Silk Road (redirected from Silk Routes)

Silk Road

Ancient trade route that linked China with Europe. Originally a caravan route and used from c. 100 BC, the 4,000-mi (6,400-km) road started in Xi'an, China, followed the Great Wall to the northwest, climbed the Pamir Mtns., crossed Afghanistan, and went on to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where goods were taken by boat to Rome. Silk was carried westward, while wool, gold, and silver were carried eastward. With the fall of Rome, the route became unsafe; it was revived under the Mongols, and Marco Polo used it in the 13th century.

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Silk Road 

the name of the caravan trade routes that connected China, through Middle Asia, with Southwest Asia and ultimately with Europe from the second century B.C. to the 16th century A.D. The main commodity transported along the Silk Road was Chinese silk.

The route began in the central regions of China and ran through Lanchou to Tunhuang, where it divided. The southern route ran through Khotan, Yarkand, and Balkh to Merv, and the northern route through Turfan, Kashgar, and Samarkand to Merv. The Silk Road then passed through Nisa, Hecatompylus, Ecbatana, and Baghdad and ended at the Mediterranean ports of Tyre and Antioch.

In the first centuries of the existence of the Silk Road, Rome and Parthia struggled for predominance in intermediary trade. In the fifth and sixth centuries, much of the Silk Road was controlled by Iranian and Sogdian merchants; in the seventh century a substantial portion of the route came under the control of Arab merchants. The importance of the Silk Road declined in the 14th century with the development of sea travel.