arrived in China, beginning in 166 CE during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Emperor Huan of Han.[52][53][54] Other Roman glasswares have been found in Eastern-Han-era tombs (25–220 CE) more further inland in Nanjing and Luoyang.[55]

P.O. Harper asserts that a 2nd or 3rd-century Roman gilt silver plate found in Jingyuan, Gansu, China with a central image of the Greco-Roman god Dionysus resting on a feline creature, most likely came via Greater Iran (i.e. Sogdiana).[56] Valerie Hansen (2012) believed that earliest Roman coins found in China date to the 4th century, during Late Antiquity and the Dominate period, and come from the Byzantine Empire.[57] However, Warwick Ball (2016) highlights the recent discovery of sixteen Principate-era Roman coins found in Xi'an (formerly Chang'an, one of the two Han capitals) that were minted during the reigns of Roman emperors spanning from Tiberius to Aurelian (i.e. 1st to 3rd centuries CE).[58]

Helen Wang points out that although these coins were found in China, they were deposited there in the twentieth century, not in ancient times, and therefore do not shed light on historic contacts between China and Rome.[59] Roman golden medallions made during the reign of Antoninus Pius and quite possibly his successor Marcus Aurelius have been found at Óc Eo in southern Vietnam, which was then part of the Kingdom of Funan bordering the Chinese province of Jiaozhi in northern Vietnam.[60][61] Given the archaeological finds of Mediterranean artefacts made by Louis Malleret in the 1940s,[61] Óc Eo may have been the same site as the port city of Kattigara described by Ptolemy in his Geography (c. 150 CE),[60] although Ferdinand von Richthofen had previously believed it was closer to Hanoi.[62]

## Evolution[edit | edit source]

### Roman Empire (30 BCE–3rd century CE)[edit | edit source]

File:Seidenstrasse GMT Ausschnitt Zentralasien.jpg

Central Asia during Roman times, with the first Silk Road

Soon after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE, regular communications and trade between China, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe blossomed on an unprecedented scale. The Roman Empire inherited eastern trade routes that were part of the Silk Road from the earlier Hellenistic powers and the Arabs. With control of these trade routes, citizens of the Roman Empire received new luxuries and greater prosperity for the Empire as a whole.[63] The Roman-style glassware discovered in the archeological sites of Gyeongju, the capital of the Silla kingdom (Korea) showed that Roman artifacts were traded as far as the Korean peninsula.[8] The Greco-Roman trade with India started by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 130 BCE continued to increase, and according to Strabo (II.5.12), by the time of Augustus, up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos in Roman Egypt to India.[64] The Roman Empire connected with the Central Asian Silk Road through their ports in Barygaza (known today as Bharuch[65]) and Barbaricum (known today as the city of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan[66]) and continued along the western coast of India.[67] An ancient "travel guide" to this Indian Ocean trade route was the Greek Periplus of the Erythraean Sea written in 60 CE.

The travelling party of Maës Titianus penetrated farthest east along the Silk Road from the Mediterranean world, probably with the aim of regularising contacts and reducing the role of middlemen, during one of the lulls in Rome's intermittent wars with Parthia, which repeatedly obstructed movement along the Silk Road. Intercontinental trade and communication became regular, organised, and protected by the "Great Powers". Intense trade with the Roman Empire soon followed, confirmed by the Roman craze for Chinese silk (supplied through the Parthians), even though the Romans thought silk was obtained from trees. This belief was affirmed by Seneca the Younger in his Phaedra and by Virgil in his Georgics. Notably, Pliny the Elder knew better. Speaking of the bombyx or silk moth, he wrote in his Natural Histories "They weave webs, like spiders, that become a luxurious clothing material for women, called silk."[68] The Romans traded spices, glassware, perfumes, and silk.[63]

File:Cernuschi Museum 20060812 150.jpg

A Westerner on a camel, Northern Wei dynasty (386–534)

Roman artisans began to replace yarn with valuable plain silk cloths from China and the Silla Kingdom in Gyeongju, Korea.[69][8] Chinese wealth grew as they delivered silk and other luxury goods to the Roman Empire, whose wealthy women admired their beauty.[70] The Roman Senate issued, in vain, several edicts to prohibit the wearing of silk, on economic and moral grounds: the import of Chinese silk caused a huge outflow of gold, and silk clothes were considered decadent and immoral.

> I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one's decency, can be called clothes.... Wretched flocks of maids labour so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife's body.[71]

The Western Roman Empire, and its demand for sophisticated Asian products, collapsed in the fifth century.

The unification of Central Asia and Northern India within the Kushan Empire between the first and third centuries reinforced the role of the powerful merchants from Bactria and Taxila.[72] They fostered multi-cultural interaction as indicated by their 2nd century treasure hoards filled with products from the Greco-Roman world, China, and India, such as in the archeological site of Begram.

### Byzantine Empire (6th–14th centuries)[edit | edit source]

Further information: Byzantine-Mongol Alliance

File:Major powers in Eurasia around 555AD.png

Map showing Byzantium along with the other major silk road powers during China's Southern dynasties period of fragmentation.

Byzantine Greek historian Procopius stated that two Nestorian Christian monks eventually uncovered the way silk was made. From this revelation, monks were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (ruled 527–565) as spies on the Silk Road from Constantinople to China and back to steal the silkworm eggs, resulting in silk production in the Mediterranean, particularly in Thrace in northern Greece,[73] and giving the Byzantine Empire a monopoly on silk production in medieval Europe. In 568 the Byzantine ruler Justin II was greeted by a Sogdian embassy representing Istämi, ruler of the First Turkic Khaganate, who formed an alliance with the Byzantines against Khosrow I of the Sasanian Empire that allowed the Byzantines to bypass the Sasanian merchants and trade directly with the Sogdians for purchasing Chinese silk.[74][75][76] Although the Byzantines had already procured silkworm eggs from China by this point, the quality of Chinese silk was still far greater than anything produced in the West, a fact that is perhaps emphasized by the discovery of coins minted by Justin II found in a Chinese tomb of Shanxi province dated to the Sui dynasty (581–618).[77]

File:Solidus Constans II (obverse).jpg

Coin of Constans II (r. 641–648), who is named in Chinese sources as the first of several Byzantine emperors to send embassies to the Chinese Tang dynasty[52]

Both the Old Book of Tang and New Book of Tang, covering the history of the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907), record that a new state called Fu-lin (拂菻; i.e. Byzantine Empire) was virtually identical to the previous Daqin (大秦; i.e. Roman Empire).[52] Several Fu-lin embassies were recorded for the Tang period, starting in 643 with an alleged embassy by Constans II (transliterated as Bo duo li, 波多力, from his nickname "Kōnstantinos Pogonatos") to the court of Emperor Taizong of Tang.[52] The History of Song describes the final embassy and its arrival in 1081, apparently sent by Michael VII Doukas (transliterated as Mie li yi ling kai sa, 滅力伊靈改撒, from his name and title Michael VII Parapinakēs Caesar) to the court of Emperor Shenzong of the Song dynasty (960–1279).[52]

However, the History of Yuan claims that a Byzantine man became a leading astronomer and physician in Khanbaliq, at the court of Kublai Khan, Mongol founder of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and was even granted the noble title 'Prince of Fu lin' (Chinese: 拂菻王; Fú lǐn wáng).[78] The Uyghur Nestorian Christian diplomat Rabban Bar Sauma, who set out from his Chinese home in Khanbaliq (Beijing) and acted as a representative for Arghun (a grandnephew of Kublai Khan),[79][80][81][82] traveled throughout Europe and attempted to secure military alliances with Edward I of England, Philip IV of France, Pope Nicholas IV, as well as the Byzantine ruler Andronikos II Palaiologos.[83][81] Andronikos II had two half-sisters who were married to great-grandsons of Genghis Khan, which made him an in-law with the Yuan-dynasty Mongol ruler in Beijing, Kublai Khan.[84]

The History of Ming preserves an account where the Hongwu Emperor, after founding the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), had a supposed Byzantine merchant named Nieh-ku-lun (捏古倫) deliver his proclamation about the establishment of a new dynasty to the Byzantine court of John V Palaiologos in September 1371.[85][52] Friedrich Hirth (1885), Emil Bretschneider (1888), and more recently Edward Luttwak (2009) presumed that this was none other than Nicolaus de Bentra, a Roman Catholic bishop of Khanbilaq chosen by Pope John XXII to replace the previous archbishop John of Montecorvino.[86][87][52]

### Tang dynasty (7th century)[edit | edit source]

Further information: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks, Conquest of the Western Turks, Tang campaign against the Eastern Turks, and Tang dynasty § Trade and spread of culture

File:ForeignerWithWineskin-Earthenware-TangDynasty-ROM-May8-08.png

A Chinese sancai statue of a Sogdian man with a wineskin, Tang dynasty (618–907)

File:KingEndybisEthiopia227-235CE.jpg

The empires and city-states of the Horn of Africa, such as the Axumites were important trading partners in the ancient Silk Road.

File:Tang China 669AD.jpg

After the Tang defeated the Gokturks, they reopened the Silk Road to the west.

Although the Silk Road was initially formulated during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (141–87 BCE), it was reopened by the Tang Empire in 639 when Hou Junji conquered the Western Regions, and remained open for almost four decades. It was closed after the Tibetans captured it in 678, but in 699, during Empress Wu's period, the Silk Road reopened when the Tang reconquered the Four Garrisons of Anxi originally installed in 640,[88] once again connecting China directly to the West for land-based trade.[89] The Tang captured the vital route through the Gilgit Valley from Tibet in 722, lost it to the Tibetans in 737, and regained it under the command of the Goguryeo-Korean General Gao Xianzhi.[90]

While the Turks were settled in the Ordos region (former territory of the Xiongnu), the Tang government took on the military policy of dominating the central steppe. The Tang dynasty (along with Turkic allies) conquered and subdued Central Asia during the 640s and 650s.[91] During Emperor Taizong's reign alone, large campaigns were launched against not only the Göktürks, but also separate campaigns against the Tuyuhun, the oasis states, and the Xueyantuo. Under Emperor Taizong, Tang general Li Jing conquered the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. Under Emperor Gaozong, Tang general Su Dingfang conquered the Western Turkic Khaganate, an important ally of the Byzantine empire.[92] After these conquests, the Tang dynasty fully controlled the Xiyu, which was the strategic location astride the Silk Road.[93] This led the Tang dynasty to reopen the Silk Road, with this portion named the Tang-Tubo Road ("Tang-Tibet Road") in many historical texts.

The Tang dynasty established a second Pax Sinica, and the Silk Road reached its golden age, whereby Persian and Sogdian merchants benefited from the commerce between East and West. At the same time, the Chinese empire welcomed foreign cultures, making it very cosmopolitan in its urban centres. In addition to the land route, the Tang dynasty also developed the maritime Silk Route. Chinese envoys had been sailing through the Indian Ocean to India since perhaps the 2nd century BCE,[94] yet it was during the Tang dynasty that a strong Chinese maritime presence could be found in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea into Persia, Mesopotamia (sailing up the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq), Arabia, Egypt, Aksum (Ethiopia), and Somalia in the Horn of Africa.[95]

### Sogdian–Türkic tribes (4th–8th centuries)[edit | edit source]

File:Caravane sur la Route de la soie - Atlas catalan.jpg

Marco Polo's caravan on the Silk Road, 1380

The Silk Road represents an early phenomenon of political and cultural integration due to inter-regional trade. In its heyday, it sustained an international culture that strung together groups as diverse as the Magyars, Armenians, and Chinese. The Silk Road reached its peak in the west during the time of the Byzantine Empire; in the Nile-Oxus section, from the Sassanid Empire period to the Il Khanate period; and in the sinitic zone from the Three Kingdoms period to the Yuan dynasty period. Trade between East and West also developed across the Indian Ocean, between Alexandria in Egypt and Guangzhou in China. Persian Sassanid coins emerged as a means of currency, just as valuable as silk yarn and textiles.[96]

Under its strong integrating dynamics on the one hand and the impacts of change it transmitted on the other, tribal societies previously living in isolation along the Silk Road, and pastoralists who were of barbarian cultural development, were drawn to the riches and opportunities of the civilisations connected by the routes, taking on the trades of marauders or mercenaries.[citation needed] "Many barbarian tribes became skilled warriors able to conquer rich cities and fertile lands and to forge strong military empires."[97]

File:Radhanites2.png

Map of Eurasia and Africa showing trade networks, c. 870

The Sogdians dominated the east–west trade after the 4th century up to the 8th century, with Suyab and Talas ranking among their main centres in the north. They were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia. Their commercial interests were protected by the resurgent military power of the Göktürks, whose empire has been described as "the joint enterprise of the Ashina clan and the Soghdians".[72][98] A.V. Dybo noted that "according to historians, the main driving force of the Great Silk Road were not just Sogdians, but the carriers of a mixed Sogdian-Türkic culture that often came from mixed families."[99]

The Silk Road gave rise to the clusters of military states of nomadic origins in North China, ushered the Nestorian, Manichaean, Buddhist, and later Islamic religions into Central Asia and China.

### Islamic era (8th–13th centuries)[edit | edit source]

Further information: History of Islamic economics

File:Baghdad 150 to 300 AH.png

The Round city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 was the most important urban node along the Silk Road.

File:Lions, soie polychrome sogdienne, Asie centrale.jpg

A lion motif on Sogdian polychrome silk, 8th century, most likely from Bukhara

By the Umayyad era, Damascus had overtaken Ctesiphon as a major trade center until the Abbasid dynasty built the city of Baghdad, which became the most important city along the silk road.

At the end of its glory, the routes brought about the largest continental empire ever, the Mongol Empire, with its political centres strung along the Silk Road (Beijing) in North China, Karakorum in central Mongolia, Sarmakhand in Transoxiana, Tabriz in Northern Iran, realising the political unification of zones previously loosely and intermittently connected by material and cultural goods.[citation needed]

The Islamic world expanded into Central Asia during the 8th century, under the Umayyad Caliphate, while its successor the Abbasid Caliphate put a halt to Chinese westward expansion at the Battle of Talas in 751 (near the Talas River in modern-day Kyrgyzstan).[100] However, following the disastrous An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) and the conquest of the Western Regions by the Tibetan Empire, the Tang Empire was unable to reassert its control over Central Asia.[101] Contemporary Tang authors noted how the dynasty had gone into decline after this point.[102] In 848 the Tang Chinese, led by the commander Zhang Yichao, were only able to reclaim the Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang in Gansu from the Tibetans.[103] The Persian Samanid Empire (819–999) centered in Bukhara (Uzbekistan) continued the trade legacy of the Sogdians.[100] The disruptions of trade were curtailed in that part of the world by the end of the 10th century and conquests of Central Asia by the Turkic Islamic Kara-Khanid Khanate, yet Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Buddhism in Central Asia virtually disappeared.[104]

During the early 13th century Khwarezmia was invaded by the Mongol Empire. The Mongol ruler Genghis Khan had the once vibrant cities of Bukhara and Samarkand burned to the ground after besieging them.[105] However, in 1370 Samarkand saw a revival as the capital of the new Timurid Empire. The Turko-Mongol ruler Timur forcefully moved artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand, making it one of the most important trade centers and cultural entrepôts of the Islamic world.[106]

### Mongol empire (13th–14th centuries)[edit | edit source]

See also: Mongol Empire, Pax Mongolica, and Fonthill Vase

File:Chinese celadon vase Branly 71.1886.89.1.jpg

Yuan Dynasty era Celadon vase from Mogadishu.

File:Travels of Marco Polo.svg

Map of Marco Polo's travels in 1271–1295

The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 1207 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-established the Silk Road (via Karakorum and Khanbaliq). It also brought an end to the dominance of the Islamic Caliphate over world trade. Because the Mongols came to control the trade routes, trade circulated throughout the region, though they never abandoned their nomadic lifestyle.

The Mongol rulers wanted to establish their capital on the Central Asian steppe, so to accomplish this goal, after every conquest they enlisted local people (traders, scholars, artisans) to help them construct and manage their empire.[107] The Mongols developed overland and maritime routes throughout the Eurasian continent, Black Sea and the Mediterranean in the west, and the Indian Ocean in the south. In the second half of the thirteenth century Mongol-sponsored business partnerships flourished in the Indian Ocean connecting Mongol Middle East and Mongol China[108]

The Mongol diplomat Rabban Bar Sauma visited the courts of Europe in 1287–88 and provided a detailed written report to the Mongols. Around the same time, the Venetian explorer Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China. His tales, documented in The Travels of Marco Polo, opened Western eyes to some of the customs of the Far East. He was not the first to bring back stories, but he was one of the most widely read. He had been preceded by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck, Benedykt Polak, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, and Andrew of Longjumeau. Later envoys included Odoric of Pordenone, Giovanni de' Marignolli, John of Montecorvino, Niccolò de' Conti, and Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan Muslim traveller who passed through the present-day Middle East and across the Silk Road from Tabriz between 1325 and 1354.[109]

In the 13th century, efforts were made at forming a Franco-Mongol alliance, with an exchange of ambassadors and (failed) attempts at military collaboration in the Holy Land during the later Crusades. Eventually, the Mongols in the Ilkhanate, after they had destroyed the Abbasid and Ayyubid dynasties, converted to Islam and signed the 1323 Treaty of Aleppo with the surviving Muslim power, the Egyptian Mamluks.[citation needed]

Some studies indicate that the Black Death, which devastated Europe starting in the late 1340s, may have reached Europe from Central Asia (or China) along the trade routes of the Mongol Empire.[110] One theory holds that Genoese traders coming from the entrepot of Trebizond in northern Turkey carried the disease to Western Europe; like many other outbreaks of plague, there is strong evidence that it originated in marmots in Central Asia and was carried westwards to the Black Sea by Silk Road traders.[111]

### Decline and disintegration (15th century)[edit | edit source]

File:Wiki letter w cropped.svg|

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2020)

|

File:Zheng He.png

Port cities on the maritime silk route featured on the voyages of Zheng He.[112]

The fragmentation of the Mongol Empire loosened the political, cultural, and economic unity of the Silk Road. Turkmeni marching lords seized land around the western part of the Silk Road from the decaying Byzantine Empire. After the fall of the Mongol Empire, the great political powers along the Silk Road became economically and culturally separated. Accompanying the crystallisation of regional states was the decline of nomad power, partly due to the devastation of the Black Death and partly due to the encroachment of sedentary civilisations equipped with gunpowder.[113]

### Partial revival in West Asia[edit | edit source]

Significant is Armenians role in making Europe Asia trade possible by being located in the crossing roads between these two. Armenia had a monopoly on almost all trade roads in this area and a colossal network. From 1700 to 1765, the total export of Persian silk was entirely conducted by Armenians. They were also exporting raisins, coffee beans, figs, Turkish yarn, camel hair, various precious stones, rice, etc., from Turkey and Iran. [114]

### Collapse (18th century)[edit | edit source]

File:Wiki letter w cropped.svg|

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2020)

|

The silk trade continued to flourish until it was disrupted by the collapse of the Safavid Empire in the 1720s.[115]

## New Silk Road (20th–21st centuries)[edit | edit source]

File:One-belt-one-road.svg

Plan of the Silk Road with its maritime branch

In the 20th century, the Silk Road through the Suez Canal and the overland connections were repeatedly blocked from the First World War on. This also applied to the massive trade barriers of the Cold War. It was not until the 1990s that the "old" trade routes began to reactivate again. In addition to the Chinese activities and the integration of Africa, this also applies to the increasing importance of the Mediterranean region and the connection to Central Europe such as the trade center of Trieste.

Trade along the Silk Road could soon account for almost 40% of total world trade, with a large part taking place by sea. The land route of the Silk Road seems to remain a niche project in terms of transport volume in the future. As a result of the Chinese Silk Road Initiative and investments, trade seems to be intensifying on the relevant routes.[116][117][118]

### Maritime Silk Road[edit | edit source]

Main article: Maritime Silk Road

File:Port of Shanghai, Yangshan Deep-water Harbour Zone, 02.jpg

Yangshan Port of Shanghai, China

The maritime Silk Road follows the old trade route that was opened by the Chinese admiral Zheng He during the early Ming Dynasty. In particular, the establishment of the lockless Suez Canal then strongly promoted maritime trade between Asia and Europe in this area. While many trade flows were interrupted in the 20th century by the World Wars, the Suez Crisis and the Cold War, from the beginning of the 21st century many of the trading centers that had already existed in the 19th century were activated again.[116][119]

The Suez Canal was also continually expanded and its time-saving role in Asia-Europe trade was highlighted. At the beginning of the Maritime Silk Road are the major Chinese ports in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Ningbo-Zhoushan. The Chinese investments in Africa will connect large areas of Central and East Africa to the maritime Silk Road and thus to China and directly to southern Europe via the Suez Canal. The increasing importance of the Mediterranean as a trading center with its direct, fast connections to Central and Eastern Europe is evident from the international investments in port cities of Piraeus and Trieste. Trieste in particular plays a major role in the economic zone in Central Europe known as the Blue Banana. This includes a banana-shaped corridor from southern England via the Benelux region, western Germany and Switzerland to northern Italy. The transport via Trieste instead of northern ports such as Rotterdam and Hamburg shortens the delivery time from Shanghai by ten days and from Hong Kong by nine days. On the maritime Silk Road, on which more than half of all containers in the world are already on the move, deep-water ports are being expanded, logistics hubs are being built and new transport routes such as railways and roads in the hinterland are being created.[118][120][121][117][122][123][124][125][126][127]

File:Porto nuovo di Trieste 1.4.2012.jpg

Port of Trieste

Today the maritime silk road runs with its connections from the Chinese coast to the south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo towards the southern tip of India via Malé, the capital of the Maldives, to the East African Mombasa, from there to Djibouti, then through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its international free port and its rail connections to Central Europe and the North Sea. As a result, Poland, the Baltic States, Northern Europe and Central Europe are also connected to the maritime silk road.[116][120][128][129]

### Railway (1990)[edit | edit source]

File:Trans-Eurasia-Express.png

Trans-Eurasia Logistics

The Eurasian Land Bridge, a railway through China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, is sometimes referred to as the "New Silk Road".[130] The last link in one of these two railway routes was completed in 1990, when the railway systems of China and Kazakhstan connected at Alataw Pass (Alashan Kou). In 2008 the line was used to connect the cities of Ürümqi in China's Xinjiang Province to Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan.[131] In October 2008 the first Trans-Eurasia Logistics train reached Hamburg from Xiangtan. Starting in July 2011 the line has been used by a freight service that connects Chongqing, China with Duisburg, Germany,[132] cutting travel time for cargo from about 36 days by container ship to just 13 days by freight train. In 2013, Hewlett-Packard began moving large freight trains of laptop computers and monitors along this rail route.[130] In January 2017, the service sent its first train to London. The network additionally connects to Madrid and Milan.[133][134]

### Revival of cities (1966)[edit | edit source]

After an earthquake that hit Tashkent in Central Asia in 1966, the city had to rebuild itself. Although it took a huge toll on their markets, this commenced a revival of modern silk road cities.[135]

### Belt and Road Initiative (2013)[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Belt and Road Initiative and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road

During a September 2013 a visit to Kazakhstan, China's Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced a plan for a New Silk Road from China to Europe. The latest iterations of this plan, dubbed the "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI), includes a land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, with primary points in Ürümqi, Dostyk, Nur-Sultan, Gomel, the Belarusian city of Brest, and the Polish cities of Małaszewicze and Łódź—which would be hubs of logistics and transshipment to other countries of Europe.[136][137][138][139]

On 15 February 2016, with a change in routing, the first train dispatched under the scheme arrived from eastern Zhejiang Province to Tehran.[140] Though this section does not complete the Silk Road–style overland connection between China and Europe,[139] but new railway line connecting China to Europe via Istanbul's has now been established.[141] The actual route went through Almaty, Bishkek, Samarkand, and Dushanbe.[139]

## Routes[edit | edit source]

Further information: Cities along the Silk Road

The Silk Road consisted of several routes. As it extended westwards from the ancient commercial centres of China, the overland, intercontinental Silk Road divided into northern and southern routes bypassing the Taklamakan Desert and Lop Nur. Merchants along these routes were involved in "relay trade" in which goods changed "hands many times before reaching their final destinations."[142]

### Northern route[edit | edit source]

Main article: Northern Silk Road

File:Silk Road in the I century AD - en.svg

The Silk Road in the 1st century

The northern route started at Chang'an (now called Xi'an), an ancient capital of China that was moved further east during the Later Han to Luoyang. The route was defined around the 1st century BCE when Han Wudi put an end to harassment by nomadic tribes.[143][citation needed]

The northern route travelled northwest through the Chinese province of Gansu from Shaanxi Province and split into three further routes, two of them following the mountain ranges to the north and south of the Taklamakan Desert to rejoin at Kashgar, and the other going north of the Tian Shan mountains through Turpan, Talgar, and Almaty (in what is now southeast Kazakhstan). The routes split again west of Kashgar, with a southern branch heading down the Alai Valley towards Termez (in modern Uzbekistan) and Balkh (Afghanistan), while the other travelled through Kokand in the Fergana Valley (in present-day eastern Uzbekistan) and then west across the Karakum Desert. Both routes joined the main southern route before reaching ancient Merv, Turkmenistan. Another branch of the northern route turned northwest past the Aral Sea and north of the Caspian Sea, then and on to the Black Sea.

A route for caravans, the northern Silk Road brought to China many goods such as "dates, saffron powder and pistachio nuts from Persia; frankincense, aloes and myrrh from Somalia; sandalwood from India; glass bottles from Egypt, and other expensive and desirable goods from other parts of the world."[144] In exchange, the caravans sent back bolts of silk brocade, lacquer-ware, and porcelain.

### Southern route[edit | edit source]

The southern route or Karakoram route was mainly a single route from China through the Karakoram mountains, where it persists in modern times as the Karakoram Highway, a paved road that connects Pakistan and China.[citation needed] It then set off westwards, but with southward spurs so travelers could complete the journey by sea from various points. Crossing the high mountains, it passed through northern Pakistan, over the Hindu Kush mountains, and into Afghanistan, rejoining the northern route near Merv, Turkmenistan. From Merv, it followed a nearly straight line west through mountainous northern Iran, Mesopotamia, and the northern tip of the Syrian Desert to the Levant, where Mediterranean trading ships plied regular routes to Italy, while land routes went either north through Anatolia or south to North Africa. Another branch road travelled from Herat through Susa to Charax Spasinu at the head of the Persian Gulf and across to Petra and on to Alexandria and other eastern Mediterranean ports from where ships carried the cargoes to Rome.[citation needed]

### Southwestern route[edit | edit source]

See also: Tea Horse Road

The southwestern route is believed to be the Ganges/Brahmaputra Delta, which has been the subject of international interest for over two millennia. Strabo, the 1st-century Roman writer, mentions the deltaic lands: "Regarding merchants who now sail from Egypt...as far as the Ganges, they are only private citizens..." His comments are interesting as Roman beads and other materials are being found at Wari-Bateshwar ruins, the ancient city with roots from much earlier, before the Bronze Age, presently being slowly excavated beside the Old Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. Ptolemy's map of the Ganges Delta, a remarkably accurate effort, showed that his informants knew all about the course of the Brahmaputra River, crossing through the Himalayas then bending westward to its source in Tibet. It is doubtless that this delta was a major international trading center, almost certainly from much earlier than the Common Era. Gemstones and other merchandise from Thailand and Java were traded in the delta and through it. Chinese archaeological writer Bin Yang and some earlier writers and archaeologists, such as Janice Stargardt, strongly suggest this route of international trade as Sichuan–Yunnan–Burma–Bangladesh route. According to Bin Yang, especially from the 12th century the route was used to ship bullion from Yunnan (gold and silver are among the minerals in which Yunnan is rich), through northern Burma, into modern Bangladesh, making use of the ancient route, known as the 'Ledo' route. The emerging evidence of the ancient cities of Bangladesh, in particular Wari-Bateshwar ruins, Mahasthangarh, Bhitagarh, Bikrampur, Egarasindhur, and Sonargaon, are believed to be the international trade centers in this route.[145][146][147]

### Maritime route[edit | edit source]

Main article: Maritime Silk Road

Maritime Silk Road or Maritime Silk Route refer to the maritime section of historic Silk Road that connects China to Southeast Asia, Indonesian archipelago, Indian subcontinent, Arabian peninsula, all the way to Egypt and finally Europe.[148]

The trade route encompassed numbers of bodies of waters; including South China Sea, Strait of Malacca, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. The maritime route overlaps with historic Southeast Asian maritime trade, Spice trade, Indian Ocean trade and after 8th century – the Arabian naval trade network. The network also extended eastward to East China Sea and Yellow Sea to connect China with Korean Peninsula and Japanese archipelago.

## Expansion of religions[edit | edit source]

File:Nestorian-Stele-Budge-plate-X.jpg

The Nestorian Stele, created in 781, describes the introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China

Richard Foltz, Xinru Liu, and others have described how trading activities along the Silk Road over many centuries facilitated the transmission not just of goods but also ideas and culture, notably in the area of religions. Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Islam all spread across Eurasia through trade networks that were tied to specific religious communities and their institutions.[149] Notably, established Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road offered a haven, as well as a new religion for foreigners.[150]

The spread of religions and cultural traditions along the Silk Roads, according to Jerry H. Bentley, also led to syncretism. One example was the encounter with the Chinese and Xiongnu nomads. These unlikely events of cross-cultural contact allowed both cultures to adapt to each other as an alternative. The Xiongnu adopted Chinese agricultural techniques, dress style, and lifestyle, while the Chinese adopted Xiongnu military techniques, some dress style, music, and dance.[151] Perhaps most surprising of the cultural exchanges between China and the Xiongnu, Chinese soldiers sometimes defected and converted to the Xiongnu way of life, and stayed in the steppes for fear of punishment.[151]

Nomadic mobility played a key role in facilitating inter-regional contacts and cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Roads.[152][153]

### Transmission of Christianity[edit | edit source]

Further information: Nestorianism and Church of the East

The transmission of Christianity was primarily known as Nestorianism on the Silk Road. In 781, an inscribed stele shows Nestorian Christian missionaries arriving on the Silk Road. Christianity had spread both east and west, simultaneously bringing Syriac language and evolving the forms of worship.[154]

### Transmission of Buddhism[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism and Greco-Buddhism

File:Buddha of Miran.png

Fragment of a wall painting depicting Buddha from a stupa in Miran along the Silk Road (200AD - 400AD)

File:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg

A blue-eyed Central Asian monk teaching an East-Asian monk, Bezeklik, Turfan, eastern Tarim Basin, China, 9th century; the monk on the right is possibly Tocharian,[155] although more likely Sogdian.[156][157]

The transmission of Buddhism to China via the Silk Road began in the 1st century CE, according to a semi-legendary account of an ambassador sent to the West by the Chinese Emperor Ming (58–75). During this period Buddhism began to spread throughout Southeast, East, and Central Asia.[158] Mahayana, Theravada, and Tibetan Buddhism are the three primary forms of Buddhism that spread across Asia via the Silk Road.[159]

The Buddhist movement was the first large-scale missionary movement in the history of world religions. Chinese missionaries were able to assimilate Buddhism, to an extent, to native Chinese Daoists, which brought the two beliefs together.[160] Buddha's community of followers, the Sangha, consisted of male and female monks and laity. These people moved through India and beyond to spread the ideas of Buddha.[161] As the number of members within the Sangha increased, it became costly so that only the larger cities were able to afford having the Buddha and his disciples visit.[162] It is believed that under the control of the Kushans, Buddhism was spread to China and other parts of Asia from the middle of the first century to the middle of the third century.[163] Extensive contacts started in the 2nd century, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim Basin, due to the missionary efforts of a great number of Buddhist monks to Chinese lands. The first missionaries and translators of Buddhists scriptures into Chinese were either Parthian, Kushan, Sogdian, or Kuchean.[164]

File:AsokaKandahar.jpg

Bilingual edict (Greek and Aramaic) by Indian Buddhist King Ashoka, 3rd century BCE; see Edicts of Ashoka, from Kandahar. This edict advocates the adoption of "godliness" using the Greek term Eusebeia for Dharma. Kabul Museum.

One result of the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road was displacement and conflict. The Greek Seleucids were exiled to Iran and Central Asia because of a new Iranian dynasty called the Parthians at the beginning of the 2nd century BCE, and as a result, the Parthians became the new middlemen for trade in a period when the Romans were major customers for silk. Parthian scholars were involved in one of the first-ever Buddhist text translations into the Chinese language. Its main trade centre on the Silk Road, the city of Merv, in due course and with the coming of age of Buddhism in China, became a major Buddhist centre by the middle of the 2nd century.[165] Knowledge among people on the silk roads also increased when Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty (268–239 BCE) converted to Buddhism and raised the religion to official status in his northern Indian empire.[166]

From the 4th century CE onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel on the Silk Road to India to get improved access to the original Buddhist scriptures, with Fa-hsien's pilgrimage to India (395–414), and later Xuanzang (629–644) and Hyecho, who traveled from Korea to India.[167] The travels of the priest Xuanzang were fictionalized in the 16th century in a fantasy adventure novel called Journey to the West, which told of trials with demons and the aid given by various disciples on the journey.

File:A statue depicting Buddha giving sermon, from Sarnath, now at Museum of Asian Art, Dahem Berlin.jpg

A statue depicting Buddha giving a sermon, from Sarnath, 3,000 km (1,864 mi) southwest of Urumqi, Xinjiang, 8th century

There were many different schools of Buddhism travelling on the Silk Road. The Dharmaguptakas and the Sarvastivadins were two of the major Nikaya schools. These were both eventually displaced by the Mahayana, also known as "Great Vehicle". This movement of Buddhism first gained influence in the Khotan region.[166] The Mahayana, which was more of a "pan-Buddhist movement" than a school of Buddhism, appears to have begun in northwestern India or Central Asia. It formed during the 1st century BCE and was small at first, and the origins of this "Greater Vehicle" are not fully clear. Some Mahayana scripts were found in northern Pakistan, but the main texts are still believed to have been composed in Central Asia along the Silk Road. These different schools and movements of Buddhism were a result of the diverse and complex influences and beliefs on the Silk Road.[168] With the rise of Mahayana Buddhism, the initial direction of Buddhist development changed. This form of Buddhism highlighted, as stated by Xinru Liu, "the elusiveness of physical reality, including material wealth." It also stressed getting rid of material desire to a certain point; this was often difficult for followers to understand.[63]

During the 5th and 6th centuries CE, merchants played a large role in the spread of religion, in particular Buddhism. Merchants found the moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism an appealing alternative to previous religions. As a result, merchants supported Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road, and in return, the Buddhists gave the merchants somewhere to stay as they traveled from city to city. As a result, merchants spread Buddhism to foreign encounters as they traveled.[169] Merchants also helped to establish diaspora within the communities they encountered, and over time their cultures became based on Buddhism. As a result, these communities became centers of literacy and culture with well-organized marketplaces, lodging, and storage.[170] The voluntary conversion of Chinese ruling elites helped the spread of Buddhism in East Asia and led Buddhism to become widespread in Chinese society.[171] The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.

### Judaism on the Silk Road[edit | edit source]

Adherents to the Jewish faith first began to travel eastward from Mesopotamia following the Persian conquest of Babylon in 559 by the armies of Cyrus the Great. Judean slaves freed after the Persian conquest of Babylon dispersed throughout the Persian Empire. Some Judeans could have traveled as far east as Bactria and Sogdia, though there is not clear evidence for this early settlement of Judeans.[172] After settlement, it is likely that most Judeans took up trades in commerce.[172] Trading along the silk trade networks by Judean merchants increased as the trade networks expanded. By the classical age, when trade goods traveled from as far east as China to as far west as Rome, Judean merchants in Central Asia would have been in an advantageous position to participate in trade along the Silk Road.[172] A group of Judean merchants originating from Gaul known as the Radanites were one group of Judean merchants that had thriving trade networks from China to Rome.[172] This trade was facilitated by a positive relationship the Radanites were able to foster with the Khazar Turks. The Khazar Turks served as a good spot in between China and Rome, and the Khazar Turks saw a relationship with the Radanites as a good commercial opportunity.[172]

According to Richard Foltz "there is more evidence for Iranian influence on the formation of Jewish [religious] ideas than the reverse." Concepts of a paradise (heaven) for the good and a place of suffering (hell) for the wicked, and a form or world-ending apocalypse came from Iranian religious ideas, and this is supported by a lack of such ideas from pre-exile Judean sources.[172] The origin of the devil is also said to come from the Iranian Angra Mainyu, an evil figure in Persian mythology.[172]

## Expansion of the arts[edit | edit source]

Main article: Silk Road transmission of art

File:WindGods.JPG

Iconographical evolution of the Wind God. Left: Greek Wind God from Hadda, 2nd century. Middle: Wind God from Kizil, Tarim Basin, 7th century. Right: Japanese Wind God Fujin, 17th century.

Many artistic influences were transmitted via the Silk Road, particularly through Central Asia, where Hellenistic, Iranian, Indian and Chinese influences could intermix. Greco-Buddhist art represents one of the most vivid examples of this interaction. Silk was also a representation of art, serving as a religious symbol. Most importantly, silk was used as currency for trade along the silk road.[173]

These artistic influences can be seen in the development of Buddhism where, for instance, Buddha was first depicted as human in the Kushan period. Many scholars have attributed this to Greek influence. The mixture of Greek and Indian elements can be found in later Buddhist art in China and throughout countries on the Silk Road.[174]

The production of art consisted of many different items that were traded along the Silk Roads from the East to the West. One common product, the lapis lazuli, was a blue stone with golden specks, which was used as paint after it was ground into powder.[175]

## Commemoration[edit | edit source]

On 22 June 2014, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named the Silk Road a World Heritage Site at the 2014 Conference on World Heritage. The United Nations World Tourism Organization has been working since 1993 to develop sustainable international tourism along the route with the stated goal of fostering peace and understanding.[176]

To commemorate the Silk Road becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the China National Silk Museum announced a "Silk Road Week" to take place 19–25 June 2020.[177]

Bishkek and Almaty each have a major east–west street named after the Silk Road (Kyrgyz: Жибек жолу, Jibek Jolu in Bishkek, and Kazakh: Жібек жолы, Jibek Joly in Almaty). There is also a Silk Road in Macclesfield, UK.[178]

## Gallery[edit | edit source]

* Silk Road and artifacts
* Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh 1.jpg

Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh

* Caravasar de Sultanhani. Han.jpg

Sultanhani caravanserai

* Caravanserai-Sheki.jpg

Shaki Caravanserai, Shaki, Azerbaijan

* İkimərtəbəli karvansaray daxili həyət 2016.jpg

Two-Storeyed Caravanserai, Baku, Azerbaijan

* The remains of a bridge2.jpg

Bridge in Ani, capital of medieval Armenia

* Taldyk pass (3600 m).jpg

Taldyk pass

* Medieval fortress of Amul (Lebap, Turkmenistan).jpg

Medieval fortress of Amul, Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan

* Zeinodin Caravanserai.jpg

Zeinodin Caravanserai

* Westerner on a camel.jpg

Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel, sancai ceramic glaze, Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907)

* Summer Vacation 2007, 263, Watchtower In The Morning Light, Dunhuang, Gansu Province.jpg

The ruins of a Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province

* WhiteHanBronzeMirror.JPG

A late Zhou or early Han Chinese bronze mirror inlaid with glass, perhaps incorporated Greco-Roman artistic patterns

* Xihan rhino, gold & silver inlays.JPG

A Chinese Western Han dynasty (202 BCE – 9 CE) bronze rhinoceros with gold and silver inlay

* Han Dynasty Granary west of Dunhuang.jpg

Han dynasty Granary west of Dunhuang on the Silk Road.

* Green glass Roman cup unearthed at Eastern Han tomb, Guixian, China.jpg

Green Roman glass cup unearthed from an Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) tomb, Guangxi, southern China

## See also[edit | edit source]

* Bronze Age
* Dvārakā–Kamboja route
* Dzungarian Gate
* Global silver trade from the 16th to 19th centuries
* Godavaya
* Hippie trail
* History of silk
* Incense Route
* Iron Age
* List of ports and harbours of the Indian Ocean
* Maritime Silk Road
* Mount Imeon
* One Belt One Road Initiative
* Serica
* Sericulture
* Silk Road Economic Belt
* Silk Road Fund
* Silk Road Numismatics
* Spice trade
* Silk Road Textiles
* Steppe Route
* Suez Canal
* Tea Horse Road
* The Silk Roads
* Three hares

## References[edit | edit source]

### Citations[edit | edit source]

1. ^ Kazakh: Ūly Jıbek jоly; Persian: جاده ابریشم; Italian: Via della seta
2. ^ a b c Society, National Geographic (26 July 2019). "The Silk Road". National Geographic Society. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
3. ^ Miho Museum News (Shiga, Japan) Volume 23 (March 2009). "Eurasian winds toward Silla". Archived from the original on 9 April 2016.
4. ^ a b Gan, Fuxi (2009). Ancient Glass Research Along the Silk Road. Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Ancient Glass Research along the Silk Road, World Scientific ed.). p. 41\. ISBN 978-981-283-356-3. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018.
5. ^ Elisseeff, Vadime (2001). The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce. UNESCO Publishing / Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-92-3-103652-1.
6. ^ Boulnois, Luce (2005). Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants. Hong Kong: Odyssey Books. p. 66. ISBN 978-962-217-721-5.
7. ^ Xinru, Liu (2010). The Silk Road in World History New York: Oxford University Press, p. 11.
8. ^ a b c "Proto–Three Kingdomsof Korea | Silk Road". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
9. ^ a b Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 32.
10. ^ Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 33.
11. ^ "Ancient bottom wipers yield evidence of diseases carried along the Silk Road". The Guardian. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
12. ^ Miha Museum (Shiga, Japan), Sping Special Exhibition (14 March 2009). "Eurasian winds toward Silla". Archived from the original on 9 April 2016.
13. ^ a b "The Horses of the Steppe: The Mongolian Horse and the Blood-Sweating Stallions | Silk Road in Rare Books". dsr.nii.ac.jp. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
14. ^ Waugh (2007), p. 4.
15. ^ a b Eliseeff (2009) [First published 1998]. "Approaches Old and New to the Silk Roads". The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce. Berghahn Books. pp. 1–2.ISBN 978-92-3-103652-1, 1-57181-221-0, 1-57181-222-9
16. ^ See:
* Richthofen, Ferdinand von (1877). "Über die zentralasiatischen Seidenstrassen bis zum 2. Jh. n. Chr" [On the Central Asian Silk Roads until the 2nd century A.D.]. Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin (in German). 4: 96–122.
* Richthofen, Ferdinand von (1877). China. Ergebnisse eigener Reisen und darauf gegründeter Studien [China. Findings of My Own Travels and Studies Based Thereon] (in German). Vol. 1\. Berlin, Germany: Dietrich Reimer. pp. 496–507. From p. 496: "Ergänzende Nachrichten über den westlichen Theil einer der früheren Seidenstrassen erhalten wir wiederum durch MARINUS, der hier ganz seinem Berichterstatter, dem Agenten des Macedoniers MAËS (s. oben S. 478), folgt." (On the other hand, we obtain additional information about the western part of one of the earlier Silk Roads via Marinus, who here closely follows his correspondent, the agent of the Macedonian Maës (see p. 478 above).)
17. ^ Waugh, Daniel. (2007). "Richthofen's "Silk Roads": Toward the Archaeology of a Concept." The Silk Road. Volume 5, Number 1, Summer 2007, p. 4.
18. ^ a b c d Warwick Ball (2016), Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire, 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, p. 156
19. ^ Mertens, Matthias. "Did Richthofen Really Coin 'the Silk Road'?" (PDF). The Silk Road.
20. ^ Warwick Ball (2016), Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire, 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, p. 155.
21. ^ Warwick Ball (2016), Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire, 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, pp. 154–56.
22. ^ Warwick Ball (2016), Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire, 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, pp. 155–56.
23. ^ Wood, Frances (September 2004). The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia. University of California Press. p. 26\. ISBN 978-0-520-24340-8. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
24. ^ "Treasures of Ancient Altai Nomads Revealed". The Astana Times. 10 December 2012. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
25. ^ "Additional Berel Burial Sites Excavated". The Astana Times. 21 August 2013. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
26. ^ Pollard, Elizabeth; Rosenberg, Clifford; Tignor, Robert (2011). Worlds Together Worlds Apart. New York: Norton. p. 278. ISBN 978-0-393-91847-2.
27. ^ Lubec, G.; J. Holauerghsrthbek; C. Feldl; B. Lubec; E. Strouhal (4 March 1993). "Use of silk in ancient Egypt". Nature. 362 (6415): 25. Bibcode:1993Natur.362...25L. doi:10.1038/362025b0. S2CID 1001799. (also available here "Use of Silk In Ancient Egypt". Archived from the original on 20 September 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2007.)
28. ^ a b Christopoulos, Lucas (August 2012), "Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD)," in Victor H. Mair (ed), Sino-Platonic Papers, No. 230, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, p. 31 footnote #56, ISSN 2157-9687.
29. ^ Hanks, Reuel R. (2010). Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 3.
30. ^ Mark J. Dresden (2003). "Sogdian Language and Literature", in Ehsan Yarshater, The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol III: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 1219, ISBN 978-0-521-24699-6.
31. ^ Please refer to Royal Road.
32. ^ Floor, Willem (2001). "The Chapar-Khāna System in Qajar Iran". Iran. 39: 257–291. doi:10.2307/4300608. ISSN 0578-6967. JSTOR 4300608.
33. ^ Christopoulos, Lucas (2012). "Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD)". In Mair, Victor H. (ed.). Sino-Platonic Papers. Vol. 230\. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. pp. 15–16. ISSN 2157-9687.
34. ^ Prevas, John (2004). Envy of the Gods: Alexander the Great's Ill-Fated Journey Across Asia. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-306-81268-2.
35. ^ "Strabo XI.XI.I". Perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
36. ^ Bentley, Jerry H. (1993). Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Time. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 54.
37. ^ The Megalithic Portal; Megalith Map. "Silk Road, North China, C.M. Hogan, the Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham". Megalithic.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
38. ^ Yiping Zhang (2005). Story of the Silk Road. 五洲传播出版社. p. 22\. ISBN 978-7-5085-0832-0. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
39. ^ Julia Lovell (2007). The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC – AD 2000. Grove Press. p. 73\. ISBN 978-0-8021-4297-9. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
40. ^ Li, Bo; Zheng, Yin (2001). 中华五千年 [5000 years of Chinese history] (in Chinese). Inner Mongolia People's Publishing Corp. p. 254\. ISBN 978-7-204-04420-7.
41. ^ Di Cosmo,' Ancient China and its Enemies', 2002
42. ^ Frankenberger, W.T., ed. (1994). Selenium in the Environment. CRC Press. p. 30.
43. ^ Becker, Jasper (2008). City of Heavenly Tranquility: Beijing in the History of China. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 18.
44. ^ Liu, Xinru (2012). The Silk Roads: A Brief History with Documents. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 6.
45. ^ Grousset, Rene (1970). The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press. pp. 36–37, 48. ISBN 978-0-8135-1304-1.
46. ^ Ebrey (1999), 70.
47. ^ R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy, The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present, Fourth Edition (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993), 133, apparently relying on Homer H. Dubs, "A Roman City in Ancient China", in Greece and Rome, Second Series, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Oct., 1957), pp. 139–48
48. ^ Ban Chao Archived 16 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Britannica Online Encyclopedia
49. ^ Frances Wood, The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia, University of California Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-520-24340-8, p. 46
50. ^ Acri, Andrea (20 December 2018). "Maritime Buddhism". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.638. ISBN 978-0-19-934037-8. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
51. ^ An, Jiayao. (2002), "When Glass Was Treasured in China," in Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds), Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road, 79–94, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, ISBN 978-2-503-52178-7, p. 83.
52. ^ a b c d e f g Paul Halsall (2000) [1998]. Jerome S. Arkenberg (ed.). "East Asian History Sourcebook: Chinese Accounts of Rome, Byzantium and the Middle East, c. 91 B.C.E. – 1643 C.E." Fordham.edu. Fordham University. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
53. ^ de Crespigny, Rafe. (2007). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, p. 600, ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.
54. ^ Yü, Ying-shih. (1986). "Han Foreign Relations," in Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds), The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220, 377–462, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 460–61, ISBN 978-0-521-24327-8.
55. ^ An, Jiayao. (2002), "When Glass Was Treasured in China," in Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds), Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road, 79–94, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, ISBN 978-2-503-52178-7, pp. 83–84.
56. ^ Harper, P.O. (2002), "Iranian Luxury Vessels in China From the Late First Millennium B.C.E. to the Second Half of the First Millennium C.E.," in Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds), Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road, 95–113, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, ISBN 978-2-503-52178-7, pp. 106–07.
57. ^ Hansen, Valerie (2012), The Silk Road: A New History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 97–98, ISBN 978-0-19-993921-3.
58. ^ Warwick Ball (2016), Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire, 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, p. 154.
59. ^ Helen Wang (2004) "Money on the Silk Road: The evidence from Eastern Central Asia to. c. AD 800," London: The British Museum Press, ISBN 978-0-7141-1806-2, p. 34.
60. ^ a b Gary K. Young (2001), Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy, 31 BC – AD 305, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-24219-6, p. 29.
61. ^ a b For further information on Oc Eo, see Milton Osborne (2006), The Mekong: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future, Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, revised edition, first published in 2000, ISBN 978-1-74114-893-0, pp. 24–25.
62. ^ Ferdinand von Richthofen, China, Berlin, 1877, Vol.I, pp. 504–10; cited in Richard Hennig, Terrae incognitae : eine Zusammenstellung und kritische Bewertung der wichtigsten vorcolumbischen Entdeckungsreisen an Hand der daruber vorliegenden Originalberichte, Band I, Altertum bis Ptolemäus, Leiden, Brill, 1944, pp. 387, 410–11; cited in Zürcher (2002), pp. 30–31.
63. ^ a b c Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 21.
64. ^ "Strabo's Geography Book II Chapter 5 "
65. ^ Bharuch, Bharuch website. Retrieved 19 November 2013
66. ^ Barbarikon Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan website. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
67. ^ Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 40.
68. ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories 11.xxvi.76
69. ^ Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 75.
70. ^ Xinru, Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 20
71. ^ Seneca the Younger (c. 3 BCE – 65 CE), Declamations Vol. I
72. ^ a b Sogdian Trade, Encyclopædia Iranica, (retrieved 15 June 2007) <"Sogdian Trade – Encyclopaedia Iranica". Archived from the original on 17 November 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.>
73. ^ "Silk Road" Archived 6 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, LIVIUS Articles of Ancient History. 28 October 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
74. ^ Howard, Michael C. (2012), Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies, the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel, McFarland & Company, p. 133.
75. ^ Mark J. Dresden (1981), "Introductory Note," in Guitty Azarpay, Sogdian Painting: the Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, p. 9, ISBN 978-0-520-03765-6.
76. ^ Liu, Xinru, "The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia", in Michael Adas (ed), Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History, American Historical Association, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001, p. 168.
77. ^ Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5, pp. 168–69.
78. ^ Bretschneider, Emil (1888), Medieval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources: Fragments Towards the Knowledge of the Geography and History of Central and Western Asia from the 13th to the 17th Century, Vol. 1, Abingdon: Routledge, reprinted 2000, p. 144.
79. ^ Moule, A.C., Christians in China before 1500, 94 & 103; also Pelliot, Paul in T'oung-pao 15(1914), pp. 630–36.
80. ^ Peter Jackson (2005), The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410, Pearson Education, p. 169, ISBN 978-0-582-36896-5.
81. ^ a b Kathleen Kuiper & editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (31 August 2006). "Rabban bar Sauma: Mongol Envoy Archived 2016-10-11 at the Wayback Machine." Encyclopædia Britannica (online source). Retrieved 16 September 2016.
82. ^ Morris Rossabi (2014). From Yuan to Modern China and Mongolia: The Writings of Morris Rossabi. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 385–86, ISBN 978-90-04-28529-3.
83. ^ Morris Rossabi (2014). From Yuan to Modern China and Mongolia: The Writings of Morris Rossabi. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 386–421, ISBN 978-90-04-28529-3.
84. ^ Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5, p. 169.
85. ^ Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5, pp. 169–70.
86. ^ E. Bretschneider (1871). On the Knowledge Possessed by the Ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian Colonies: And Other Western Countries, Mentioned in Chinese Books. Trübner & Company. pp. 25–.
87. ^ Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5, p. 170.
88. ^ Nishijima, Sadao (1986), "The Economic and Social History of Former Han", in Twitchett, Denis; Loewe, Michael (eds.), Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 545–607, ISBN 978-0-521-24327-8
89. ^ Eberhard, Wolfram (2005), A History of China, New York: Cosimo, ISBN 978-1-59605-566-7
90. ^ Whitfield, Susan (2004), The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith, Chicago: Serindia, ISBN 978-1-932476-12-5
91. ^ Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999), The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-66991-7
92. ^ Skaff, Jonathan Karem (2009). Nicola Di Cosmo (ed.). Military Culture in Imperial China. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03109-8.
93. ^ Tikhvinskiĭ, Sergeĭ Leonidovich and Leonard Sergeevich Perelomov (1981). China and her neighbours, from ancient times to the Middle Ages: a collection of essays. Progress Publishers. p. 124.
94. ^ Sun, Guangqi (1989), History of Navigation in Ancient China, Beijing: Ocean Press, ISBN 978-7-5027-0532-9
95. ^ Bowman, John S. (2000), Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture, New York: Columbia University Press
96. ^ Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 68.
97. ^ Simpson, Ray (9 July 2014). Aidan of Lindisfarne: Irish Flame Warms a New World. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-62564-762-7. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018.
98. ^ Wink, André. Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Brill Academic Publishers, 2002. ISBN 978-0-391-04173-8.
99. ^ Dybo A.V. (2007) Chronology of Türkic languages and linguistic contacts of early Türks, p. 786, [1]
100. ^ a b Hanks, Reuel R. (2010), Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 4.
101. ^ Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Walthall, Anne; Palais, James B. (2006), East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-618-13384-0, p. 100.
102. ^ Gascoigne, Bamber; Gascoigne, Christina (2003), The Dynasties of China: A History, New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-7867-1219-9, p. 97.
103. ^ Taenzer, Gertraud (2016), "Changing Relations between Administration, Clergy and Lay People in Eastern Central Asia: a Case Study According to the Dunhuang Manuscripts Referring to the Transition from Tibetan to Local Rule in Dunhuang, 8th–11th Centuries", in Carmen Meinert, Transfer of Buddhism Across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries), 19–56, Leiden, Boston: Brill, pp. 35–37, ISBN 978-90-04-30741-4.
104. ^ Hanks, Reuel R. (2010), Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: Praeger, pp. 4–5.
105. ^ Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare (2016), Uzbekistan, 2nd edition, Bradt Travel Guides Ltd, pp. 12–13, ISBN 978-1-78477-017-4.
106. ^ Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare (2016), Uzbekistan, 2nd edition, Bradt Travel Guides Ltd, pp. 14–15, ISBN 978-1-78477-017-4.
107. ^ Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 109.
108. ^ Enerelt Enkhbold, "The role of the ortoq in the Mongol Empire in forming business partnerships," Central Asian Survey 38, no. 4 (2019): 531-547
109. ^ The Pax Mongolica Archived 5 May 1999 at the Wayback Machine, by Daniel C. Waugh, University of Washington, Seattle
110. ^ J.N. Hays (2005). Epidemics and pandemics: their impacts on human history Archived 27 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-85109-658-9
111. ^ John Kelly (2005). The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-000693-8
112. ^ Vadime Elisseeff (1998). The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce. Berghahn Books. p. 300\. ISBN 978-1-57181-221-6. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018.
113. ^ Kurin, Richard. "The Silk Road: Connecting People and Cultures". Festival. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
114. ^ Ferrier, R.W. "The Armenians and the East India Company in Persia in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries". The Economic History Review. 26 (1).
115. ^ Faroqhi, Suraiya (1994). "Crisis and Change, 1590–1699". In İnalcık, Halil; Donald Quataert (eds.). An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1914. Vol. 2\. Cambridge University Press. pp. 505–07, 524. ISBN 978-0-521-57455-6.
116. ^ a b c Marcus Hernig: Die Renaissance der Seidenstraße (2018) pp 112.
117. ^ a b Bernhard Simon: Can The New Silk Road Compete With The Maritime Silk Road? in The Maritime Executive, 1 January 2020.
118. ^ a b Global shipping and logistic chain reshaped as China’s Belt and Road dreams take off in Hellenic Shipping News, 4. December 2018.
119. ^ Chazizam, M. (2018). The Chinese Maritime Silk Road Initiative: The Role of the Mediterranean. Mediterranean Quarterly, 29(2), 54-69.
120. ^ a b Harry de Wilt: Is One Belt, One Road a China crisis for North Sea main ports? in World Cargo News, 17. December 2019.
121. ^ Linda Vierecke, Elisabetta Galla "Triest und die neue Seidenstraße" In: Deutsche Welle, 8 December 2020.
122. ^ Charles Stevens "Along the New Silk Road – Piraeus: China’s gateway into Europe" In: Geographical 17.8.2018.
123. ^ "Global shipping and logistic chain reshaped as China’s Belt and Road dreams take off" in Hellenic Shipping News, 4 December 2018.
124. ^ Thomas Fromm "Hanseatische Seidenstraße" In: Süddeutsche Zeitung 5 October 2020.
125. ^ Andreas Eckert: Mit Mao nach Daressalam. In: Die Zeit 28 March 2019, p 17.
126. ^ Harry G. Broadman "Afrika´s Silk Road" (2007), pp 59.
127. ^ "Neue Seidenstraße: Das Mega-Projekt aus China". www.merkur.de.
128. ^ Wolf D. Hartmann, Wolfgang Maennig, Run Wang: Chinas neue Seidenstraße. (2017), pp 59.
129. ^ Diego Pautasso "The role of Africa in the New Maritime Silk Road" In: Brazilian Journal of African Studies, v.1, n.2, Jul./Dec. 2016 | p.118-130.
130. ^ a b Bradsher, Keith (20 July 2013). "Hauling New Treasure Along the Silk Road". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
131. ^ "Asia-Pacific | Asia takes first step on modern 'Silk Route'". BBC News. 22 June 2009. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
132. ^ "A Silk Road for the 21st century: Freight rail linking China and Germany officially begins operations". Shanghaiist. 4 July 2011. Archived from the original on 4 September 2011.
133. ^ "'China freight train' in first trip to Barking". BBC News. 3 January 2017. Archived from the original on 4 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
134. ^ Silk Road route back in business as China train rolls into London Archived 15 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Tracy McVeigh, The Observer, 14 January 2017
135. ^ Kathy Ceceri, The Silk Road : Explore the World's Most Famous Trade Route (White River Junction, VT: Nomad Press, 2011), 111.
136. ^ Cooley, Alexander (July 2015). "New Silk Route or Classic Developmental Cul-de-Sac? The Prospects and Challenges of China's OBOR Initiative". PONARS Eurasia. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
137. ^ "China plans new Silk Route across Ukraine". Russian News Agency TASS. 9 December 2013. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
138. ^ Sahoo, Pravakar (22 December 2015). "India should be part of the new Silk Route". Business Line. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
139. ^ a b c "China's new silk route: The long and winding road" (PDF). PricewaterhouseCoopers. February 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
140. ^ "First 'Silk Road' train arrives in Tehran from China". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
141. ^ "First train from China to Europe makes 'Silk Railway' dream come true in Turkey". Daily Sabah. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
142. ^ Strayer, Robert W. (2009). Ways of the World: A Global History. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 219.
143. ^ Christian, David (2000). "Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History". Journal of World History. 11 (1): 1–26. ISSN 1045-6007. JSTOR 20078816.
144. ^ Ulric Killion, A Modern Chinese Journey to the West: Economic Globalisation And Dualism, (Nova Science Publishers: 2006), p.66
145. ^ Yang, Bin. (2008). Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan. New York: Columbia University Press
146. ^ "History and Legend of Sino-Bangla Contacts". Fmprc.gov.cn. 28 September 2010. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
147. ^ "Seminar on Southwest Silk Road held in City". Holiday. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
148. ^ "Maritime Silk Road". SEAArch. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014.
149. ^ Richard Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1
150. ^ Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 77.
151. ^ a b Jerry H. Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 38.
152. ^ Hermes, Taylor R.; Frachetti, Michael D.; Bullion, Elissa A.; Maksudov, Farhod; Mustafokulov, Samariddin; Makarewicz, Cheryl A. (26 March 2018). "Urban and nomadic isotopic niches reveal dietary connectivities along Central Asia's Silk Roads". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 5177. Bibcode:2018NatSR...8.5177H. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22995-2. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5979964. PMID 29581431.
153. ^ Frachetti, Michael D.; Smith, C. Evan; Traub, Cynthia M.; Williams, Tim (8 March 2017). "Nomadic ecology shaped the highland geography of Asia's Silk Roads". Nature. 543 (7644): 193–98. Bibcode:2017Natur.543..193F. doi:10.1038/nature21696. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 28277506. S2CID 4408149.
154. ^ "Belief Systems Along the Silk Road," Asia Society website, "Belief Systems Along the Silk Road". Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
155. ^ von Le Coq, Albert. (1913). Chotscho: Facsimile-Wiedergaben der Wichtigeren Funde der Ersten Königlich Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost-Turkistan Archived 15 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen), im Auftrage der Gernalverwaltung der Königlichen Museen aus Mitteln des Baessler-Institutes, Tafel 19 Archived 15 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed 3 September 2016).
156. ^ Ethnic Sogdians have been identified as the Caucasian figures seen in the same cave temple (No. 9). See the following source: Gasparini, Mariachiara. "A Mathematic Expression of Art: Sino-Iranian and Uighur Textile Interactions and the Turfan Textile Collection in Berlin, Archived 2017-05-25 at the Wayback Machine" in Rudolf G. Wagner and Monica Juneja (eds), Transcultural Studies, Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, No 1 (2014), pp. 134–63. ISSN 2191-6411. See also endnote #32 . (Accessed 3 September 2016.)
157. ^ For information on the Sogdians, an Eastern Iranian people, and their inhabitation of Turfan as an ethnic minority community during the phases of Tang Chinese (7th–8th century) and Uyghur rule (9th–13th century), see Hansen, Valerie (2012), The Silk Road: A New History, Oxford University Press, p. 98, ISBN 978-0-19-993921-3.
158. ^ Jerry H. Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 69, 73.
159. ^ Anderson, James A. (2009). "China's Southwestern Silk Road in World History". World History Connected. 6 (1). Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
160. ^ Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 16.
161. ^ Foltz, Richard C. (1999). Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century. New York: St Martin's Press. p. 37.
162. ^ Xinru Liu, "The Silk Road in World History" (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 51.
163. ^ Xinru Liu, "The Silk Road in World History" (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 42.
164. ^ Foltz, "Religions of the Silk Road", pp. 37–58
165. ^ Foltz, Richard C. (1999). Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century. New York: St Martin's Press. p. 47.
166. ^ a b Foltz, Richard C. (1999). Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century. New York: St Martin's Press. p. 38.
167. ^ Silkroad Foundation; Adela C.Y. Lee. "Ancient Silk Road Travellers". Archived from the original on 6 August 2009.
168. ^ Foltz, Richard C. (1999). Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century. New York: St Martin's Press. p. 41.
169. ^ Jerry H. Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 43–44.
170. ^ Jerry H. Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 48.
171. ^ Jerry H. Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 50.
172. ^ a b c d e f g Foltz, Richard (1998). "Judaism and the Silk Route". The History Teacher. 32 (1): 9–16. doi:10.2307/494416. ISSN 0018-2745. JSTOR 494416.
173. ^ Xinru, Liu,The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 21.
174. ^ Foltz, Richard C. (1999). Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century. New York: St Martin's Press. p. 45.
175. ^ "The Silk Road and Beyond: Travel, Trade, and Transformation". Art Institute of Chicago website. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
176. ^ "Objectives". Archived from the original on 15 March 2013.
177. ^ "Announcement about the Silk Road Week, 19-25 June 2020-China Silk Museum". www.chinasilkmuseum.com.
178. ^ "What you need to know about The Silk Road in the town of Macclesfield and near the village of Prestbury".

### Sources[edit | edit source]

* Baines, John and Málek, Jaromir (1984). Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Oxford, Time Life Books.
* Boulnois, Luce (2004). Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants on the Silk Road. Translated by Helen Loveday with additional material by Bradley Mayhew and Angela Sheng. Airphoto International. ISBN 978-962-217-720-8 hardback, ISBN 978-962-217-721-5 softback.
* Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-66991-7.
* Foltz, Richard, Religions of the Silk Road, Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1
* Harmatta, János, ed., 1994. History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 BC to 250. Paris, UNESCO Publishing.
* Herodotus (5th century BCE): Histories. Translated with notes by George Rawlinson. 1996 edition. Ware, Hertfordshire, Wordsworth Editions Limited.
* Hopkirk, Peter: Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia. The University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1980, 1984. ISBN 978-0-87023-435-4
* Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
* Hulsewé, A.F.P. and Loewe, M.A.N. (1979). China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. E.J. Brill, Leiden.
* Huyghe, Edith and Huyghe, François-Bernard: "La route de la soie ou les empires du mirage", Petite bibliothèque Payot, 2006, ISBN 978-2-228-90073-7
* Juliano, Annette, L. and Lerner, Judith A., et al. 2002. Monks and Merchants: Silk Road Treasures from Northwest China: Gansu and Ningxia, 4th–7th Century. Harry N. Abrams Inc., with The Asia Society. ISBN 978-0-8109-3478-8, 0-87848-089-7.
* Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim (1988). Die Seidenstrasse: Handelsweg and Kulturbruecke zwischen Morgen- and Abendland. Koeln: DuMont Buchverlag.
* Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim (1993). Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia. Trans. & presented by Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 978-0-06-064586-1.
* Knight, E.F. (1893). Where Three Empires Meet: A Narrative of Recent Travel in: Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit, and the adjoining countries. Longmans, Green, and Co., London. Reprint: Ch'eng Wen Publishing Company, Taipei. 1971.
* Li, Rongxi (translator). 1995. A Biography of the Tripiṭaka Master of the Great Ci'en Monastery of the Great Tang Dynasty. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. Berkeley, California. ISBN 978-1-886439-00-9
* Li, Rongxi (translator). 1995. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. Berkeley, California. ISBN 978-1-886439-02-3
* Litvinsky, B.A., ed. (1996). History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: 250 to 750. Paris, UNESCO Publishing.
* Liu, Xinru (2001). "Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies." Journal of World History, Volume 12, No. 2, Fall 2001. University of Hawaii Press, pp. 261–92. Project MUSE - Journal of World History.
* Liu, Li, 2004, The Chinese Neolithic, Trajectories to Early States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Liu, Xinru (2010). The Silk Road in World History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516174-8, 978-0-19-533810-2.
* McDonald, Angus (1995). The Five Foot Road: In Search of a Vanished China., San Francisco: HarperCollins
* Malkov, Artemy (2007). The Silk Road: A mathematical model. History & Mathematics, ed. by Peter Turchin et al. Moscow: KomKniga. ISBN 978-5-484-01002-8
* Mallory, J.P. and Mair, Victor H. (2000). The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. Thames & Hudson, London.
* Ming Pao. "Hong Kong proposes Silk Road on the Sea as World Heritage", 7 August 2005, p. A2.
* Osborne, Milton, 1975. River Road to China: The Mekong River Expedition, 1866–73. George Allen & Unwin Lt.
* Puri, B.N, 1987 Buddhism in Central Asia, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi. (2000 reprint).
* Ray, Himanshu Prabha, 2003. The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80455-4, 0-521-01109-4.
* Sarianidi, Viktor, 1985. The Golden Hoard of Bactria: From the Tillya-tepe Excavations in Northern Afghanistan. Harry N. Abrams, New York.
* Schafer, Edward H. 1963. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of T'ang Exotics. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1st paperback edition: 1985. ISBN 978-0-520-05462-2.
* Stein, Aurel M. 1907. Ancient Khotan: Detailed report of archaeological explorations in Chinese Turkestan, 2 vols. Clarendon Press. Oxford.National Institute of Informatics / Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books - Digital Silk Road Project
* Stein, Aurel M., 1912. Ruins of Desert Cathay: Personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China, 2 vols. Reprint: Delhi. Low Price Publications. 1990.
* Stein, Aurel M., 1921. Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China, 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980.National Institute of Informatics / Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books - Digital Silk Road Project
* Stein Aurel M., 1928. Innermost Asia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran, 5 vols. Clarendon Press. Reprint: New Delhi. Cosmo Publications. 1981.
* Stein Aurel M., 1932 On Ancient Central Asian Tracks: Brief Narrative of Three Expeditions in Innermost Asia and Northwestern China. Reprinted with Introduction by Jeannette Mirsky. Book Faith India, Delhi. 1999.
* Thorsten, Marie. 2006 "Silk Road Nostalgia and Imagined Global Community". Comparative American Studies 3, no. 3: 343–59.
* Waugh, Daniel. (2007). "Richthofen "Silk Roads": Toward the Archeology of a Concept." The Silk Road. Volume 5, Number 1, Summer 2007, pp. 1–10. [2]
* von Le Coq, Albert, 1928. Buried Treasures of Turkestan. Reprint with Introduction by Peter Hopkirk, Oxford University Press. 1985.
* Whitfield, Susan, 1999. Life Along the Silk Road. London: John Murray.
* Wimmel, Kenneth, 1996. The Alluring Target: In Search of the Secrets of Central Asia. Trackless Sands Press, Palo Alto, CA. ISBN 978-1-879434-48-6
* Yan, Chen, 1986. "Earliest Silk Route: The Southwest Route." Chen Yan. China Reconstructs, Vol. XXXV, No. 10. October 1986, pp. 59–62.
* Yule, Sir Henry, ed. (1866). Cathay and the way thither: being a collection of medieval notices of China. Issue 37 of Works issued by the Hakluyt Society. Printed for the Hakluyt society.

## Further reading[edit | edit source]

See also: Bibliography of the history of Central Asia

* Boulnois, Luce. Silk Road: Monks, Warriors and Merchants on the Silk Road. Odyssey Publications, 2005. ISBN 978-962-217-720-8
* Bulliet, Richard W. 1975. The Camel and the Wheel. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-09130-6.
* Christian, David (2000). "Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History". Journal of World History. 2.1 (Spring): 1. doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0004. S2CID 18008906.
* de la Vaissière, E., Sogdian Traders. A History, Leiden, Brill, 2005, Hardback ISBN 978-90-04-14252-7 Brill Publishers, French version ISBN 978-2-85757-064-6 on Home | De Boccard
* Elisseeff, Vadime. Editor. 1998. The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce. UNESCO Publishing. Paris. Reprint: 2000. ISBN 978-92-3-103652-1 softback; ISBN 978-1-57181-221-6, 1-57181-222-9.
* Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). China's Ancient Tea Horse Road. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN B005DQV7Q2
* Frankopan, Peter. The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (2016), Very wide-ranging scholarly survey, albeit without any maps.
* Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History (Oxford University Press; 2012) 304 pages; Combines archaeology and history in a study of seven oases
* Hallikainen, Saana: Connections from Europe to Asia and how the trading was affected by the cultural exchange (2002)
* Hill, John E. (2004). The Peoples of the West from the Weilüe 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265. Draft annotated English translation. Weilue: The Peoples of the West
* Hopkirk, Peter: The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia; Kodansha International, New York, 1990, 1992.
* Kuzmina, E.E. The Prehistory of the Silk Road. (2008) Edited by Victor H. Mair. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia. ISBN 978-0-8122-4041-2
* Larsen, Jeanne. Silk Road: A Novel of Eighth-Century China. (1989; reprinted 2009)
* Levy, Scott C. (2012). "Early Modern Central Asia in World History". History Compass. 10 (11): 866–78. doi:10.1111/hic3.12004.
* Li et al. "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age". BMC Biology 2010, 8:15.
* Liu, Xinru, and Shaffer, Lynda Norene. 2007. Connections Across Eurasia: Transportation, Communication, and Cultural Exchange on the Silk Roads. McGraw Hill, New York. ISBN 978-0-07-284351-4.
* Miller, Roy Andrew (1959): Accounts of Western Nations in the History of the Northern Chou Dynasty. University of California Press.
* Omrani, Bijan; Tredinnick, Jeremy (2010). Asia Overland: Tales of Travel on the Trans-Siberian and Silk Road. Hong Kong New York: Odyssey Distribution in the US by W.W. Norton & Co, Odyssey Publications. ISBN 978-962-217-811-3.
* Polo, Marco, Il Milione.
* Thubron, C., The Silk Road to China (Hamlyn, 1989)
* Tuladhar, Kamal Ratna (2011). Caravan to Lhasa: A Merchant of Kathmandu in Traditional Tibet. Kathmandu: Lijala & Tisa. ISBN 978-99946-58-91-6
* Watt, James C.Y.; Wardwell, Anne E. (1997). When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-87099-825-6.
* Weber, Olivier, Eternal Afghanistan (photographs of Reza), (Unesco-Le Chêne, 2002)
* Yap, Joseph P. Wars With the Xiongnu – A Translation From Zizhi Tongjian. AuthorHouse (2009) ISBN 978-1-4490-0604-4
* National Institute of Informatics – Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books
* Digital Silk Road > Toyo Bunko Archive > List of Books

## External links[edit | edit source]

File:Commons-logo.svg

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Silk Road.

File:Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for [[Wikivoyage:Silk Road#Template:Wikidata|Silk Road]].

* Silk Road Atlas (University of Washington)
* The Silk Road, a historical overview by Oliver Wild
* The Silk Road Journal, a freely available scholarly journal run by Daniel Waugh
* The New Silk Road – a lecture by Paul Lacourbe at TEDxDanubia 2013
* Escobar, Pepe (February 2015). Year of the Sheep, Century of the Dragon? New Silk Roads and the Chinese Vision of a Brave New (Trade) World, an essay at Tom Dispatch

* v
* t
* e

Han dynasty topics

History|

* Chu–Han Contention (Feast at Swan Goose Gate)
* Lü Clan Disturbance
* Rebellion of the Seven States
* Han–Xiongnu War
* War of the Heavenly Horses
* Han conquest of Gojoseon
* Four Commanderies
* Southward expansion (Han–Minyue War
* Han conquest of Nanyue
* Han conquest of Dian
* First Chinese domination of Vietnam
* Trung sisters' rebellion
* Second Chinese domination of Vietnam)
* Xin dynasty
* Red Eyebrows and Lulin
* Chengjia
* Disasters of the Partisan Prohibitions
* Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
* Yellow Turban Rebellion
* End of the Han dynasty
* Battle of Red Cliffs

Close-up of a Han Dynasty ceramic horse

Society and culture|

* Ban Gu
* Sima Qian
* Records of the Grand Historian
* Book of Han
* Book of the Later Han
* Records of the Three Kingdoms
* Flying Horse of Gansu
* Huainanzi
* Eight Immortals of Huainan
* Mawangdui Silk Texts
* Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals
* Yiwu Zhi
* Old Texts
* Han poetry
* Fu
* Eastern Han Chinese

Government and military|

* Ban Chao
* Ma Yuan
* Emperor
* list
* Family tree
* Three Lords and Nine Ministers
* Nine Ministers
* Three Ducal Ministers
* Kings
* Provinces and commanderies
* Protectorate of the Western Regions (Chief Official)
* Translation of government titles

Economy|

* Ancient Chinese coinage
* Silk Road
* Sino-Roman relations

Science and technology|

* Cai Lun
* Ding Huan
* Du Shi
* Hua Tuo
* Wang Chong
* Zhang Heng
* Zhang Zhongjing

Texts|

* Balanced Discourse
* Book of Origins
* Book on Numbers and Computation
* Fangyan
* Essential Prescriptions from the Golden Cabinet
* The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art
* Huangdi Neijing
* Shuowen Jiezi
* Treatise on Cold Injury and Miscellaneous Disorders
* Zhoubi Suanjing

* v
* t
* e

Economic history of China

Imperial China (pre-1912)|

* Han dynasty
* Song dynasty
* Ming dynasty

Modern China (1912–present)|

* 1912–1949
* 1949–present
* 1949–1976 wage reform
* Industrialization
* Economic Reform
* Technological and industrial history
* History of transport in China (History of rail transport)
* History of agriculture in China
* China–United States trade war

Contemporary economy|

* Hong Kong
* Macau
* Taiwan

History of foreign trade in China|

* History of trade of the People's Republic of China
* Old China Trade
* Silk Road
* Canton System
* China Association
* Chinese exploration

* v
* t
* e

Silk

General|

* History of silk
* Magnanery
* Sericulture
* Silk mill
* Silk Road
* Silk throwing
* Silk waste

Types|

* Ahimsa silk
* Assam silk
* Atlas silk
* Byzantine silk
* Burmese silk
* Chinese silk
* Eri silk
* Pat silk
* Japanese silk
* Lao silk
* Mysore silk
* Rajshahi silk
* Sea silk
* Thai silk
* Tussar silk
* Wild silk

Industries|

* Silk in the Indian subcontinent
* Silk industry in China
* Silk industry of Cheshire

Products|

* Sari
* Tenun Pahang Diraja

* v
* t
* e

Trade routes

* Amber Road
* Austronesian maritime trade network
* Canadian canoe routes
* Dvaravati–Kamboja route
* Grand Trunk Road
* Hærvejen
* Hanseatic League
* Hiri trade cycle
* Incense trade route
* King's Highway
* Kula ring
* Lapita culture
* Maritime republics
* Maritime Silk Road
* Old Salt Route
* Penarikan Route
* Manila Galleon
* Polynesian navigation
* Rome-India routes
* Royal Road
* Salt road
* Sepik Coast exchange
* Siberian Route
* Silk Road
* Spanish Road
* Spice Route
* Brouwer Route
* Tea Horse Road
* Trans-Saharan trade
* Trepanging
* Triangular trade
* Via Maris
* Volga trade route
* Varangians to the Greeks
* Way of the Patriarchs

* v
* t
* e

World Heritage Sites in China

East|

* Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City
* Classical Gardens of Suzhou
* Fujian Tulou
* Lushan
* Huangshan
* Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea–Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I)
* Mount Sanqing
* Mount Tai
* Wuyi Mountains
* Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and Kong Family Mansion in Qufu
* Xidi, and Hongcun
* West Lake
* Kulangsu

Chinese version of UNESCO World Heritage logo

South Central|

* Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains
* Historic Centre of Macau
* Shennongjia
* Kaiping Diaolou and Villages
* Longmen Grottoes
* Historic Monuments of Dengfeng, including the Shaolin Monastery and Gaocheng Observatory
* Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art
* Wulingyuan
* Yinxu

Southwest|

* Chengjiang Fossil Site
* Dazu Rock Carvings
* Fanjingshan
* Honghe Hani Rice Terraces
* Huanglong
* Jiuzhaigou
* Lijiang
* Mount Emei and Leshan Giant Buddha
* Mount Qingcheng and Dujiangyan
* Potala Palace, including the Jokhang and Norbulingka
* Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries
* Three Parallel Rivers

North|

* Mount Wutai
* Chengde Mountain Resort, including Putuo Zongcheng Temple, Xumi Fushou Temple and Puning Temple
* Forbidden City
* Zhoukoudian
* Ancient City of Pingyao
* Summer Palace
* Temple of Heaven
* Xanadu
* Yungang Grottoes

Northeast|

* Koguryo sites
* Mukden Palace

Northwest|

* Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor
* Mogao Caves
* Xinjiang Tianshan
* Qinghai Hoh Xil

Multiple regions|

* Great Wall
* China Danxia
* Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties
* South China Karst
* Grand Canal
* Silk Roads
* Tusi Sites

* v
* t
* e

World Heritage Sites in Kazakhstan

* Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi
* Saryarka — Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan
* Tamgaly Petroglyphs
* Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor

Flag of Kazakhstan
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template