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The Silk Road
First used in the late nineteenth century, "Silk Road" designates
the ancient land routes that connected the Mediterranean world, the Middle
East, and parts of northern India, Central Asia, and China. Although trade
routes had long existed, the flowering of the Silk Road can be traced to
the rise and expansion of two great empires—Rome in the west and Han
China (206 B.C.–A.D. 220) in the east—which provided the peace
and stability to link existing routes into one great road, separated into
northern and southern branches by the Taklamakan Desert. Travel along the
Silk Road, which was always perilous, included traversing towering mountains
and grasslands as well as deserts. Merchants traveled part way, meeting
their counterparts to exchange such luxury goods as glass, metalwork, spices,
fragrances, and textiles. Silk served as both a luxury good and a form of
money, and the term Silk Road reflects the importance awarded this fabric
in the international trade that united much of the world for centuries.
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