What Was the Silk Road?
The “Silk Road” refers to a series of routes that criss-crossed Eurasia from the first millennium B.C.E. through the middle of the second millennium C.E. The best known segment of the Silk Road began in the Chinese capital of Chang’an (Xian), diverged into northern and southern routes that skirted the Central Asian Taklamakan Desert, converged to cross the Iranian plateau, and ended on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean in cities like Antioch and Tyre. By the 4th century B.C.E. when Alexander the Great crossed the Indus River into Central Asia, Chinese silk had already found its way to the Mediterranean. Important periods for the Silk Road were the Chinese Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-C.E. 220), the Chinese Tang dynasty (C.E. 618-907), and the Mongol Khanate (13th and 14th centuries). The Mongols, who ruled a vast empire, safeguarded a northern Silk Road land route that crossed the Eurasian steppes. Sea routes, important for trade and for communication, may also be considered part of t
