Silk Road

Silk Road
Main routes of the Silk Road
Route information
Time period	c. 114 BCE – c. 1450 CE
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, iv, vi
Designated	2014 (38th session)
Reference no.	1442
Region	Asia-Pacific
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	絲綢之路
Simplified Chinese	丝绸之路
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sīchóu zhī lù Wade–Giles Ssu1 chʻou1 chih1 lu4

The Silk Road^[a] was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.^[1] Spanning over 6,400 km (4,000 mi), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds.^[2][3][4] The name "Silk Road" was first coined in the late 19th century, but some 20th- and 21st-century historians instead prefer the term Silk Routes, on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia as well as East Africa and Southern Europe.^[1]

The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of silk textiles that were primarily produced in China. The network began with the expansion of the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) into Central Asia around 114 BCE, through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian, which brought the region under unified control. The Chinese took great interest in the security of their trade products, and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.^[5] By the first century CE, Chinese silk was widely sought-after in Rome, Egypt, and Greece.^[1] Other lucrative commodities from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, and porcelain; among Western exports were horses, camels, honey, wine, and gold. Aside from generating substantial wealth for emerging mercantile classes, the proliferation of goods such as paper and gunpowder greatly affected the trajectory of political history in several theatres in Eurasia and beyond.

The Silk Road was utilized over a period that saw immense political variation across the continent, exemplified by major events such as the Black Death and the Mongol conquests. The network was highly decentralized, and security was sparse: travelers faced constant threats of banditry and nomadic raiders, and long expanses of inhospitable terrain. Few individuals traveled the entire length of the Silk Road, instead relying on a succession of middlemen based at various stopping points along the way. In addition to goods, the network facilitated an unprecedented exchange of religious (especially Buddhist), philosophical, and scientific thought, much of which was syncretised by societies along the way.^[6] Likewise, a wide variety of people used the routes. Diseases such as plague also spread along the Silk Road, possibly contributing to the Black Death.^[7]

From 1453 onwards, the Ottoman Empire began competing with other gunpowder empires for greater control over the overland routes, which prompted European polities to seek alternatives while themselves gaining leverage over their trade partners.^[8] This marked the beginning of the Age of Discovery, European colonialism, and the further intensification of globalization. In the 21st century, the name "New Silk Road" is used to describe several large infrastructureprojects along many of the historic trade routes; among the best known include the Eurasian Land Bridge and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In June 2014, UNESCO designated the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site, while the Indian portion remains on the tentative site list.

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