Cities along the Silk Road

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This articles lists cities located along the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes which connected Europe with China, spanning from the Mediterranean Sea to the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

The Silk Road's eastern end is in present-day China, and its main western end is Antioch. The Silk Road started about the time of the Han dynasty, when Emperor Wu was ruling.[citation needed]

The Silk Road.

## Along the terrestrial/land Silk Roads[edit]

Major cities, broadly from the eastern Mediterranean to South Asia, and arranged roughly west to east in each area by modern-day country

### The Silk Roads across the Middle East and Western Asia[edit]

Turkey

* Constantinople, ancient Byzantium, (now Istanbul)
* Bursa
* Beypazarı
* Mudurnu
* Taraklı
* Konya
* Adana
* Antioch
* İzmir
* Trabzon

Azerbaijan

* Baku
* Shamakhi
* Barda

Georgia

* Tbilisi (Tiflis)
* Batumi (Batoum)
* Poti

Armenia

* Yerevan

Lebanon

* Tyre

Syria

* Aleppo
* Tartus
* Homs
* Damascus
* Palmyra
* Raqqa
* Dura Europos

Iraq

* Mosul
* Erbil
* Samarra
* Fallujah
* Baghdad
* Ctesiphon
* Baquba

Iran

* Tabriz
* Zanjan
* Rasht
* Kermanshah
* Hamadan
* Rey (or Ray in modern-day Tehran)
* Hecatompylos (Damghan)
* Sabzevar
* Nishapur
* Mashhad
* Tus
* Bam
* Yazd
* Qazvin
* Qumis (Hekatompylos)

### Central Asia[edit]

Turkmenistan

* Nisa
* Merv
* Urgench Ruins of Muhammad II's palace in Old Urgench.
* Amul

Uzbekistan

* Bukhara
* Shahrisabz
* Samarkand
* Tashkent
* Kokand (Fergana Valley)
* Andijon (Fergana Valley)

Tajikistan

* Khujand (Fergana Valley)
* Istaravshan

Kazakhstan

* Otrar
* Ispidjab (or Sairum)
* Taraz
* Hazrat-e Turkestan The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasavi in the town of Hazrat-e Turkestan. Built by Timur in the 1390s.
* Almaty

Kyrgyzstan

* Issyk kul
* Tokmok
* Bishkek
* Osh

### Southern Routes and South Asia[edit]

Afghanistan

* Bactra (Balkh)
* Herat
* Alexandria Arachosia (Kandahar)
* Bamyan
* Kabul

Pakistan

* Purusapura
* Pushkalavati
* Takshashila
* Multan
* Banbhore/Barbarikon
* Debal/Patala

India

* Tamralipta (or Tamluk)
* Leh
* Jaisalmer
* Mathura
* Varanasi (or Benares)
* Pataliputra

Nepal

* Kathmandu – see also Patan & Bhaktapur

Bangladesh

* Wari-Bateshwar
* Pundranagara
* Vikrampura
* Somapura
* Bhitargarh
* Sonargaon
* Chattagram/Chatgaon/Chittagong
* Comilla/Mainamati/Samatata
* Jahangir Nagar/Dhaka

Bhutan

* Jakar
* Paro

The chain of cities along the northern route along the Taklamakan, probably based on Bento de Góis's itinerary, from Hiarcan (Yarkand) to Cialis (Karasahr or Korla) to Sucieu (Suzhou, Gansu)

### China: The northern route along the Taklamakan Desert[edit]

Map of eastern Xinjiang with prehistoric sites and the courses of the Folke Bergman, 1939

* Kashgar (or Kashi) (Major City)
* Liqian
* Aksu
* Kucha
* Korla
* Loulan
* Karasahr (Yanqi)
* Turpan (Turfan)
* Jiaohe Ruins
* Turpan Water Museum
* Gaochang
* the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
* Chang'an
* Kumul/Hami
* Ürümqi
* Yumen Pass (or Jade Gate or Pass of the Jade Gate) (city called Yumenguan or Hecang)
* Anxi

### China: The southern route along the Taklamakan Desert[edit]

* Kashgar (or Kashi) (Major City)
* Pishan
* Khotan
* Niya
* Mingfeng
* Endere
* Charchan
* Waxxari
* Ruoqiang Town (Charklik)
* Miran
* Yangguan, or Yangguan Pass
* Dunhuang
* the Mogao Caves
* Anxi

### China: From Anxi/Dunhuang to Chang'an (Xi'an)[edit]

The ruins of a Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province, the eastern edge of the Silk Road

* Dunhuang (Major City)
* Jiayuguan
* Jiuquan
* Zhangye
* Shandan
* Liangzhou (Wuwei)
* Tianzhu, Gansu
* Lanzhou
* Tianshui
* Baoji
* Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an)

### The eastern routes[edit]

Korea

* Pyongyang
* Gyeongju
* Busan
* Seoul

Japan

* Nara
* Fukuoka
* Nagasaki
* Osaka

## Along the Indian Ocean trade routes[edit]

Pakistan

* Debal
* Barbarikon
* Banbhore

China

* Ningbo, China
* Fuzhou, China
* Quanzhou, China
* Guangzhou, China

Korea

* Ulsan, Korea

Bangladesh

* Chittagong, Bangladesh

Sri Lanka

* Colombo, Sri Lanka

India

* Tamralipta, West Bengal, India
* Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu, India
* chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
* Korkai, Tamil Nadu, India
* Muziris, Kerala, India
* Goa, India
* Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
* Cochin, Kerala, India
* Masulipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
* Lothal, Gujarat, India

Ukraine

Sudak, Ukraine

Russia

* Astrakhan, Russia
* Derbent, Russia

Oman

* Muscat, Oman

Yemen

* Aden, Yemen

Somalia

* Bosaso, Somalia

Egypt

* Suez, Egypt

Turkey

* Ayas, Turkey

Italy

* Venice, Italy
* Rome, Italy

### In Southeast Asia[edit]

* Kedah (Early history of Kedah)
* Ligor
* Bolinao, Pangasinan, Philippines
* Malacca
* Muziris, India
* Vijaya, Champa
* Hanoi, Vietnam
* Hoi An, Vietnam
* Perlak, Indonesia

## List of Ptolemy[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cities along the Silk Road.

This following list is attributed to Ptolemy. All city names are Ptolemy's, throughout all his works. Most of the names are included in Geographia.

Some of the cities provided by Ptolemy either: no longer exist today or have moved to different locations. Nevertheless, Ptolemy has provided an important historical reference for researchers.

(This list has been alphabetized.)

* Africa
* East Africa – Akhmim, Aromaton Emporion, Axum, Coloe, Dongola, Juba, Maji, Opone, Panopolis, Sarapion, Sennar.
* North Africa – Caesarea, Carthage, Cyrene, Leptis Magna, Murzuk, Sijilmassa, Tamanrasset, Tingis.
* Arabia – Cane, Eudaemon Arabia, Mocha, Mosylon, Sanaʽa, Zafār (Saphar), Saue.
* Bangladesh – Sounagaora.
* China – Cattigara, Chengdu, Kaifeng, Kitai, Kunming, Yarkand.
* Europe – Aquileia, Athens, Augusta Treverorum (Trier), Gades (Cadiz), Ostia.
* India – Argaru, Astakapra, Bacare, Balita, Barake, Byzantion, Colchi, Erannoboas, Horaia, Kalliena, Mandagora, Melizeigara, Muziris, korkai, Poompuhar, Naura, Nelcynda, Paethana (Paithan), Palaepatmae, Palaesimundu, Poduca, Semylla, Sopatma, Suppara (Nalasopara), Tagara, Tymdis.
* Pakistan – Barbaricum, Peshawer, Taxilla
* Persia – Alexandria Areion, Kandahar, Persepolis.
* Persian Gulf – Apologos, Asabon, Charax, Gerrha (or Gerra), Ommana.
* Red Sea – Adulis, Aualites, Berenica, Malao, ancient Berbera, Muza, Myos Hormos, Ocalis, Ptolemais Theron.
* Southeast Asia – Kattigara (Oc Eo), Thaton, Trang.
* Unknown – Ecbatana (located in either modern Iran or Syria), Jiaohei.

## References[edit]