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{{About|the series of trade routes|other uses|Silk Road (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox road
| name              = Silk Road
| header_type       = Historic
| map               = Silk route.jpg
| map_alt           = Map of Eurasia with drawn lines for overland and maritime routes
| map_notes         = Main routes of the Silk Road
| location          = Eurasia
| length_km         = 
| time_period       = Around 120 BCE – 1450s CE
| embedded          = {{designation list | embed=yes
  | designation1=WHS
  | designation1_offname=Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor
  | designation1_date = 2014 <small>(38th [[World Heritage Committee|session]])</small>
  | designation1_type = Cultural
  | designation1_criteria = ii, iii, iv, vi
  | designation1_number = [http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1442 1442]
  | designation1_free1name = Region
  | designation1_free1value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in Asia|Asia-Pacific]]
}}
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
|pic=Silk Road (Chinese characters).svg
|piccap="Silk Road" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
|picsize=175px
|s=丝绸之路
|t=絲綢之路
|p=Sīchóu zhī lù
|mi={{IPAc-cmn|s|^|1|.|ch|ou|2|-|zh|^|1|-|l|u|4}}
|suz=Sy-zǿy tsyu lôu
|j=Si1-cau4 zi1 lou6
|y=Sī-chàuh jī louh
|tl=Si-tiû tsi lōo
|lang1=fa
|lang1_content=(''Jade-ye Abrisham'') جاده‌ی ابریشم
|lang2=ar
|lang2_content=(''tariq al-h̩arir'') طريق الحرير
|lang3=hy
|lang3_content=Մետաքսի ճանապարհ (''Metaksi chanaparh'')
|lang4=el
|lang4_content=Δρόμος του μεταξιού (''Drómos tou metaxioú'')
|lang5=hi
|lang5_content=रेशम सड़क (''Resham Sadak'')
|lang6=it
|lang6_content = Via della Seta
}}
The '''Silk Road''' or '''Silk Route''' was an ancient network of trade routes that were for centuries central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the [[Eastern world|East]] and [[Western culture|West]] and stretching from the Korean peninsula<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|first=|date=March 2009|website=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref> and Japan<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.fr/books?id=MJhpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1&hl=fr&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The silk road and ancient Chinese glass|last=Gan|first=Fuxi|last2=|date=2009|year=2009|editor2-last=|website=|publisher=|page=41|others=Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences|isbn=9812833560|dead-url=|access-date=|edition=Ancient Glass Research along the Silk Road, World Scientific}}</ref> to the Mediterranean Sea.<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>

While the term is of modern coinage, the Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in [[silk]] (and horses) carried out along its length, beginning during the [[Han dynasty]] (207 BCE – 220 CE). The Han dynasty expanded [[Central Asia]]n sections of the trade routes around 114 BCE, largely through missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy, [[Zhang Qian]].<ref name="boulnois">{{Cite book|first= Luce |last= Boulnois | author-link = Luce Boulnois | year= 2005|title= Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants|publisher= Odyssey Books|location= Hong Kong|page= 66|isbn= 962-217-721-2}}</ref> The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the [[Great Wall of China]] to ensure the protection of the trade route.<ref>Xinru, Liu, ''The Silk Road in World History'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 11.</ref>

Trade on the Silk Road played a significant role in the development of the civilizations of China, the [[Goguryeo]] kingdom (Korea),<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://en.unesco.org/silkroad/countries-alongside-silk-road-routes/republic-korea|title=Republic of Korea {{!}} Silk Road|website=en.unesco.org|language=en|access-date=2017-02-23}}</ref> Japan,<ref name=":4" /> the [[Outline of South Asian history|Indian subcontinent]], [[Greater Persia|Persia]], [[Europe]], the [[Horn of Africa]] and [[Arabia]], opening long-distance political and economic relations between the civilizations.<ref>Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 32.</ref> Though silk was certainly the major trade item exported from China, many other goods were traded, as well as religions, [[syncretic]] philosophies, and various technologies. Diseases, most notably [[plague (disease)|plague]], also spread along the Silk Routes. In addition to economic trade, the Silk Road was a route for cultural trade among the civilizations along its network.<ref>Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 33.</ref>

The main traders during antiquity included the [[Chinese people|Chinese]], [[Arab people|Arabs]], [[Turkish people|Turkmens]], [[India]]ns, [[Persian people|Persians]], [[Somali people|Somalis]], [[Greeks]], [[Syrians]], [[Roman Empire|Romans]], [[Georgian people|Georgians]], [[Armenians]], [[Bactria]]ns, and (from the 5th to the 8th century) the [[Sogdiana|Sogdians]].<ref>
Compare: {{cite book
| last1 = Hansen
| first1 = Valerie
| author-link1 = Valerie Hansen
| title = The Silk Road
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0LYDf02jgdAC
| publisher = OUP USA
| publication-date = 2012
| page = 218
| isbn = 9780195159318
| access-date = 2016-07-22
| quote = Jewish merchants have left only a few traces on the Silk Road. 
}}
</ref>

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]].

==Name==
[[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]]

The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative Eurasian [[silk]] and horse trade,<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|website=|deadurl=|access-date=}}</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=2017-02-23}}</ref> 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">"Approaches Old and New to the Silk Roads" Eliseeff in: ''The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce''. Paris (1998) UNESCO, Reprint: Berghahn Books (2009), pp. 1–2. ISBN 92-3-103652-1; ISBN 1-57181-221-0; ISBN 1-57181-222-9 (pbk)</ref> The German terms ''{{lang|de|Seidenstraße}}'' and ''{{lang|de|Seidenstraßen}}'' ("the Silk Road(s)") were coined by [[Ferdinand von Richthofen]], who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872.<ref>"Approaches Old and New to the Silk Roads" Vadime Eliseeff in: ''The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce''. Paris (1998) UNESCO, Reprint: Berghahn Books (2000), pp. 1–2. ISBN 92-3-103652-1; ISBN 1-57181-221-0; ISBN 1-57181-222-9 (pbk)</ref><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><ref name="ball 2016 p156">[[Warwick Ball]] (2016), ''Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire'', 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, p. 156</ref> The term Silk Route is also used.<ref>[[Warwick Ball]] (2016), ''Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire'', 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, p. 155.</ref> 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.<ref name="ball 2016 p156"/> The first book entitled ''The Silk Road'' was by Swedish geographer [[Sven Hedin]] in 1938.<ref name="ball 2016 p156"/> The fall of the [[Soviet Union]] and '[[Iron Curtain]]' in 1989 led to a surge of public and academic interest in Silk Road sites and studies in the [[former Soviet republics]] of Central Asia.<ref name="ball 2016 p156"/>

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.<ref>[[Warwick Ball]] (2016), ''Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire'', 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, pp 154-156.</ref> 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]].<ref>[[Warwick Ball]] (2016), ''Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire'', 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, pp 155-156.</ref> He notes that traditional authors discussing East-West trade such as [[Marco Polo]] and [[Edward Gibbon]] never labelled any route as a silk one in particular.<ref name="ball 2016 p156"/>

==History==

===Precursors===

====Chinese and Central Asian contacts====
[[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 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 - The Astana Times|date=2012-12-10|newspaper=The Astana Times|access-date=2017-02-23|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://astanatimes.com/2013/08/additional-berel-burial-sites-excavated/|title=Additional Berel Burial Sites Excavated - The Astana Times|date=2013-08-21|newspaper=The Astana Times|access-date=2017-02-23|language=en-US}}</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}}

[[File:ChineseJadePlaques.JPG|thumb|left|Chinese [[jade]] and [[steatite]] plaques, in the [[Scythian]]-style animal art of the steppes. 4th–3rd century BCE. [[British Museum]].]]

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|last = Pollard;Rosenberg;Tignor|first = Elizabeth;Clifford;Robert|publisher = Norton|year = 2011|isbn = 9780393918472|location = New York, New York|page = 278}}</ref> The originating source seems sufficiently reliable, but silk degrades very rapidly, so it cannot be verified whether it was cultivated silk (which would almost certainly have come from China) or a type of "[[wild silk]]", which might have come from the [[Mediterranean]] region or the [[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}} (also available here [http://www.silk-road.com/artl/egyptsilk.shtml])</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 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}} The tomb of a Scythian prince 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 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 [[:de:Keshengzhuang|Keshengzhuang]]) in China.<ref name="christopoulos 2012 footnote56"/>

The expansion of [[Scythians|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. [[Soghdia]]n Scythian merchants played a vital role in later periods in the development of the Silk Road.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

====Persian Royal Road====
[[File:Map achaemenid empire en.png|thumb|250px|[[Achaemenid Persian Empire]] at its greatest extent, showing the [[Royal Road]].]]

By the time of [[Herodotus]] (c. 475 BCE), the [[Royal Road]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]] ran some {{convert|2857|km|0|abbr=on}} from the city of [[Susa]] on the [[Karun]] ({{convert|250|km|0|abbr=on}} east of the [[Tigris]]) to the port of [[Smyrna]] (modern [[İzmir]] in [[Turkey]]) on the [[Aegean Sea]].<ref>Please refer to [[Royal Road]].</ref> It was maintained and protected by the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (c. 500–330 BCE) and had postal stations and relays at regular intervals. By having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages the entire distance{{vague|date=October 2014}} in nine days, while normal travellers took about three months.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

====Hellenistic era====
[[File:UrumqiWarrior.jpg|thumb|upright|Probable [[Greco-Bactrian kingdom|Greek soldier]] with a Greek mythological [[centaur]] in the [[Sampul tapestry]],<ref>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, pp 15-16, {{ISSN|2157-9687}}.</ref> woollen wall hanging, 3rd–2nd century BCE, Sampul, [[Urumqi]] [[Xinjiang]] Museum, China.]]

The next major step in the development of the Silk Road was the expansion of the [[Classical Greece|Greek]] empire of [[Alexander the Great]] into Central Asia. In August 329 BCE, at the mouth of the [[Fergana Valley]] in [[Tajikistan]] across the mountain pass from the modern Chinese province of [[Xinjiang]], Alexander founded the city of [[Alexandria Eschate]] or "Alexandria The Furthest".<ref>Prevas, John. (2004). ''Envy of the Gods: Alexander the Great's Ill-Fated Journey across Asia'', p. 121. De Capo Press, Cambridge, Mass. ISBN 0-306-81268-1.</ref> This later became a major staging point on the northern Silk Route. See [[Dayuan]] (''Ta-yuan''; {{zh|c=大宛}}; literarily "Great [[Ionians]]").

The [[Greeks]] remained in Central Asia for the next three centuries, first through the administration of the [[Seleucid Empire]], and then with the establishment of the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]] (250 BCE-125 BCE) in [[Bactria]] (modern [[Afghanistan]], [[Tajikistan]], and [[Pakistan]]) and the later [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]] (180 BCE - 10 CE) in modern [[North Pakistan|Northern Pakistan]] and [[Afghanistan]]. They continued to expand eastward, especially during the reign of [[Euthydemus I|Euthydemus]] (230–200 BCE), who extended his control beyond Alexandria Eschate to [[Sogdiana]]. There are indications that he may have led expeditions as far as [[Kashgar]] in [[Chinese Turkestan]], leading to the first known contacts between [China and the West around 200 BCE. The Greek historian [[Strabo]] writes, ''"they extended their empire even as far as the [[Seres]] (China) and the Phryni."''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+11.11.1|title=Strabo XI.XI.I|publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=2011-07-13}}</ref>

The [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] world and [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Classical Greek philosophy]] mixed with Eastern philosophies,<ref>[[Jerry H. Bentley]], ''Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 54.</ref> leading to [[syncretism]]s such as [[Greco-Buddhism]].

===Chinese exploration of Central Asia===
{{Main article|Sino-Roman relations|Sino-Indian relations|Han–Xiongnu War|History of the Han Dynasty}}

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 |lastauthoramp=yes |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|accessdate=2011-07-13}}</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 (Pakistan) and the [[Wusun]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35L3Ww72M-YC&pg=PA22&dq=zhang+qian+wife#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Story of the Silk Road|author=Yiping Zhang|year=2005|publisher=五洲传播出版社|location=|page=22|isbn=7-5085-0832-7|pages=|accessdate=2011-04-17}}</ref> Zhang Qian's report suggested the economic reason for Chinese expansion and wall-building westward, and trailblazed the silk road which is one of the most famous trade routes.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWS53cuiuVgC&pg=PA66&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC - AD 2000|author=Julia Lovell|year=2007|publisher=Grove Press|location=|isbn=0-8021-4297-4|page=73|pages=|accessdate=2011-04-17}}</ref> After the [[Han–Xiongnu War|defeat of the Xiongnu]], however, Chinese armies established themselves in Central Asia, initiating the Silk Route as a major avenue of international trade.<ref name="Li">{{harvnb|Li|Zheng|2001|p=254}}</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]].

"China snatched control of the Silk Road from the [[Xiongnu|Hsiung-nu]]", when the Chinese general Cheng Ki "installed himself as protector of the [[Tarim Basin|Tarim]] at Wu-lei, situated between [[Karasahr|Kara Shahr]] and [[Kucha]]."  "China's control of the Silk Road at the time of the [[Han dynasty|later Han]], by ensuring the freedom of transcontinental trade along the double chain of oases north and south of the Tarim, favoured the dissemination of Buddhism in the river basin, and with it Indian literature and Hellenistic art."<ref name=Rene>{{Cite book |last=Grousset |first=Rene |title=The Empire of the Steppes |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1970 |isbn=0-8135-1304-9 |pages=36–37, 48}}</ref>
[[File:HanHorse.jpg|thumb|A pottery 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|[[Roman currency|Bronze coin]] of [[Constantius II]] (337–361), found in [[Karghalik]], [[Xinjiang]], [[China]]]]

The Chinese were also strongly attracted by the tall and powerful horses (named "Heavenly horses") in the possession of the Dayuan (literally the "Great Ionians", the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom|Greek kingdoms of Central Asia]]), which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic Xiongnu. The Chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies, around ten every year, to these countries and as far as [[Seleucid]] Syria. "Thus more embassies were dispatched to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai [who later joined the [[Alans]] ], Lijian [Syria under the Greek Seleucids], Tiaozhi ([[Mesopotamia]]), and [[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).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, a "Han expedition into central Asia, west of Jaxartes River, apparently encountered and defeated a contingent of Roman legionaries. The Romans may have been part of [[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. 139–148</ref> The Roman historian [[Florus]] also describes the visit of numerous envoys, which included ''[[Seres]]''(China), to the first Roman Emperor [[Caesar Augustus|Augustus]], who reigned between 27 BCE and 14 CE:

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

The Han 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], 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 0520243404, page 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>[[Jerry H. 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 2503521789, 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|date=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. |publisher=[[Fordham University]]|website=Fordham.edu|accessdate=2016-09-16}}</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. 460–461, 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 2503521789, pp 83-84.</ref> P.O. Harper asserts that [[:File:Dionysus silver plate from gansu, china, 2nd-3rd centuries AD, 640x480.jpg|a 2nd or 3rd-century Roman gilt silver plate]] found in [[Jingyuan County, Gansu|Jingyuan]], [[Gansu]], China with a central image of the Greco-Roman god [[Dionysus]] resting on a feline creature, most likely came via [[Greater Iran]] (i.e. [[Sogdiana]]).<ref name="harper 2002 pp106-107">Harper, P.O. (2002), "Iranian Luxury Vessels in China From the Late First Millennium B.C.E. to the Second Half of the First Millennium C.E.," in Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds), ''Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road'', 95–113, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, ISBN 2503521789, pp 106-107.</ref> [[Valerie Hansen]] (2012) believed that [[Roman currency|earliest Roman coins]] found in China date to the 4th century, during [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Dominate]] period, and come from the [[Byzantine Empire]].<ref name="valerie 2012 pp97-98">Hansen, Valerie (2012), ''The Silk Road: A New History'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 97-98, ISBN 978-0-19-993921-3.</ref> However, [[Warwick Ball]] (2016) highlights the recent discovery of sixteen [[Principate]]-era Roman coins found in [[Xi'an]] (formerly [[Chang'an]], one of the [[Luoyang|two Han capitals]]) that were minted during the reigns of [[Roman emperor]]s spanning from [[Tiberius]] to [[Aurelian]] (i.e. 1st to 3rd centuries AD).<ref name="ball 2016 p154">Warwick Ball (2016), ''Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire'', 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-72078-6, p. 154.</ref> It is true that these coins were found in China, but they were deposited there in the twentieth century, not in ancient times, and therefore they do not shed light on historic contacts between China and Rome.<ref name="wang 2004 p34">Helen Wang (2004) "Money on the Silk Road: The evidence from Eastern Central Asia to. c. AD 800," London: The British Museum Press, ISBN 0 7141 1806 0, p. 34.</ref> Roman golden [[medal]]lions made during the reign of [[Antoninus Pius]] and quite possibly his successor Marcus Aurelius have been found at [[Óc Eo]] in southern [[Vietnam]], which was then part of the [[Kingdom of Funan]] bordering the Chinese province of [[Jiaozhi]] in northern Vietnam.<ref name="young 2001 p 29">Gary K. Young (2001), ''Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy, 31 BC - AD 305'', London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-24219-3, p. 29.</ref><ref name="osborne 2006 pp24-25">For further information on [[Oc Eo]], see Milton Osborne (2006), ''The Mekong: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future'', Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, revised edition, first published in 2000, ISBN 1-74114-893-6, pp 24-25.</ref> Given the archaeological finds of Mediterranean artefacts made by [[Louis Malleret]] in the 1940s,<ref name="osborne 2006 pp24-25"/> Óc Eo may have been the same site as the port city of [[Kattigara]] described by [[Ptolemy]] in his ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'' (c. 150 CE),<ref name="young 2001 p 29"/> although [[Ferdinand von Richthofen]] had previously believed it was closer to [[Hanoi]].<ref>Ferdinand von Richthofen, ''China'', Berlin, 1877, Vol.I, pp. 504–510; cited in Richard Hennig, ''Terrae incognitae : eine Zusammenstellung und kritische Bewertung der wichtigsten vorcolumbischen Entdeckungsreisen an Hand der daruber vorliegenden Originalberichte, Band I, Altertum bis Ptolemäus'', Leiden, Brill, 1944, pp 387, 410–411; cited in Zürcher (2002), pp 30–31.</ref>

===Roman Empire===
[[File:Seidenstrasse GMT Ausschnitt Zentralasien.jpg|thumb|300px|Central Asia during Roman times, with the first Silk Road]]

Soon after the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE, regular communications and trade between China, [[Southeast Asia]], India, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe blossomed on an unprecedented scale. The eastern trade routes from the earlier Hellenistic powers and the Arabs that were part of the Silk Road were inherited by the Roman Empire. With control of these trade routes, citizens of the Roman Empire would receive new luxuries and greater prosperity for the Empire as a whole.<ref>Xinru Liu, ''The Silk Road in World History'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 21.</ref> The Roman-style glassware discovered in the archeological sites of [[Gyeongju]], capital of the [[Silla|Silla kingdom]] (Korea) showed that Roman artifacts were traded as far as the Korean peninsula.<ref name=":3" /> The Greco-[[Roman trade with India]] started by [[Eudoxus of Cyzicus]] in 130 BCE continued to increase, and according to [[Strabo]] (II.5.12), by the time of [[Augustus]], up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from [[Myos Hormos]] in Roman Egypt to India.<ref>"[http://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 on 19 November 2013</ref>) and Barbaricum (known today as the cities of Karachi, Sindh, and Pakistan <ref>Barbarikon Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan website, retrieved on 19 November 2013.</ref>) and continued along the western coast of India.<ref>Xinru Liu, ''The Silk Road in World History'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 40.</ref> An ancient "travel guide" to this Indian Ocean trade route was the Greek [[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]] written in 60 CE.

The travelling party of [[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.<ref>Xinru, Liu, ''The Silk Road in World History'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 21.</ref>

[[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.<ref>Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 75.</ref><ref name=":3" /> Chinese wealth grew as they delivered silk and other luxury goods to the Roman Empire, whose wealthy Roman women admired their beauty.<ref>Xinru, Liu, ''The Silk Road in World History'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 20</ref> 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 to be 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 Roman Empire, and its demand for sophisticated Asian products, crumbled in the West around the 5th century.

The unification of Central Asia and Northern India within [[Kushan Empire]] in the 1st to 3rd centuries reinforced the role of the powerful merchants from Bactria and [[Taxila]].<ref name="Iranica">Sogdian Trade, ''Encyclopedia Iranica'', (retrieved 15 June 2007) <http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade></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===
{{further|Byzantine-Mongol alliance}}
[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] Greek historian [[Procopius]] stated that two [[Nestorian Christianity|Nestorian Christian]] monks eventually uncovered the way of how 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">[http://www.livius.org/sh-si/silk_road/silk_road.html "Silk Road"], LIVIUS Articles of Ancient History. 28 October 2010. Retrieved on 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 [[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 0-520-03765-0.</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).<ref>Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). ''The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire''. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5, pp 168-169.</ref>

[[File:Solidus Constans II (obverse).jpg|thumb|[[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]]'' describes the final embassy and its arrival in 1081, apparently sent by [[Michael VII Doukas]] (transliterated as ''Mie li sha ling kai sa'', 滅力沙靈改撒, 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 0-582-36896-0.</ref><ref name="encyclopedia britannica raban bar sauma">Kathleen Kuiper & editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (Aug 31, 2006). "[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rabban-bar-Sauma Rabban bar Sauma: Mongol Envoy]." ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (online source). Accessed 16 September 2016.</ref><ref>Morris Rossabi (2014). ''From Yuan to Modern China and Mongolia: The Writings of Morris Rossabi''. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp 385-386, 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.<ref>Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). ''The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire''. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5, p. 169.</ref> 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.<ref>Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). ''The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire''. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5, pp 169-170.</ref><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://books.google.com/books?id=kZPMZ0AkLzoC&pg=PA25&dq=nicholas+in+the+year+1338+had+not+yet+arrive+in+peking+for+the+christians+there+compalined+ina+letter+written+at+the+above+that+that+they+were+eight+years+without+a+curate&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrraCw9fnOAhXBGR4KHaWMDgAQ6AEIJTAB#v=onepage&q=nicholas%20in%20the%20year%201338%20had%20not%20yet%20arrive%20in%20peking%20for%20the%20christians%20there%20compalined%20ina%20letter%20written%20at%20the%20above%20that%20that%20they%20were%20eight%20years%20without%20a%20curate&f=false|year=1871|publisher=Trübner & Company|pages=25–}}</ref><ref>Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). ''The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire''. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5, p. 170.</ref><ref name="halsall 2000"/>

===Tang dynasty reopens the route===
{{Further information|Tang campaigns against 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)]]

Although the Silk Road from China to the West was initially formulated during the reign of [[Emperor Wu of Han]] (141 – 87 BC), 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>{{citation|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=0-521-24327-0|pages=545–607}}</ref> once again connecting China directly to the West for land-based trade.<ref>{{citation|last=Eberhard|first=Wolfram|title=A History of China|year=2005|publisher=Cosimo|location=New York|isbn=1-59605-566-9}}</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>{{citation|last=Whitfield|first=Susan|title=The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith|year=2004|publisher=Serindia|location=Chicago|isbn=1-932476-12-1}}</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>{{citation|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=0-521-66991-X}}</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 Gaozong, a campaign led by the general [[Su Dingfang]] was [[Conquest of the Western Turks|launched against the Western Turks]] ruled by Ashina Helu.<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=harv}}</ref>

The Silk Road was the most important pre-modern Eurasian trade route. 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>{{citation|last=Sun|first=Guangqi|title=History of Navigation in Ancient China|year=1989|publisher=Ocean Press|location=Beijing|isbn=7-5027-0532-5}}</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>{{citation|last=Bowman|first=John S.|title=Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture|year=2000|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York}}</ref>

===Medieval===
{{Further information|Europeans in Medieval China}}
[[File:Caravane sur la Route de la soie - Atlas catalan.jpg|thumb|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.<ref>Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 68.</ref>

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.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

[[File:Radhanites2.png|thumb|250px|left|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, with [[Suyab]] and [[Taraz|Talas]] ranking among their main centres in the north. They were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia. Their commercial interests were protected by the resurgent military power of the [[Göktürks]], whose empire has been described as "the joint enterprise of the [[Ashina]] clan and the Soghdians".<ref name="Iranica"/><ref>Wink, André. Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Brill Academic Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0-391-04173-8.</ref> 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>Dybo A.V., ''"Chronology of Türkic languages and linguistic contacts of early Türks"'', Moskow, 2007, p. 786, [https://web.archive.org/web/20050311224856/http://altaica.narod.ru:80/LIBRARY/xronol_tu.pdf]</ref> Their trade, with some interruptions, continued in the 9th century within the framework of the [[Uighur Empire]], which until 840 extended across northern Central Asia and obtained from China enormous deliveries of silk in exchange for horses. At this time caravans of Sogdians travelling to Upper Mongolia are mentioned in Chinese sources. They played an equally important religious and cultural role. Part of the data about eastern Asia provided by Muslim geographers of the 10th century actually goes back to Sogdian data of the period 750–840 and thus shows the survival of links between east and west. However, after the end of the Uighur Empire, Sogdian trade went through a crisis. What mainly issued from Muslim Central Asia was the trade of the [[Samanids]], which resumed the northwestern road leading to the Khazars and the Urals and the northeastern one toward the nearby Turkic tribes.<ref name="Iranica"/>

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.

===Islamic era and the Silk Road===
{{see|History of Islamic economics}}
[[File:Baghdad 150 to 300 AH.gif|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, [[Sarai (city)|Sarai]] and [[Astrakhan]] in lower [[Volga]], [[Solkhat]] in [[Crimea]], [[Kazan]] in Central Russia, [[Erzurum]] in eastern [[Anatolia]]), realising the political unification of zones previously loosely and intermittently connected by material and cultural goods.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

The [[Islamic world]] was [[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 0-618-13384-4, 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 0-7867-1219-8, 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 early [[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 age===
{{See also|Mongol Empire|Pax Mongolica|Franco-Mongol alliance|Europeans in Medieval China|Fonthill Vase}}
[[File:Travels of Marco Polo.svg|thumb|left|Map of [[Marco Polo]]'s travels in 1271–1295]]

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]]). 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.<ref>Xinru Liu, ''The Silk Road in World History'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 109.</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 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 1325–54.<ref>[http://www.silk-road.com/artl/paxmongolica.shtml The Pax Mongolica], 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://books.google.com/books?id=GyE8Qt-kS1kC&pg=PA61&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false Epidemics and pandemics: their impacts on human history]''". p.61. ISBN 1-85109-658-2</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, ''The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time'' (Harper: 2005). ISBN 0-06000-693-5</ref>

===Decline and disintegration===
{{refimprove section|date=November 2016}}
[[File:Zheng He.png|thumb|300px|Port cities on the maritime silk route featured on the [[Treasure voyages|voyages of Zheng He]].<ref>The Silk Roads: Highways of Commerce and Culture. Vadime Elisseeff (1998).[https://books.google.com/books?id=nVVoRKSZxagC&lpg=PA300&ots=ebl6VhCqOx&dq=Zheng%20he%20and%20the%20maritime%20silk%20route&pg=PA300#v=onepage&q=Zheng%20he%20and%20the%20maritime%20silk%20route&f=false]</ref>]]

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]].{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

The consolidation of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] and [[Safavid]] empires in the Middle East led to a revival of overland trade, interrupted sporadically by warfare between them. The silk trade continued to flourish until it was disrupted by the collapse of the 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=505–7, 524 |chapter=Crisis and Change, 1590-1699 |isbn=0-521-57455-2}}</ref>

===European sea routes===
{{refimprove section|date=November 2016}}
The disintegration of the Silk Road following the reign of the Mongols stimulated Europeans to reach the prosperous Chinese empire via a sea route. Tremendous profits were to be obtained by anyone who could achieve a direct trade connection with Asia. The ocean route from Europe to the [[Eastern world|East]] was initially discovered by the expeditions of [[Bartolomeu Dias]] (1488) and [[Vasco da Gama]] (1497-1499), via the Atlantic and Indian oceans. In 1500, an [[2nd Portuguese India Armada (Cabral, 1500)|armada]] led by [[Pedro Álvares Cabral]] also linked for the first time on this new route the [[New World]] (South America) and Asia.

[[File:16th century Portuguese Spanish trade routes.png|thumb|Blue represents [[Portuguese India Armadas]] in the Atlantic and Indian oceans and some routes of the Portuguese Pacific network to the Moluccas, China and its [[nanban trade]] route to Japan. White represents the route of the [[Manila Galleons]] in the Pacific to the Philippines and the [[Spanish treasure fleet]] in the Atlantic.]]
[[File:Mid15thCenturyPotteryNorthernItaly.jpg|thumb|Italian pottery of the mid-15th century was heavily influenced by [[Chinese ceramics]]. A ''[[Sancai]]'' ("Three colours") plate (left), and a [[Ming dynasty|Ming]]-type blue-white vase (right), made in Northern Italy, mid-15th century. [[Musée du Louvre]].]]

Trade was the primary motivation for [[Portuguese discoveries|Portuguese explorations]] of the Indian Ocean, including the sea of China, resulting in the arrival in 1513 of the first European trading ships to the coasts of China, under [[Jorge Álvares]] and [[Rafael Perestrello]], sent by [[Afonso de Albuquerque]]. These were followed by the diplomatic and commercial mission of [[Fernão Pires de Andrade]] and [[Tomé Pires]] in 1517, under the orders of [[Manuel I of Portugal]], which formally opened relations between the [[Portuguese Empire]] and the [[Ming dynasty]] during the reign of the [[Zhengde Emperor]]. In 1557 the [[Transfer of sovereignty over Macau|settlement of the Portuguese]] in [[Macau]], who paid an annual lease of 500 taels (20 kilograms) of silver to the [[Emperor of China]], established the first permanent European maritime trade post between Europe and China. Other European powers followed over the next centuries, which caused the eventual demise of the Silk Road, or its global diversification by trans-oceanic routes from the western Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, via the Indian Ocean.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

When [[Christopher Columbus]] sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, he was searching for an alternative trade route to China from [[Spanish Empire|Spain]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Arbrey|first=Patricia Buckley|title=East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History|edition=2nd rev |year=2008|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=978-0547005348 |author2=Anne Walthall |author3=James B. Palais|page=257}}</ref> When he [[Discovery of America|discovered America]], it was believed he had reached Asia and the search was interrupted. However, the quest for a westward route was resumed a few years later after explorer [[Vasco Núñez de Balboa|Nuñez de Balboa]] crossed the [[Isthmus of Panama]] in 1513 and discovered, from there, the Pacific Ocean, proving that this was in fact a New World. The western voyage from Europe to Asia was finally completed with the Spanish [[Timeline of Magellan's circumnavigation|expedition]] of 1519-1522, led by the Portuguese [[Ferdinand Magellan]], the first European voyage to cross the Pacific Ocean, and the first world [[circumnavigation]] in a single expedition, finished by 18 men led by [[Juan Sebastián Elcano]].

In 1565 Spanish navigator [[Andrés de Urdaneta]] discovered a return route across the Pacific, from the Philippines to [[New Spain]]. This led to the first regular transpacific trade route, the [[Manila-Acapulco Galleon]] route, which lasted two and half centuries, until 1815. This Pacific line was connected overland through Mexico with an Atlantic line, the Spanish [[Spanish treasure fleet|West Indies Fleet]], which in turn linked the Americas with Spain. The combined route was the longest trade route in history until the 19th century, and one of the first examples of [[globalisation]].

The Netherlands and Britain followed beginning in the 17th century. The Netherlands made an unsuccessful attempt to find a northern sea route to Asia in 1594. Navigator [[Willem Barents]] left Amsterdam with two ships to search for the [[Northern Sea Route|Northeast passage]], north of Siberia and on to eastern Asia. He reached the west coast of [[Novaya Zemlya]] and followed it northwards but was finally forced to turn back when confronted with its northern extremity. By the end of the 17th century, the Russians re-established a land trade route between Europe and China under the name of the [[Siberian Route|Great Siberian Road]].

While Europeans were entering China from its southern coast, by the sea route, the question arose whether it was the same country as [[Cathay]], which Marco Polo had reached by the overland route. By c. 1600, the Jesuits stationed in China, led by [[Matteo Ricci]], were pretty sure that it was, but others were not convinced. To check the situation on the ground, [[Bento de Góis]], a Portuguese former soldier and explorer who had joined the Jesuits as a Lay Brother in [[Goa, India]], travelled in 1603–1605 from India via [[Afghanistan]] on one of the routes of the traditional Silk Road (via [[Badakhshan]], the [[Pamirs]], [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]], [[Kucha]], and [[Turpan]] to the border of Ming China in [[Suzhou District|Suzhou, Gansu]]).<ref>[[Henry Yule]] (1866), p. 530.</ref>

[[Gottfried Leibniz]], echoing the prevailing perception in Europe until the Industrial Revolution, wrote in the 17th century that, "Everything exquisite and admirable comes from the East Indies... Learned people have remarked that in the whole world there is no commerce comparable to that of China."

===New Silk Road===
[[File:Mawangdui silk banner from tomb no1.jpg|thumb|150px|right|A [[History of silk|silk banner]] from [[Mawangdui]], [[Changsha]], [[Hunan]] province; it was draped over the coffin of [[Lady Dai]] (d.&nbsp;168 BCE), wife of the Marquess Li Cang (利蒼) (d.&nbsp;186 BCE), chancellor for the [[Kings of the Han dynasty|Kingdom of Changsha]].<ref>Hansen, Valerie (2000), ''The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600'', New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-97374-3, pp 117–119</ref>]]

After an earthquake that hit Tashkent in Central Asia in 1966, the city had to rebuild itself. Although it took a huge toll on their markets, this commenced a revival of modern silk road cities.<ref>Kathy Ceceri, ''The Silk Road : Explore the World's Most Famous Trade Route'' (White River Junction, VT: Nomad Press, 2011), 111.</ref>

The [[Eurasian Land Bridge]] (a railway through China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia) is sometimes referred to as the "New Silk Road".<ref name="nyt_newroad" /> The last link in one of these two railway routes was completed in 1990, when the railway systems of China and Kazakhstan connected at [[Alashankou Railway Station|Alataw Pass]] (Alashan Kou). In 2008 the line was used to connect the cities of [[Ürümqi]] in China's [[Xinjiang Province]] to [[Almaty]] and [[Astana]] in [[Kazakhstan]].<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news |title=Asia-Pacific &#124; Asia takes first step on modern 'Silk Route' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8102422.stm |work=BBC News |date=22 June 2009 |accessdate=2013-01-05}}</ref> In October 2008 the first [[Trans-Eurasia Logistics]] train reached [[Hamburg]] from [[Xiangtan]]. Starting in July 2011 the line has been used by a freight service that connects [[Chongqing]], China with [[Duisburg]], Germany,<ref name="shanghaiist.com">{{cite web|url=http://shanghaiist.com/2011/07/04/a_cargo_train_filled_with.php|title=A Silk Road for the 21st century: Freight rail linking China and Germany officially begins operations|work=Shanghaiist}}</ref> cutting travel time for cargo from about 36 days by container ship to just 13 days by freight train. In 2013, [[Hewlett-Packard]] began moving large freight trains of laptop computers and monitors along this rail route.<ref name="nyt_newroad">{{cite news |last=Bradsher |first=Keith |date=20 July 2013 |title=Hauling New Treasure Along the Silk Road |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/business/global/hauling-new-treasure-along-the-silk-road.html?src=me&ref=general&pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=22 July 2013}}</ref>

In September 2013, during a visit to Kazakhstan, Chinese President [[Xi Jinping]] introduced a plan for creating a New Silk Road from China to Europe.  The latest iterations of this plan, dubbed "[[One Belt, One Road]]" (OBOR), includes a land-based [[Silk Road Economic Belt]] and [[Maritime Silk Road]], with primary points in Ürümqi, [[Dostyk]], Astana, [[Gomel]], [[Brest, Belarus|Brest]], and the [[Poland|Polish]] cities of [[Małaszewicze]] and [[Łódź]], which would be [[Hub and spoke|hubs]] of logistics and transshipment to other countries of Europe.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ponarseurasia.org/memo/new-silk-route-or-classic-developmental-cul-de-sac |title=New Silk Route or Classic Developmental Cul-de-Sac? The Prospects and Challenges of China's OBOR Initiative |last=Cooley |first=Alexander |date=July 2015 |website=PONARS Eurasia |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=China plans new Silk Route across Ukraine |url=http://tass.ru/en/russianpress/710813 |newspaper=Russian News Agency TASS |date=9 December 2013 |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Sahoo |first=Pravakar |date=22 December 2015 |title=India should be part of the new Silk Route |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/india-should-be-part-of-the-new-silk-route/article8018656.ece |newspaper=The Hindu Business Line |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/growth-markets-center/assets/pdf/china-new-silk-route.pdf |title=China’s new silk route: The long and winding road |website=PricewaterhouseCoopers |date=February 2016 |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref>

On 15 February 2016, with a change in routing, the first train dispatched under the OBOR scheme arrived from eastern [[Zhejiang]] Province to [[Tehran]].<ref>{{cite web|title = First 'Silk Road' train arrives in Tehran from China|url = https://news.yahoo.com/first-silk-road-train-arrives-tehran-china-134703954.html|website = Yahoo News|access-date = 2016-02-16}}</ref> Though this section does not complete the Silk Road–style overland connection between China and Europe, plans are underway to extend the route past Tehran, through [[Istanbul]], into Europe.<ref name=":0" /> The actual route went through Almaty, [[Bishkek]], [[Samarkand]], and [[Dushanbe]].<ref name=":0" />

In January 2017, the service sent its first train to [[London]]. The network additionally connects to [[Madrid]] and [[Milan]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38497997|title='China freight train' in first trip to Barking|date=2017-01-03|newspaper=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=2017-01-05}}</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/14/china-silk-road-trade-train-rolls-london Silk Road route back in business as China train rolls into London], Tracy McVeigh, The Observer, 14 January 2017</ref>

==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 [[Taklimakan Desert]] and [[Lop Nur]].

===Northern route===
{{Main article|Northern Silk Road}}
[[File:Transasia trade routes 1stC CE gr2.png|thumb|300px|The [[Silk]] Road in the 1st century]]
[[File:SeidenstrasseGMT.JPG|300px|thumb|The Silk Road]]

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.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}

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

A route for caravans, the northern Silk Road brought to China many goods such as "dates, saffron powder and pistachio nuts from Persia; [[frankincense]], aloes and [[myrrh]] from [[Somalia]]; sandalwood from India; glass bottles from Egypt, and other expensive and desirable goods from other parts of the world."<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 running from China through the [[Karakoram|Karakoram mountains]], where it persists in modern times as the international paved road connecting Pakistan and China as the [[Karakoram Highway]].{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} It then set off westwards, but with southward spurs enabling the journey to be completed 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}}
{{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 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 |accessdate=2013-04-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=10&date=03/09/2012 |title=Holiday |publisher=Weeklyholiday.net |accessdate=2013-04-17}}</ref>

==Cultural exchanges==
[[File:Nestorian-Stele-Budge-plate-X.jpg|thumb|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.<ref>[[Richard Foltz]], ''Religions of the Silk Road'', New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1</ref> Notably, established Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road offered a haven, as well as a new religion for foreigners.<ref>Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 77.</ref>

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.<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> Perhaps most surprising of the cultural exchanges between China and the Xiongnu, Chinese soldiers would sometimes defect and convert to the Xiongnu way of life and stay in the steppes for fear of punishment.<ref name="Jerry H 1993"/>

===Transmission of Christianity===
{{Further information|Nestorian Christianity|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>"Belief Systems Along the Silk Road," Asia Society website, http://asiasociety.org/education/belief-systems-along-silk-road, retrieved on November 14, 2016.</ref>

===Transmission of Buddhism===
{{Main article|Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|Greco-Buddhism}}
[[File:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg|thumb|Blue-eyed [[Buddhism in Central Asia|Central Asian monk]] teaching 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'']. 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]. (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,]" in Rudolf G. Wagner and Monica Juneja (eds), ''Transcultural Studies'', Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, No 1 (2014), pp 134-163. {{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>]]

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.<ref>[[Jerry H. Bentley]], ''Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 69,73.</ref> 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. |date=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}}</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 would bring the two beliefs together.<ref>Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 16.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Foltz|first=Richard C.|title=Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century|year=1999|publisher=St Martin's Press|location=New York|page=37}}</ref> 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.<ref>Xinru Liu, "The Silk Road in World History" (New york: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp 51.</ref> 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.<ref>Xinru Liu, "The Silk Road in World History" (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp 42.</ref> 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 [[Parthia]]n, Kushan, [[Sogdiana|Sogdian]], or [[Kuchean]].<ref>Foltz, "Religions of the Silk Road", pp. 37–58</ref>

[[File:AsokaKandahar.jpg|thumb|left|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.]]

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 middle men 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Foltz|first=Richard C.|title=Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century|year=1999|publisher=St Martin's Press|location=New York|page=47}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Foltz 1999 38">{{cite book|last=Foltz|first=Richard C.|title=Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century|year=1999|publisher=St Martin's Press|location=New York|page=38}}</ref>

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 |publisher=}}</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.

[[File:A statue depicting Buddha giving sermon, from Sarnath, now at Museum of Asian Art, Dahem Berlin.jpg|thumb|A statue depicting Buddha giving a sermon, from [[Sarnath]], {{convert|3000|km|0|abbr=on}} southwest of Urumqi, Xinjiang, 8th century]]

There were many different schools of Buddhism travelling on the Silk Road. The Dharmaguptakas and the Sarvastivadins were two of the major Nikaya schools. These were both eventually displaced by the Mahayana, also known as "Great Vehicle". This movement of Buddhism first gained influence in the [[Khotan]] region.<ref name="Foltz 1999 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Foltz|first=Richard C.|title=Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century|year=1999|publisher=St Martin's Press|location=New York|page=41}}</ref> 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.<ref>Xinru Liu, "The Silk Road in World History" (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp 21.</ref>

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 to be 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.<ref>[[Jerry H. Bentley]], ''Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 43–44.</ref> 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.<ref>[[Jerry H. Bentley]], ''Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 48.</ref> The voluntary conversion of Chinese ruling elites helped the spread of Buddhism in East Asia and led Buddhism to become widespread in Chinese society.<ref>[[Jerry H. Bentley]], ''Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 50.</ref> The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.

===Transmission of art===
{{Main article|Silk Road transmission of art}}
[[File:WindGods.JPG|thumb|350px|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.<ref>Xinru, Liu,''The Silk Road in World History'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 21.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Foltz|first=Richard C.|title=Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century|year=1999|publisher=St Martin's Press|location=New York|page=45}}</ref>

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>"The Silk Road and Beyond: Travel, Trade, and Transformation," Art Institute of Chicago website, http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/silkroad/themes.html, retrieved on 15 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|publisher=}}</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="120px" caption="Silk Road and artifacts">
File:Sultanhani Caravanserai, Turkey1.jpg|Sultanhani caravanserai
File:Caravasar de Sultanhani. Han.jpg|Sultanhani [[caravanserai]]
File:Caravanserai-Sheki.jpg|18th century caravanserai in [[Shaki, Azerbaijan|Sheki]], [[Azerbaijan]]
File:Selim Pass Caravanserai (5127896201).jpg|[[Orbelian's Caravanserai]], [[Armenia]]
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:Dunhuang Gisela Brantl 02.JPG|Dunhuang
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:Ancient Chinese customs post on Silk Road near Dunhuang.jpg|Ancient Chinese customs post on Silk Road near Dunhuang
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:Moden carpet illustrating camel caravan on Silk Road. Kashgar.jpg|Modern woven carpet illustrating camel caravan on Silk Road, from [[Kashgar]]
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}}
* [[Ancient tea route]]
* [[Dzungarian Gate]]
* [[Godavaya]]
* [[History of silk]]
* [[Hippie trail]]
* [[Incense Route]]
* [[Dvaravati–Kamboja route]]
* [[Mount Imeon]]
* [[Serica]]
* [[Steppe Route]]
* [[Three hares]]
* [[Pan-American Highway]]
* [[The silk roads]]
* [[Global silver trade from the 16th to 18th centuries]]{{Div col end}}
* [[One Belt, One Road]]
* [[Silk Road Numismatics]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin|30em}}
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* Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. (1999). ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of China''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-66991-X.
* [[Richard Foltz|Foltz, Richard]], ''Religions of the Silk Road'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1
* [[János Harmatta|Harmatta, János]], ed., 1994. ''History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 BC to 250''. Paris, UNESCO Publishing.
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* {{Cite book|first=Sir Henry|last=Yule (translator and editor)|publisher=Printed for the Hakluyt society|year=1866
|title=Cathay and the way thither: being a collection of medieval notices of China. Issue 37 of Works issued by the Hakluyt Society
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KzEMAAAAIAAJ}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* Boulnois, Luce. [https://books.google.com/books?id=issuAQAAIAAJ&q=boulnois+monks+warriors&dq=boulnois+monks+warriors&hl=en&ei=usE3TuPbOouwhQeMrKCqAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA Silk Road: Monks, Warriors and Merchants on the Silk Road]. Odyssey Publications, 2005. ISBN 962-217-720-4
* Bulliet, Richard W. 1975. ''The Camel and the Wheel''. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-09130-2.
* {{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|publisher= [[University of Hawaii Press]]}}
* de la Vaissière, E., Sogdian Traders. A History, Leiden, Brill, 2005, Hardback ISBN 90-04-14252-5 [[Brill Publishers]], French version ISBN 2-85757-064-3 on [http://www.deboccard.com/]
* Elisseeff, Vadime. Editor. 1998. ''The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce''. UNESCO Publishing. Paris. Reprint: 2000. ISBN 92-3-103652-1 softback; ISBN 1-57181-221-0; ISBN 1-57181-222-9 softback.
* Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). ''China's Ancient Tea Horse Road''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B005DQV7Q2
* Hansen, Valerie. ''The Silk Road: A New History'' (Oxford University Press; 2012) 304 pages; Combines archaeology and history in a study of seven oases
* Hallikainen, Saana: ''Connections from Europe to Asia and how the trading was affected by the cultural exchange'' (2002)
* Hill, John E. (2004). ''The Peoples of the West from the Weilüe'' 魏略 ''by Yu Huan'' 魚豢'': A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265.'' Draft annotated English translation. [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html]
* [[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
* [[Larsen, Jeanne]]. ''Silk Road: A Novel of Eighth-Century China''. (1989; reprinted 2009)
* Levy, Scott C. "Early Modern Central Asia in World History", ''[[History Compass]]'' (Nov 2012) 10#11 866–878, DOI:10.1111/hic3.12004
* Li et al. [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 |authorlink1=Bijan Omrani |last1=Omrani |first1=Bijan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7USQgAACAAJ&dq=omrani+asia+overland&hl=en&ei=pL43Tq-1I5SyhAeGzdmoAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA |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 USA by [[W.W. Norton & Co]], [[Odyssey Publications]] |year=2010 |isbn=962-217-811-1}}
* [[Polo, Marco]], ''Il Milione''.
* Thubron, C., ''The Silk Road to China'' (Hamlyn, 1989)
* Tuladhar, Kamal Ratna (2011). ''[[Caravan to Lhasa]]: A Merchant of Kathmandu in Traditional Tibet.'' Kathmandu: Lijala & Tisa. ISBN 99946-58-91-3
* {{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=0870998250}}
* [[Olivier Weber|Weber, Olivier]], Eternal Afghanistan (photographs of Reza), (Unesco-Le Chêne, 2002)
* Yap, Joseph P. ''Wars With the Xiongnu – A Translation From Zizhi Tongjian''. AuthorHouse (2009) ISBN 978-1-4490-0604-4
* [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]

==External links==
{{Commons|Silk Road|Silk Road}}
{{wikivoyage|Silk Road}}
* [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/maps/maps.html Silk Road Atlas (University of Washington)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19980704233126/http://www.ess.uci.edu:80/~oliver/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]]

{{Han Dynasty topics}}
{{Silk fibre}}
{{Trade route 2}}
{{World Heritage Sites in China}}
{{World Heritage Sites in Kazakhstan}}

{{Authority control}}

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