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The '''Silk Road''' was a group of [[trade route]]s that went across Asia to the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. This let [[China]] trade with the [[Middle East]] and the [[Mediterranean]] world.
{{Short description|Eurasian trade routes involving China}}
{{About|the series of trade routes|other uses|Silk Road (disambiguation)}}{{About||the online dark web marketplace that sold illegal drugs|Silk Road (marketplace)}}{{Multiple issues|{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2021}}
{{Missing information|article|the decline and collapse of the Silk Road|date=April 2021}}}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox road
| name = Silk Road
| map = Silk road Kazakhstan.svg
| map_alt = Map of Eurasia with drawn lines for overland routes
| map_notes = Main routes of the Silk Road
| length_km =
| time_period = Around 114 BCE – 1450s CE
| embedded = {{designation list | embed=yes
| designation1=WHS
| designation1_offname=Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan
| designation1_date = 2014 <small>(38th [[World Heritage Committee|session]])</small>
| designation1_type = Cultural
| designation1_criteria = ii, iii, iv, vi
| designation1_number = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1442 1442]
| designation1_free1name = Region
| designation1_free1value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in Asia|Asia-Pacific]]
}}
}}
{{Chinese
| order = ts
| t = 絲綢之路
| s = 丝绸之路
| p = Sī chóu zhī Lù
| w = Ssu1 ch'ou1 chih1 lu4<!--Wade Giles charts at https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/about/directory/departments/eastasia/find/wade-giles-pinyin-conversion-table/ and https://libraries.indiana.edu/chinese-studies-pinyin-wade-giles-conversion-table -->
}}


It was called the Silk Road because [[silk]] was traded along it.<ref name=Waugh>Waugh, Daniel 2007. Richthofen's "Silk Roads": toward the archaeology of a concept. ''The Silk Road''. '''5''', #1. [http://www.silk-road.com/newsletter/vol5num1/srjournal_v5n1.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915083815/http://www.silk-road.com/newsletter/vol5num1/srjournal_v5n1.pdf |date=2012-09-15 }}</ref> At the time, silk was only made in China, and it was a valuable material.
The '''Silk Road''' ({{zh|t=絲綢之路}})<ref>{{lang-kk|Ұлы Жібек жолы}}; {{lang-uz|Buyuk Ipak yoʻli}}; {{lang-fa|جاده ابریشم}}; {{lang-it|Via della seta}}</ref> was a network of [[Eurasia]]n [[trade route]]s active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Society|first=National Geographic|date=2019-07-26|title=The Silk Road|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/silk-road/|access-date=2022-01-25|website=National Geographic Society|language=en}}</ref> Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the [[Eastern world|East]] and [[Western world|West]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.miho.or.jp/english/member/shangrila/tpshan23.htm|title=Eurasian winds toward Silla|last=Miho Museum News (Shiga, Japan) Volume 23|date=March 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409105904/http://www.miho.or.jp/english/member/shangrila/tpshan23.htm|archive-date=9 April 2016}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJhpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|title=Ancient Glass Research Along the Silk Road|last=Gan|first=Fuxi|date=2009|page=41|others=Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences|isbn=978-981-283-356-3|edition=Ancient Glass Research along the Silk Road, World Scientific|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=MJhpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|archive-date=27 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last= Elisseeff|first= Vadime|title= The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce|publisher= UNESCO Publishing / Berghahn Books|year=2001|isbn= 978-92-3-103652-1 }}</ref> The name "Silk Road", first coined in the late 19th century, has fallen into disuse among some modern historians in favor of '''Silk Routes''', on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting [[Central Asia|Central]], [[East Asia|East]], [[South Asia|South]], and [[Southeast Asia]], the [[Middle East]], [[East Africa]], and [[Southern Europe]].<ref name=":5"/>
The Silk Road not only earned China a lot of money, but all along the route cities prospered and markets flourished. Cities like [[Samarkand]] and [[Bukhara]] were built largely on the trade from the silk route.


Trade on the Silk Road played a big part in the growth of the [[wikt:ancient|ancient]] [[culture]]s of China, [[Egypt]], [[Mesopotamia]], [[Persia]], [[India]], and [[Rome]], and helped to make the beginning of today's world. The term Silk Road is [[English language|English]] for the German word "Seidenstraße". The first person who called it that was a German [[Geography|geographer]] in 1877.<ref name=Waugh/>
The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of [[silk]] [[textile]]s that were [[Silk industry in China|produced almost exclusively]] in China. The network began with the [[Han dynasty|Han dynasty's]] expansion into [[Central Asia]] around 114 BCE through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy [[Zhang Qian]], which brought the region [[Protectorate of the Western Regions|under unified control]]. The [[Parthian Empire]] provided a bridge to East Africa and the Mediterranean. By the early first century CE, Chinese silk was widely sought-after in Rome, Egypt, and Greece.<ref name=":5" /> 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.


== General trading ==
During its roughly 1,500 years of existence, the Silk Road endured the rise and fall of numerous empires and major events such as the [[Black Death]] and the [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongol conquests]]. 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. In addition to goods, the network facilitated an unprecedented exchange of ideas, religions ([[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|especially Buddhism]]), philosophies, and scientific discoveries, many of which were [[Syncretism|syncretised]] or reshaped by the societies that encountered them.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=33}} Likewise, a wide variety of people used the routes. Diseases such as [[plague (disease)|plague]] also spread along the Silk Road, possibly contributing to the Black Death.<ref name="The Guardian">{{cite news|date=22 July 2016|title=Ancient bottom wipers yield evidence of diseases carried along the Silk Road|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jul/22/ancient-bottom-wipers-yield-evidence-of-diseases-silk-road-chinese-liver-fluke|access-date=18 May 2018}}</ref>
Of course, many other things were also traded, even [[Idea|ideas]]. Because the traders came from many places, different [[idea]]s were brought to China, and China's ideas were taken to other places.


Some of the other things traded were [[porcelain]] and other types of [[pottery]], food,<ref>Some food, such as [[Date palm|dates]], [[fig]]s and rice, can travel for long periods without being spoilt.</ref> wine,<ref>Wine travelled in sealed jars. It does not go acid until air gets at it.</ref> and [[spice]]s. [[History of chess|Chess pieces]] from northern [[India]] were brought to China and [[Persia]]. [[Paper]] arrived in the west from China. [[Metals]] and [[jewels]] were certainly transported, and very likely [[slaves]] also. Probably no trader went the whole way along. Goods would be traded on at every stopping-point. Deals might be needed to get past difficult places.<ref>Elisseeff, Vadime 2001. ''The Silk Roads: highways of culture and commerce''. UNESCO Publishing / Berghahn Books. {{ISBN|978-92-3-103652-1}}</ref><ref>Boulnois, Luce 2005. ''Silk Road: monks, warriors & merchants''. Hong Kong: Odyssey Books. {{ISBN|962-217-721-2}}</ref>
Despite repeatedly surviving many geopolitical changes and disruptions, the Silk Road abruptly lost its importance 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. In the 21st century, the name "New Silk Road" is used to describe several large [[infrastructure]] projects along 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 [[Silk Road UNESCO World Heritage Sites|Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road]] as a [[World Heritage Site]], while the [[Silk Road sites in India|Indian portion]] remains on the tentative site list.


== Path ==
==Name==
The Silk Road first traveled [[west]] from northern China. Then the part of the Silk Road on land split into two branches. One branch went [[north]] of the [[Tibetan Plateau]], and the other branch went [[south]] of it.
[[File:Woven silk, Western Han Dynasty.jpg|thumb|Woven [[silk]] textile from Tomb No. 1 at [[Mawangdui]], [[Changsha]], [[Hunan]] province, China, [[History of the Han dynasty|dated to the Western Han Era]], 2nd century BCE]]


After the two parts rejoined, it went in an almost straight line west through mountains via [[Tabriz]] in north Iran and the north tip of the [[Syrian Desert]] to the [[Levant]] (Syria, Israel, Palestine). From there Mediterranean trading [[ship]]s took routes to Italy, and land routes went north through [[Byzantine Empire]] or south to [[North Africa]].
The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in [[silk]], [[History of silk|first developed in China]],<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://www.miho.or.jp/english/member/shangrila/tpshan23.htm|title=Eurasian winds toward Silla|last=Miha Museum (Shiga, Japan)|first=Sping Special Exhibition|date=14 March 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409105904/http://www.miho.or.jp/english/member/shangrila/tpshan23.htm|archive-date=9 April 2016}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/rarebook/02/index.html.en|title=The Horses of the Steppe: The Mongolian Horse and the Blood-Sweating Stallions {{!}} Silk Road in Rare Books|website=dsr.nii.ac.jp|access-date=23 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202055856/http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/rarebook/02/index.html.en|archive-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> and a major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive transcontinental network.<ref name="Waugh 2007, p. 4">Waugh (2007), p. 4.</ref><ref name="The Silk Roads 1998 pp. 1-2">{{cite book |last=Eliseeff  |year=2009 |orig-year=First published 1998 |chapter=Approaches Old and New to the Silk Roads |title=The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce |publisher=Berghahn Books |pages=1–2|isbn=978-92-3-103652-1|postscript=none}}, {{ISBN|1-57181-221-0|1-57181-222-9|plainlink=yes}}.</ref> It derives from the German term {{lang|de|Seidenstraße}} (literally "Silk Road") and was first popularized in 1877 by [[Ferdinand von Richthofen]], who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872.<ref name="The Silk Roads 1998 pp. 1-2" /><ref>Waugh, Daniel. (2007). "Richthofen's "Silk Roads": Toward the Archaeology of a Concept." ''The Silk Road''. Volume 5, Number 1, Summer 2007, p. 4.</ref>{{sfn|Ball|2016|p=156}} However, the term itself had been in use in decades prior to that.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edspace.american.edu/silkroadjournal/wp-content/uploads/sites/984/2020/02/2-Mertens-Did-Richthofen-Really-Coin-the-Silk-Road.pdf|title=Did Richthofen Really Coin 'the Silk Road'?|last=Mertens|first=Matthias|website=The Silk Road}}</ref> The alternative translation "Silk Route" is also used occasionally. 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. The first book entitled ''The Silk Road'' was by Swedish geographer [[Sven Hedin]] in 1938.{{sfn|Ball|2016|pp=155–156}}


The sea route was also called the "Silk Road". It ran from South China, to the [[Philippines]], [[Brunei]], [[Siam]], Malacca, Ceylon, [[India]], [[Pakistan]], and [[Iran]].  In Europe it went between [[Israel]], [[Lebanon]], [[Egypt]], [[Greece]], [[Balkans]], and [[Italy]]. Past the Mediterranean Sea, it continued to [[Portugal]] and [[Sweden]].
The use of the term 'Silk Road' is not without its detractors. For instance, [[Warwick Ball]] contends that the maritime [[spice trade]] with [[Indo-Roman trade relations|India and Arabia]] was far more consequential for [[Roman economy|the economy]] of the [[Roman Empire]] than the [[Sino-Roman relations|silk trade with China]], which at sea was conducted mostly through India and on land was handled by numerous intermediaries such as the [[Sogdia]]ns. 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 [[Europeans in Medieval China|from East Asia to the West]] until the period of the [[Mongol Empire]]. 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.{{sfn|Ball|2016|pp=154–156}}


== Asian trades ==
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.<ref name="Wood2004">{{cite book|last=Wood|first=Frances|title=The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zvoCv3h2QCsC&pg=PA26|access-date=7 March 2019|date=September 2004|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24340-8|page=26}}</ref>
The [[Buddhist]] religion and the Greco-Buddhist culture started to move east on the Silk Road, reaching China from around the second century BC. Trading also helped make many arts and crafts, brought different religions, and food to China. Chinese people helped build the Silk Road. They bought and sold with other people, and built up their culture.
The Kushan [[empire]], in the northwest part of India, was in the middle of these trades.


The Silk Road brought other cultures into [[Central Asia]] and China. It also helped the rise of the [[Mongol Empire]], the largest land empire ever.
==Routes==
{{details|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 Silk Road: Through Khotan|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."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ways of the World: A Global History|url=https://archive.org/details/waysworldcombine00stra|url-access=limited|last=Strayer|first=Robert W.|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|year=2009|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/waysworldcombine00stra/page/n280 219]}}</ref>
[[File:SeidenstrasseGMT.JPG|center|thumb|600x600px|Main routes of the Silk Road on a relief map, with city and country names labeled]]


The [[Roman Empire]], which bought a lot of Chinese goods, began to fall from power in the West around the 5th century. In Central Asia, [[Islam]] expanded starting in the 7th century. This brought a stop to Chinese growth westwards at the [[Battle of Talas]] in 751 AD. More growth of the Islamic Turks in Central Asia from the [[10th century]] stopped trade in that part of the world.
===Northern route===
{{Main|Northern Silk Road}}
[[File:Silk Road in the I century AD - en.svg|thumb|upright=1.75|The Silk Road in the 1st century]]


== Notes ==
The northern route started at [[Chang'an]] (now called [[Xi'an]]), an ancient capital of China that was moved further east during the [[Eastern Han dynasty|Later Han]] to [[Luoyang]]. The route was defined around the 1st century BCE when [[Han Wudi]] put an end to harassment by nomadic tribes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Christian|first=David|year=2000|title=Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History|journal=Journal of World History|volume=11|issue=1|pages=1–26|issn=1045-6007|jstor=20078816}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}
{{Reflist}}


== External links ==
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.
{{commons|Silk Road|Silk Road}}
* [http://www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html The history of the Silk Road by Oliver Wild] {{Webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160315145417/http://www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html |date=2016-03-15 }}
* [http://www.allaboutturkey.com/silkroad.htm Introduction of the Silk Road from a Turkish tour guide]
* [http://www.ciolek.com/owtrad.html Old World Traditional Trade Routes Project]  
* [http://www.thesilkroadchina.com/photos.html Photos of Silk Road China Sights]


[[Category:History of China]]
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."<ref>Ulric Killion, ''A Modern Chinese Journey to the West: Economic Globalisation And Dualism'', (Nova Science Publishers: 2006), p.66</ref> In exchange, the caravans sent back bolts of silk brocade, lacquer-ware, and porcelain.
 
===Southern route===
The southern route or Karakoram route was mainly a single route from China through the [[Karakoram|Karakoram mountains]], where it persists in modern times as the [[Karakoram Highway]], a paved road that connects Pakistan and China.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} 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 Sea|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|date=October 2014}}
 
===Southwestern route===
{{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.<ref>Yang, Bin. (2008). ''Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan''. New York: [[Columbia University Press]]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zwjg/zwbd/t756682.htm |title=History and Legend of Sino-Bangla Contacts |publisher=Fmprc.gov.cn |date=28 September 2010 |access-date=17 April 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928233453/http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zwjg/zwbd/t756682.htm |archive-date=28 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=10&date=03/09/2012 |title=Seminar on Southwest Silk Road held in City |work=Holiday |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615070316/http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=10&date=03%2F09%2F2012 |archive-date=15 June 2013 |access-date=17 April 2013}}</ref>
 
===Maritime route===
{{main|Maritime Silk Road}}
[[File:Zheng He.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Port cities on the maritime silk route featured on the [[Treasure voyages|voyages of Zheng He]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Vadime Elisseeff|title=The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVVoRKSZxagC&pg=PA300|year=1998|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-57181-221-6|page=300|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=nVVoRKSZxagC&pg=PA300|archive-date=27 February 2018}}</ref>]]
Maritime Silk Road or Maritime Silk Route refer to the maritime section of historic Silk Road that connects China to Southeast Asia, [[Indonesia|Indonesian archipelago]], [[Indian subcontinent]], [[Arabian peninsula]], all the way to Egypt and finally Europe.<ref>{{cite web| title = Maritime Silk Road| work = SEAArch| url =https://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/tag/maritime-silk-route/| url-status=live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140105043328/http://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/tag/maritime-silk-route/| archive-date = 5 January 2014}}</ref>
 
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&nbsp;– 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]].
 
==History==
===Precursors===
====Chinese and Central Asian contacts (2nd millennium BCE)====
[[File:ChineseJadePlaques.JPG|thumb|right|Chinese [[jade]] and [[steatite]] plaques, in the [[Scythian art|Scythian-style]] [[animal style|animal art]] of the steppes. 4th–3rd century BCE. [[British Museum]].]]
[[Inner Asia|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.<ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://astanatimes.com/2012/12/treasures-of-ancient-altai-nomads-revealed/|title=Treasures of Ancient Altai Nomads Revealed|date=10 December 2012|newspaper=The Astana Times|access-date=23 February 2017|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223211537/http://astanatimes.com/2012/12/treasures-of-ancient-altai-nomads-revealed/|archive-date=23 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://astanatimes.com/2013/08/additional-berel-burial-sites-excavated/|title=Additional Berel Burial Sites Excavated |date=21 August 2013|newspaper=The Astana Times|access-date=23 February 2017|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223213908/http://astanatimes.com/2013/08/additional-berel-burial-sites-excavated/|archive-date=23 February 2017}}</ref> From the 2nd millennium BCE, [[nephrite]] jade was being traded from mines in the region of [[Yarkent County|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|date=October 2014}}
 
Genetic study of the [[Tarim mummies]], found in the [[Tarim Basin]], in the area of [[Loulan Kingdom|Loulan]] located along the Silk Road {{convert|200|km|0|abbr=off}} east of Yingpan, dating to as early as 1600 BCE, suggest 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|date=October 2014}}
 
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.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Worlds Together Worlds Apart |url = https://archive.org/details/worldstogetherwo03alti |url-access = limited |last1=Pollard |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Rosenberg |first2=Clifford |last3=Tignor |first3=Robert |publisher = Norton|year = 2011|isbn = 978-0-393-91847-2|location = New York|page = [https://archive.org/details/worldstogetherwo03alti/page/n329 278]}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1038/362025b0|volume = 362|issue = 6415|page = 25|last = Lubec|first = G.|author2=J. Holauerghsrthbek |author3=C. Feldl |author4=B. Lubec |author5=E. Strouhal |title = Use of silk in ancient Egypt|journal = Nature|date = 4 March 1993|bibcode = 1993Natur.362...25L|s2cid = 1001799|doi-access = free}} (also available here {{cite web |url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/egyptsilk.shtml |title=Use of Silk In Ancient Egypt |access-date=3 May 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070920193305/http://www.silk-road.com/artl/egyptsilk.shtml |archive-date=20 September 2007 }})</ref>
 
Following contacts between [[Metropolitan regions of China|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 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|date=October 2014}} An elite burial near [[Stuttgart]], Germany, dated to the 6th century BCE, was excavated and found to have not only [[bronze sculpture|Greek bronzes]] but also Chinese silks.<ref name="christopoulos 2012 footnote56">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}}.</ref> Similar animal-shaped pieces of art and wrestler motifs on belts have been found in [[Scythians|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 {{ill|Keshengzhuang|de}}) in China.<ref name="christopoulos 2012 footnote56"/>
 
The expansion of Scythian cultures, stretching from the [[Great Hungarian Plain|Hungarian plain]] and the [[Carpathian Mountains]] to the Chinese [[Kansu]] Corridor, and linking the Middle East with Northern India and the [[Punjab region|Punjab]], undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road. Scythians accompanied the [[Assyria]]n [[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. [[Sogdia]]ns 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.<ref>Hanks, Reuel R. (2010). ''Global Security Watch: Central Asia'', Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 3.</ref><ref>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}}.</ref>
 
[[File:UrumqiWarrior.jpg|thumb|upright|Soldier with a [[centaur]] in the [[Sampul tapestry]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Christopoulos |first=Lucas |year=2012 |chapter=Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD) |editor-first=Victor H. |editor-last=Mair |title=Sino-Platonic Papers |volume=230 |publisher=Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations |pages=15–16 |issn=2157-9687 }}</ref> wool wall hanging, 3rd–2nd century BCE, [[Xinjiang Museum]], [[Urumqi]], [[Xinjiang]], China.]]
 
===Initiation in China (130 BCE)===
{{Main|Protectorate of the Western Regions|War of the Heavenly Horses|Han–Xiongnu War|History of the Han dynasty}}
{{See also|Sino-Roman relations|China–India relations|Zhang Qian}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = Woven [[silk]] textiles from Tomb No. 1 at [[Mawangdui]], [[Changsha]], [[Hunan]] province, China, [[Western Han dynasty]] period, dated 2nd century BCE| footer_align = left | image1 = Silk from Mawangdui 2.jpg | width1 = 150 | caption1 = | image2 = Silk from Mawangdui.jpg | width2 = 150 | caption2 = }}
 
The Silk Road was initiated and spread by China's Han dynasty through exploration and [[Protectorate of the Western Regions|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]]<ref>{{cite web|author1=The Megalithic Portal|author2=Megalith Map |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18006|title=''Silk Road, North China'', C.M. Hogan, the Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham|publisher=Megalithic.co.uk|access-date=13 July 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002140921/http://www.megalithic.co.ukb/article.php?sid=18006|archive-date=2 October 2013}}</ref> (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 [[Bactria]]n 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]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35L3Ww72M-YC&pg=PA22|title=Story of the Silk Road|author=Yiping Zhang|year=2005|publisher=五洲传播出版社|page=22|isbn=978-7-5085-0832-0|access-date=17 April 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=35L3Ww72M-YC&pg=PA22|archive-date=27 February 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWS53cuiuVgC&pg=PA66|title=The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC – AD 2000|author=Julia Lovell|year=2007|publisher=Grove Press|isbn=978-0-8021-4297-9|page=73|access-date=17 April 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=IWS53cuiuVgC&pg=PA66|archive-date=27 February 2018}}</ref>
 
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.<ref name="Li">{{cite book |last1=Li |first1=Bo |last2=Zheng |first2=Yin |year=2001 |script-title=zh:中华五千年 |trans-title=5000 years of Chinese history |language=zh |publisher=Inner Mongolia People's Publishing Corp |page=254 |isbn=978-7-204-04420-7}}</ref> Some say that the Chinese [[Emperor Wu of Han China|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 County|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<ref>Di Cosmo,' Ancient China and its Enemies', 2002</ref> say that Emperor Wu was mainly interested in [[Han–Xiongnu War|fighting the Xiongnu]] and that major trade began only after the Chinese pacified the [[Hexi Corridor]].
[[File:HanHorse.jpg|thumb|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|thumb|upright|[[Roman currency|Bronze coin]] of [[Constantius II]] (337–361), found in [[Kargilik Town|Karghalik]], [[Xinjiang]], [[China]]]]
 
The Chinese were also strongly attracted by the tall and powerful horses (named "[[Ferghana horse|Heavenly horses]]") in the possession of the Dayuan (literally the "Great Ionians", the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom|Greek kingdoms of Central Asia]]), which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic Xiongnu.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Selenium in the Environment|publisher=CRC Press|year=1994|editor-last=Frankenberger|editor-first=W.T.|page=30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=City of Heavenly Tranquility: Beijing in the History of China|last=Becker|first=Jasper|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|location=Oxford|page=18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Silk Roads: A Brief History with Documents|last=Liu|first=Xinru|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|year=2012|location=New York|page=6}}</ref><ref name="Rene">{{Cite book |last=Grousset |first=Rene |title=The Empire of the Steppes |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-8135-1304-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/36 36–37, 48] |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/36 }}</ref> 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. <blockquote>Thus more embassies were dispatched to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai [who later joined the [[Alans]] ], Lijian [Syria under the Greek Seleucids], Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), and [[Tenjiku|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). </blockquote>These connections marked the beginning of the Silk Road trade network that extended to the Roman Empire.<ref name="Ebrey">Ebrey (1999), 70.</ref>
 
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,<blockquote>[A] Han expedition into Central Asia, west of [[Jaxartes river|Jaxartes River]], apparently encountered and defeated a contingent of Roman legionaries. The Romans may have been part of [[Mark Antony|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.<ref>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</ref> </blockquote>
 
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]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/440601/Ban-Chao Ban Chao] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616061740/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/440601/Ban-Chao |date=16 June 2009 }}, Britannica Online Encyclopedia</ref> It was from here that the Han general dispatched envoy [[Gan Ying]] to [[Daqin]] (Rome).<ref>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</ref> 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.<ref name="Bentley1993p32">Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 32.</ref>
 
A maritime Silk Route opened up between Chinese-controlled [[Giao Chỉ]] (centred in modern [[Vietnam]], near [[Hanoi]]), probably by the 1st century. It extended, [[Indo-Roman trade relations|via ports on the coasts of India]] and [[Sri Lanka]], all the way to [[Ancient Rome|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]].<ref name="an 2002 p83">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.</ref> According to [[Twenty-Four Histories|Chinese dynastic histories]], it is from [[Jiaozhou (region)|this region]] that the [[Sino-Roman relations#First Roman embassy|Roman embassies]] arrived in China, beginning in 166 CE during the reigns of [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Emperor Huan of Han]].<ref name="halsall 2000">{{cite web|orig-year=1998|year=2000|author=Paul Halsall|editor=Jerome S. Arkenberg|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/romchin1.html|title=East Asian History Sourcebook: Chinese Accounts of Rome, Byzantium and the Middle East, c. 91 B.C.E. – 1643 C.E.|website=Fordham.edu|publisher=[[Fordham University]]|access-date=16 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910050947/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/romchin1.html|archive-date=10 September 2014}}</ref><ref>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}}.</ref><ref>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}}.</ref> Other Roman glasswares have been found in Eastern-Han-era tombs (25–220 CE) more further inland in [[Nanjing]] and [[Luoyang]].<ref>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.</ref>
 
===Roman Empire (30&nbsp;BCE–3rd century CE)===
[[File:Seidenstrasse GMT Ausschnitt Zentralasien.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Central Asia during Roman times, with the first Silk Road]]
 
Soon after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30&nbsp;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.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=21}} The Roman-style glassware discovered in the archeological sites of [[Gyeongju]], the capital of the [[Silla|Silla kingdom]] (Korea) showed that Roman artifacts were traded as far as the Korean peninsula.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|title=Proto–Three Kingdomsof Korea {{!}} Silk Road|url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/countries-alongside-silk-road-routes/republic-korea|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223211425/https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/countries-alongside-silk-road-routes/republic-korea|archive-date=23 February 2017|access-date=23 February 2017|website=UNESCO|language=en}}</ref> The Greco-[[Roman trade with India]] started by [[Eudoxus of Cyzicus]] in 130&nbsp;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.<ref>"[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/2E1*.html Strabo's Geography Book II Chapter 5 ]"</ref> The Roman Empire connected with the Central Asian Silk Road through their ports in Barygaza (known today as Bharuch<ref>[[Bharuch]], Bharuch website. Retrieved 19 November 2013</ref>) and Barbaricum (known today as the city of [[Karachi]], [[Sindh]], [[Pakistan]]<ref>Barbarikon Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan website. Retrieved 19 November 2013.</ref>) and continued along the western coast of India.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=40}} An ancient "travel guide" to this Indian Ocean trade route was the Greek [[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]] written in 60&nbsp;CE.
 
[[File:Statuetta indiana di Lakshmi, avorio, da pompei, 1-50 dc ca., 149425, 02.JPG|thumb|[[Indian art]] also found its way into Italy: in 1938 the [[Pompeii Lakshmi]] was found in the ruins of [[Pompeii]] (destroyed in an eruption of  [[Mount Vesuvius]] in 79 CE).]]
 
The travelling party of [[Maes Titianus|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 [[Roman commerce|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 (Seneca)|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."<ref>Pliny the Elder, ''Natural Histories'' 11.xxvi.76</ref> The Romans traded spices, glassware, perfumes, and silk.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=21}}
 
[[File:Cernuschi Museum 20060812 150.jpg|thumb|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|Silla Kingdom]] in [[Gyeongju]], Korea.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=75}}<ref name=":3" /> Chinese wealth grew as they delivered silk and other luxury goods to the Roman Empire, whose wealthy women admired their beauty.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=20}} 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.
{{quote|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.<ref>Seneca the Younger (c. 3 BCE – 65 CE), Declamations Vol. I</ref>}}
The [[Western Roman Empire]], and its demand for sophisticated Asian products, [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|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]].<ref name="Iranica">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Sogdian Trade|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade |access-date=4 November 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117050947/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade |archive-date=17 November 2011 }}</ref> 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 [[Bagram|archeological site of Begram]].
 
===Byzantine Empire (6th–14th centuries)===
{{further|Byzantine-Mongol Alliance}}
[[File:Major powers in Eurasia around 555AD.png|right|thumb|288x288px|Map showing Byzantium along with the other major silk road powers during China's [[Northern and Southern dynasties|Southern dynasties]] period of fragmentation.]]
[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] Greek historian [[Procopius]] stated that two [[Nestorian Christianity|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 [[Smuggling of silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire|steal the silkworm eggs]], resulting in silk production in the Mediterranean, particularly in [[Soufli#Silk museums of Soufli|Thrace]] in northern Greece,<ref name="livius.org">[https://www.livius.org/sh-si/silk_road/silk_road.html "Silk Road"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906212218/https://www.livius.org/sh-si/silk_road/silk_road.html |date=6 September 2013 }}, LIVIUS Articles of Ancient History. 28 October 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.</ref> and giving the [[Byzantine silk|Byzantine Empire a monopoly on silk production]] in medieval Europe. In 568 the Byzantine ruler [[Justin II]] was greeted by a [[Sogdia]]n 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.<ref>Howard, Michael C. (2012), ''Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies, the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel'', McFarland & Company, p. 133.</ref><ref>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}}.</ref><ref>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.</ref> 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).{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|pp=168–69}}
 
[[File:Solidus Constans II (obverse).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Solidus (coin)|Coin]] of [[Constans II]] (r. 641–648), who is named in [[Twenty-Four Histories|Chinese sources]] as the first of several [[Byzantine emperor]]s to send embassies to the Chinese [[Tang dynasty]]<ref name="halsall 2000"/>]]
 
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).<ref name="halsall 2000"/> 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]].<ref name="halsall 2000"/> The ''[[History of Song (Yuan dynasty)|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 [[Caesar (title)|his name and title]] Michael VII Parapinakēs Caesar) to the court of [[Emperor Shenzong of Song|Emperor Shenzong]] of the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279).<ref name="halsall 2000"/>
 
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 [[Chinese nobility|the noble title]] 'Prince of Fu lin' ([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: 拂菻王; Fú lǐn wáng).<ref>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.</ref> The [[Uyghurs|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),<ref>Moule, A.C., ''Christians in China before 1500'', 94 & 103; also Pelliot, Paul in ''T'oung-pao'' 15(1914), pp. 630–36.</ref><ref>Peter Jackson (2005), The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410, Pearson Education, p. 169, {{ISBN|978-0-582-36896-5}}.</ref><ref name="encyclopedia britannica raban bar sauma">Kathleen Kuiper & editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (31 August 2006). "[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rabban-bar-Sauma Rabban bar Sauma: Mongol Envoy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011121817/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rabban-bar-Sauma |date=2016-10-11 }}." ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (online source). Retrieved 16 September 2016.</ref><ref>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}}.</ref> traveled throughout Europe and attempted to [[Franco-Mongol alliance|secure military alliances]] with [[Edward I of England]], [[Philip IV of France]], [[Pope Nicholas IV]], as well as the Byzantine ruler [[Andronikos II Palaiologos]].<ref>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}}.</ref><ref name="encyclopedia britannica raban bar sauma" /> 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.{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|p=169}}
 
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.{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|pp=169–70}}<ref name="halsall 2000" /> [[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 Archdiocese of Beijing|Roman Catholic bishop of Khanbilaq]] chosen by [[Pope John XXII]] to replace the previous archbishop [[John of Montecorvino]].<ref name="Bretschneider1871">{{cite book|author=E. Bretschneider|title=On the Knowledge Possessed by the Ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian Colonies: And Other Western Countries, Mentioned in Chinese Books|url=https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog|year=1871|publisher=Trübner & Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog/page/n31 25]–}}</ref>{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|p=170}}<ref name="halsall 2000" />
 
===Tang dynasty (7th century)===
{{Further|Tang campaigns against the Western Turks|Conquest of the Western Turks|Tang campaign against the Eastern Turks|Tang dynasty#Trade and spread of culture}}
[[File:ForeignerWithWineskin-Earthenware-TangDynasty-ROM-May8-08.png|thumb|upright|A Chinese ''[[sancai]]'' statue of a [[Sogdia]]n man with a [[Bota bag|wineskin]], [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907)]]
[[File:KingEndybisEthiopia227-235CE.jpg|250px|right|thumb|The empires and city-states of the [[Horn of Africa]], such as the [[Axumite Empire|Axumites]] were important trading partners in the ancient Silk Road.]]
[[File:Tang China 669AD.jpg|thumb|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,<ref>{{cite book|last=Nishijima|first=Sadao|editor1-last=Twitchett|editor1-first=Denis|editor2-last=Loewe|editor2-first=Michael|chapter=The Economic and Social History of Former Han|title=Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220|year=1986|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-24327-8|pages=545–607}}</ref> once again connecting China directly to the West for land-based trade.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eberhard|first=Wolfram|title=A History of China|year=2005|publisher=Cosimo|location=New York|isbn=978-1-59605-566-7}}</ref> The Tang captured the vital route through the [[Gilgit|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]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Whitfield|first=Susan|author-link=Susan Whitfield|title=The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith|year=2004|publisher=Serindia|location=Chicago|isbn=978-1-932476-12-5}}</ref>
 
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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ebrey|first=Patricia Buckley|author-link=Patricia Buckley Ebrey|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of China|year=1999|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-66991-7|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00ebre}}</ref> During Emperor Taizong's reign alone, large campaigns were launched against not only the [[Göktürk]]s, but also separate campaigns against the [[Emperor Taizong's campaign against Tuyuhun|Tuyuhun]], the [[Tang campaign against the oasis states|oasis states]], and the [[Emperor Taizong's campaign against Xueyantuo|Xueyantuo]]. Under [[Emperor Taizong of Tang|Emperor Taizong]], Tang general [[Li Jing (Tang dynasty)|Li Jing]] [[Tang campaign against the Eastern Turks|conquered the Eastern Turkic Khaganate]]. Under [[Emperor Gaozong of Tang|Emperor Gaozong]], Tang general [[Su Dingfang]] [[Conquest of the Western Turks|conquered the Western Turkic Khaganate]], an important ally of the Byzantine empire.<ref>{{cite book|last=Skaff|first=Jonathan Karem|editor=Nicola Di Cosmo|title=Military Culture in Imperial China|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-03109-8}}</ref> After these conquests, the Tang dynasty fully controlled the [[Western Regions|Xiyu]], which was the strategic location astride the Silk Road.<ref>{{cite book |title=China and her neighbours, from ancient times to the Middle Ages: a collection of essays |author=Tikhvinskiĭ, Sergeĭ Leonidovich and Leonard Sergeevich Perelomov |publisher=Progress Publishers|year=1981|page=124}}</ref> This led the Tang dynasty to reopen the Silk Road, with this portion named the '''Tang-Tubo Road'''<!--boldface per [[WP:R#PLA]]--> ("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 [[Kanchipuram|India]] since perhaps the 2nd century BCE,<ref>{{cite book|last=Sun|first=Guangqi|title=History of Navigation in Ancient China|year=1989|publisher=Ocean Press|location=Beijing|isbn=978-7-5027-0532-9}}</ref> 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|Euphrates River]] in modern-day [[Iraq]]), [[Arabia]], [[Egypt]], [[Aksum]] (Ethiopia), and [[Somalia]] in the [[Horn of Africa]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bowman|first=John S.|title=Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture|year=2000|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York}}</ref>
 
===Sogdian–Türkic tribes (4th–8th centuries)===
[[File:Caravane sur la Route de la soie - Atlas catalan.jpg|thumb|[[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.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=68}}
 
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|date=October 2014}} "Many barbarian tribes became skilled warriors able to conquer rich cities and fertile lands and to forge strong military empires."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0CGQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA184|title=Aidan of Lindisfarne: Irish Flame Warms a New World|last=Simpson|first=Ray|year=2014|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-62564-762-7|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=0CGQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA184|archive-date=27 February 2018}}</ref>
 
[[File:Radhanites2.png|thumb|upright=1.15|right|Map of Eurasia and Africa showing trade networks, c. 870]]
 
The [[Sogdiana|Sogdians]] dominated the east–west trade after the 4th century up to the 8th century. They were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia.<ref name="Iranica"/> 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."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://altaica.narod.ru/LIBRARY/xronol_tu.pdf |script-title=ru:Хронология Тюркских Языков И Лингвистические Контакты Ранних Тюрков |trans-title=Chronology of Türkic languages and linguistic contacts of early Türks |last=Dybo |first=Anna Vladimirovna |year=2007 |page=786 |language=ru |access-date=12 June 2017 |archive-date=11 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050311224856/http://altaica.narod.ru/LIBRARY/xronol_tu.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 
The Silk Road gave rise to the clusters of military states of nomadic origins in North China, ushered the [[Nestorian Church|Nestorian]], [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]], [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], and later [[Islam]]ic religions into Central Asia and China.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
 
===Islamic era (8th–13th centuries)===
{{see|History of Islamic economics}}
[[File:Baghdad 150 to 300 AH.png|thumb|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|thumb|A lion [[Motif (textile arts)|motif]] on [[Sogdia]]n [[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 [[Cities along the Silk Road|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 (palace)|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|date=October 2014}}
 
The [[Islamic world]] [[Muslim conquest of Transoxiana|expanded into Central Asia]] during the 8th century, under the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], while its successor the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] put a halt to [[Protectorate General to Pacify the West|Chinese westward expansion]] at the [[Battle of Talas]] in 751 (near the [[Talas River]] in modern-day [[Kyrgyzstan]]).<ref name="hanks 2010 p4">Hanks, Reuel R. (2010), ''Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara'', Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 4.</ref> 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.<ref>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.</ref> Contemporary Tang authors noted how the dynasty had gone into decline after this point.<ref>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.</ref> In 848 the Tang Chinese, led by the commander [[Zhang Yichao]], were only able [[Guiyi Circuit|to reclaim]] the [[Hexi Corridor]] and [[Dunhuang]] in [[Gansu]] from the Tibetans.<ref>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}}.</ref> The Persian [[Samanid Empire]] (819–999) centered in Bukhara ([[Uzbekistan]]) continued the trade legacy of the [[Sogdians]].<ref name="hanks 2010 p4"/> 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.<ref>Hanks, Reuel R. (2010), ''Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara'', Denver, Oxford: Praeger, pp. 4–5.</ref>
 
During the early 13th century [[Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia|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.<ref>Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare (2016), ''Uzbekistan'', 2nd edition, Bradt Travel Guides Ltd, pp. 12–13, {{ISBN|978-1-78477-017-4}}.</ref> 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 ''[[entrepôt]]s'' of the Islamic world.<ref>Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare (2016), ''Uzbekistan'', 2nd edition, Bradt Travel Guides Ltd, pp. 14–15, {{ISBN|978-1-78477-017-4}}.</ref>
 
===Mongol empire (13th–14th centuries)===
{{See also|Mongol Empire|Pax Mongolica|5=Fonthill Vase}}
[[File:Chinese celadon vase Branly 71.1886.89.1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|[[Yuan Dynasty]] era [[Celadon]] vase from [[Mogadishu]].]]
 
The [[Mongol invasions|Mongol expansion]] throughout the Asian continent from around 1207 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-established the Silk Road (via [[Karakorum (palace)|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.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=109}} 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<ref>Enerelt Enkhbold, [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02634937.2019.1652799 "The role of the ''ortoq'' in the Mongol Empire in forming business partnerships,"] ''Central Asian Survey'' 38, no. 4 (2019): 531-547</ref>
 
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 [[Venice|Venetian]] explorer [[Marco Polo]] became [[Europeans in Medieval China|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 [[Morocco|Moroccan]] [[Muslim]] traveller who passed through the present-day Middle East and across the Silk Road from [[Tabriz]] between 1325 and 1354.<ref>[http://www.silk-road.com/artl/paxmongolica.shtml The Pax Mongolica] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990505194222/http://www.silk-road.com/artl/paxmongolica.shtml |date=5 May 1999 }}, by Daniel C. Waugh, University of Washington, Seattle</ref>
 
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 [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluks]].{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}
 
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.<ref>J.N. Hays (2005). ''[https://archive.org/details/epidemicspandemi0000hays/page/61 Epidemics and pandemics: their impacts on human history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=GyE8Qt-kS1kC&pg=PA61 |date=27 February 2018 }}''. p. 61. {{ISBN|978-1-85109-658-9}}</ref> One theory holds that Genoese traders coming from the entrepot of [[Trabzon|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.<ref>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}}</ref>
 
===Decline (15th century–present)===
{{expand section|date=November 2020}}
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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://festival.si.edu/2002/the-silk-road/the-silk-road-connecting-peoples-and-cultures/smithsonian |title=The Silk Road: Connecting People and Cultures |last=Kurin |first=Richard |publisher=Festival |access-date=2 July 2018 }}</ref>
 
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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ferrier |first1= R.W. |date= |title=The Armenians and the East India Company in Persia in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries  |url= |journal=The Economic History Review  |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages= |doi= |access-date=}}</ref>
 
[[File:Abbasid Caravanseray of Nishapur (Ribati-i-Abbasi of Nishapur) - Morning 244.jpg|thumb|293x293px|One of many remaining [[Safavid Iran|Safavid Empire]] [[Caravanserai|Caravanserais]] in [[Iran]]. [[Shah Abbasi Caravansarai, Nishapur|This particular caravanserai]] is located in the city of [[Nishapur]] which was one of the central Silk Road cities<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sardar |first=Marika |date=July 2011 |orig-year=October 2001 |title=The Metropolitan Museum's Excavations at Nishapur |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nish/hd_nish.htm |department=Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]}}</ref> of [[Greater Khorasan]].]]
 
The silk trade continued to flourish until it was disrupted by the collapse of the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid Empire]] in the 1720s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Faroqhi|first=Suraiya |editor-last=İnalcık |editor-first=Halil |editor2=Donald Quataert |title=An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1914 |volume=2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1994 |pages=505–07, 524 |chapter=Crisis and Change, 1590–1699 |isbn=978-0-521-57455-6}}</ref>
 
==Expansion of religions==
[[File:Nestorian-Stele-Budge-plate-X.jpg|thumb|upright|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.{{sfn|Foltz|1999}} Notably, established Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road offered a haven, as well as a new religion for foreigners.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=77}}
 
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.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=38}} 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.<ref name="Jerry H 1993">[[Jerry H. Bentley]], ''Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 38.</ref>
 
Nomadic mobility played a key role in facilitating inter-regional contacts and cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Roads.<ref name="hermes_2018">{{cite journal|last1=Hermes|first1=Taylor R.|last2=Frachetti|first2=Michael D.|last3=Bullion|first3=Elissa A.|last4=Maksudov|first4=Farhod|last5=Mustafokulov|first5=Samariddin|last6=Makarewicz|first6=Cheryl A.|title=Urban and nomadic isotopic niches reveal dietary connectivities along Central Asia's Silk Roads|journal=Scientific Reports|date=26 March 2018|volume=8|issue=1|page=5177|doi=10.1038/s41598-018-22995-2|pmid=29581431|language=En|issn=2045-2322|bibcode=2018NatSR...8.5177H|pmc=5979964}}</ref><ref name="frachetti_2017">{{cite journal|last1=Frachetti|first1=Michael D.|last2=Smith|first2=C. Evan|last3=Traub|first3=Cynthia M.|last4=Williams|first4=Tim|title=Nomadic ecology shaped the highland geography of Asia's Silk Roads|journal=Nature|date=8 March 2017|volume=543|issue=7644|pages=193–98|doi=10.1038/nature21696|pmid=28277506|language=En|issn=0028-0836|bibcode=2017Natur.543..193F|s2cid=4408149|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1544288/}}</ref>
 
===Transmission of Christianity===
{{Further|Nestorianism|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://asiasociety.org/education/belief-systems-along-silk-road |title=Belief Systems Along the Silk Road |publisher=Asia Society |access-date=17 November 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117221241/http://asiasociety.org/education/belief-systems-along-silk-road |archive-date=17 November 2016 }}</ref>
 
===Transmission of Buddhism===
{{Main|Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|Greco-Buddhism}}
[[File:Buddhist Expansion.svg|thumb|right|240px|The [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism]]: [[Mahayana Buddhism]] [[Chinese Buddhism#History|first entered]] the [[Chinese Empire]] ([[Han dynasty#Religion, cosmology, and metaphysics|Han dynasty]]) during the [[Kushan Empire|Kushan Era]]. The overland and [[Maritime Southeast Asia|maritime]] "Silk Roads" were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Acri |author-first=Andrea |date=20 December 2018 |title=Maritime Buddhism |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-638 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.638 |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 |doi-access=free |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219153342/https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-638 |archive-date=19 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref>]]
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 [[Emperor Ming of Han|Ming]] (58–75). During this period Buddhism began to spread throughout Southeast, East, and Central Asia.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|pp=69, 73}} Mahayana, Theravada, and Tibetan Buddhism are the three primary forms of Buddhism that spread across Asia via the Silk Road.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Anderson |first=James A. |year=2009 |title=China's Southwestern Silk Road in World History |url=http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/6.1/anderson.html |journal=World History Connected |volume=6 |issue=1 |access-date=2 December 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209152743/http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/6.1/anderson.html |archive-date=9 February 2014 }}</ref>
 
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.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=16}} 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.{{sfn|Foltz|1999|p=37}} 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.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=51}} It is believed that under the control of the [[Kushan]]s, Buddhism was spread to China and other parts of Asia from the middle of the first century to the middle of the third century.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=42}} 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, [[Sogdiana|Sogdian]], or [[Kuchean]].{{sfn|Foltz|1999|pp=37–58}}
 
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.{{sfn|Foltz|1999|p=47}} 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.{{sfn|Foltz|1999|p=38}}
 
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml|title=Ancient Silk Road Travellers|author1=Silkroad Foundation|author2=Adela C.Y. Lee|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806070134/http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml|archive-date=6 August 2009}}</ref> 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.
 
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.{{sfn|Foltz|1999|p=38}} 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.{{sfn|Foltz|1999|p=41}} 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.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=21}}
 
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.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|pp=43–44}} 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.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=48}} The voluntary conversion of Chinese ruling elites helped the spread of Buddhism in East Asia and led Buddhism to become widespread in Chinese society.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=50}} The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.
 
<gallery widths="180px" heights="200px">
File:Buddha of Miran.png|Fragment of a wall painting depicting [[Buddha]] from a [[stupa]] in [[Miran (Xinjiang)|Miran]] along the Silk Road (200–400 AD)
File:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg|upright|A blue-eyed [[Buddhism in Central Asia|Central Asian monk]] teaching an East-Asian monk, [[Bezeklik]], [[Turfan]], eastern [[Tarim Basin]], China, 9th century; the monk on the right is possibly [[Tocharians|Tocharian]],<ref>[[Albert von Le Coq|von Le Coq, Albert]]. (1913). [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/LFc-42/V-1/page/0003.html.en ''Chotscho: Facsimile-Wiedergaben der Wichtigeren Funde der Ersten Königlich Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost-Turkistan''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915144010/http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/LFc-42/V-1/page/0003.html.en |date=15 September 2016 }}. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen), im Auftrage der Gernalverwaltung der Königlichen Museen aus Mitteln des Baessler-Institutes, [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/VIII-1-B-31/V-1/page-hr/0107.html.en Tafel 19] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915183256/http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/VIII-1-B-31/V-1/page-hr/0107.html.en |date=15 September 2016 }}. (Accessed 3 September 2016).</ref> although more likely [[Sogdia]]n.<ref name="gasparini 2014 pp134-163">Ethnic [[Sogdia]]ns have been identified as the [[:File:BezeklikSogdianMerchants.jpg|Caucasian figures seen in the same cave temple]] (No. 9). See the following source: Gasparini, Mariachiara. "[http://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/article/view/12313/8711#_edn32 A Mathematic Expression of Art: Sino-Iranian and Uighur Textile Interactions and the Turfan Textile Collection in Berlin], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525084750/http://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/article/view/12313/8711 |date=2017-05-25 }}" 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 [http://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/article/view/12313/8711#_edn32 endnote #32] . (Accessed 3 September 2016.)</ref><ref>For information on the Sogdians, an [[Eastern Iranian people]], and their inhabitation of [[Turfan]] as an ethnic minority community during the phases of [[Tang dynasty|Tang Chinese]] (7th–8th century) and [[Kingdom of Qocho|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}}.</ref>
File:AsokaKandahar.jpg|Bilingual edict ([[Greek language|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.
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]], {{convert|3000|km|0|abbr=on}} southwest of Urumqi, Xinjiang, 8th century
</gallery>
 
=== Judaism on the Silk Road ===
Adherents to the [[Jewish faith]] first began to travel eastward from [[Mesopotamia]] following the [[Persia]]n 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.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal|last=Foltz|first=Richard|year=1998|title=Judaism and the Silk Route|journal=The History Teacher|volume=32|issue=1|pages=9–16|doi=10.2307/494416|issn=0018-2745|jstor=494416}}</ref> After settlement, it is likely that most Judeans took up trades in commerce.<ref name=":42" /> 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.<ref name=":42" /> 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.<ref name=":42" /> This trade was facilitated by a positive relationship the Radanites were able to foster with the [[Khazar]] [[Turkic people|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.<ref name=":42" />
 
According to Richard Foltz "there is more evidence for Iranian influence on the formation of [[Judaism|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 [[Iran]]ian religious ideas, and this is supported by a lack of such ideas from pre-exile Judean sources.<ref name=":42"/> The origin of [[the devil]] is also said to come from the Iranian [[Angra Mainyu]], an evil figure in [[Persian mythology]].<ref name=":42" />
 
==Expansion of the arts==
{{Main|Silk Road transmission of art}}
[[File:WindGods.JPG|thumb|upright=1.6|Iconographical evolution of the Wind God. Left: Greek Wind God from [[Hadda, Afghanistan|Hadda]], 2nd century. Middle: Wind God from [[Kizil Caves|Kizil]], [[Tarim Basin]], 7th century. Right: Japanese Wind God [[Fūjin|Fujin]], 17th century.]]
 
Many artistic influences were transmitted via the Silk Road, particularly through Central Asia, where [[Hellenistic]], [[Persian art|Iranian]], [[Indian art|Indian]] and [[Chinese art|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.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=21}}
 
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.{{sfn|Foltz|1999|p=45}}
 
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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/silkroad/themes.html |url-status=live |title=The Silk Road and Beyond: Travel, Trade, and Transformation |website=Art Institute of Chicago website |access-date=15 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114062335/http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/silkroad/themes.html |archive-date=14 November 2016}}</ref>
 
==Commemoration==
On 22 June 2014, the [[United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)]] named the Silk Road a [[Silk Road UNESCO World Heritage Sites|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.<ref name="silkroad.unwto.org">{{cite web|url=http://silkroad.unwto.org/en/content/objectives|title=Objectives|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130315103354/http://silkroad.unwto.org/en/content/objectives|archive-date=15 March 2013}}</ref>
 
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinasilkmuseum.com/xwdtIR/info_84.aspx?itemid=27701|title=Announcement about the Silk Road Week, 19-25 June 2020-China Silk Museum|website=www.chinasilkmuseum.com}}</ref> Bishkek and Almaty each have a major east–west street named after the Silk Road ({{lang-ky|Жибек жолу}}, ''Jibek Jolu'' in Bishkek, and {{lang-kk|Жібек жолы}}, ''Jibek Joly'' in Almaty).
 
==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="120" caption="Silk Road and artifacts">
File:Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh 1.jpg|[[Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh]]
File:Caravasar de Sultanhani. Han.jpg|Sultanhani [[caravanserai]]
File:Caravanserai-Sheki.jpg|[[Shaki Caravanserai]], [[Shaki, Azerbaijan|Shaki]], [[Azerbaijan]]
File:İkimərtəbəli karvansaray daxili həyət 2016.jpg|[[Two-Storeyed Caravanserai]], [[Baku]], Azerbaijan
File:The remains of a bridge2.jpg|Bridge in [[Ani]], capital of [[Bagratid Armenia|medieval Armenia]]
File:Taldyk pass (3600 m).jpg|Taldyk pass
File:Medieval fortress of Amul (Lebap, Turkmenistan).jpg|Medieval fortress of Amul, [[Turkmenabat]], [[Turkmenistan]]
File:Zeinodin Caravanserai.jpg|[[Zeinodin Caravanserai]]
File:Westerner on a camel.jpg|[[Sogdia]]n man on a [[Bactrian camel]], ''[[sancai]]'' ceramic glaze, Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907)
File: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
File:WhiteHanBronzeMirror.JPG|A late [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou]] or early Han Chinese [[TLV mirror|bronze mirror]] inlaid with [[glass]], perhaps incorporated Greco-Roman artistic patterns
File:Xihan rhino, gold & silver inlays.JPG|A Chinese [[Western Han dynasty]] (202 BCE – 9 CE) bronze rhinoceros with gold and silver inlay
File:Han Dynasty Granary west of Dunhuang.jpg|[[Han dynasty]] [[Granary]] west of [[Dunhuang]] on the Silk Road.
File: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
</gallery>
 
==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=16em}}
* [[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]]
* [[International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles (IASSRT)|Silk Road Textiles]]
* [[Steppe Route]]
* [[Suez Canal]]
* [[Tea Horse Road]]
* ''[[The Silk Roads]]''
* [[Three hares]]
{{Div col end}}
 
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{{reflist}}
 
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* 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}}.
* [[Viktor Sarianidi|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}}.
* 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. [http://www.silk-road.com/newsletter/vol5num1/srjournal_v5n1.pdf ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915083815/http://www.silk-road.com/newsletter/vol5num1/srjournal_v5n1.pdf |date=15 September 2012 }}
* 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.&nbsp;59–62.
{{refend}}
 
==Further reading==
{{See also|Bibliography of the history of Central Asia}}
{{refbegin|40em}}
* Bulliet, Richard W. 1975. ''The Camel and the Wheel''. Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-09130-6}}.
* {{Cite journal |last=Christian |first=David |year=2000 |title=Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History |journal=[[Journal of World History]] |volume=2.1 |issue=Spring |page=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 [http://www.deboccard.com/ 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)
* Hansen, Valerie. ''The Silk Road: A New History'' (Oxford University Press; 2012) 304 pages
* 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. [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html Weilue: The Peoples of the West]
* [[Peter Hopkirk|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}}
* {{cite journal |last=Levy |first=Scott C. |year=2012 |title=Early Modern Central Asia in World History |journal=[[History Compass]] |volume=10 |issue=11 |pages=866–78 |doi=10.1111/hic3.12004}}
* Li et al. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110427172440/http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1741-7007-8-15.pdf "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age"]. ''[[BMC Biology]]'' 2010, 8:15.
* [[Xinru Liu|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.
* {{cite book |author-link1=Bijan Omrani |last1=Omrani |first1=Bijan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7USQgAACAAJ |title=Asia Overland: Tales of Travel on the Trans-Siberian and Silk Road |first2=Jeremy |last2=Tredinnick |location=Hong Kong New York |publisher=Odyssey Distribution in the US by [[W. W. Norton & Co]], [[Odyssey Publications]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-962-217-811-3}}
* 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}}
* {{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=James C. Y. |last2=Wardwell |first2=Anne E. |title=When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles |location=New York |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-87099-825-6}}
* [[Olivier Weber|Weber, Olivier]], Eternal Afghanistan (photographs of Reza), (Unesco-Le Chêne, 2002)
* Yap, Joseph P. (2009). ''Wars with the Xiongnu: A Translation from Zizhi Tongjian''. AuthorHouse. {{ISBN|978-1-4490-0604-4}}.
* [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/ National Institute of Informatics – Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books]
* [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/sitemap/index.html.en Digital Silk Road > Toyo Bunko Archive > List of Books]
{{refend}}
 
==External links==
 
 
* [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/maps/maps.html Silk Road Atlas (University of Washington)]
* [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160315145417/http://www.ess.uci.edu/%7Eoliver/silk.html "The Silk Road"], a historical overview by Oliver Wild
* [http://www.silk-road.com/toc/newsletter.html ''The Silk Road Journal''], a freely available scholarly journal run by [[Daniel Waugh (historian)|Daniel Waugh]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97HlvtaWwik "The New Silk Road"] – a lecture by Paul Lacourbe at [[TEDx]] Danubia 2013
* [[Pepe Escobar|Escobar, Pepe]] (February 2015). "[http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175959/tomgram%3A_pepe_escobar%2C_inside_china%27s_%22new_normal%22/ 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 Engelhardt|Tom Dispatch]]
 
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