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Background reading · Social Sciences

The Silk Roads: a web across the world

More than 2,000 years ago, trade routes began linking China with Central Asia, India, Persia and the Mediterranean. The journey was long, hard and dangerous.

Imagine walking beside a line of camels for months, through a desert where the sand burns by day and freezes at night. For centuries, that is how silk, spices and ideas moved between China and Europe.

How it began

China's Han dynasty ruled from 206 BCE to 220 CE. Around 138 BCE, the emperor sent an official called Zhang Qian west to find allies. He was captured and held for about ten years, but he escaped and came home with news of rich lands, powerful horses and eager buyers. Soon Han traders and soldiers were pushing routes west.

Not one road

The Silk Roads were not a single highway. They were a web of paths over deserts and mountains, joined to sea routes across the Indian Ocean. The name 'Silk Road' was only invented in the 1800s by a German geographer.

  • Caravan: a group of traders travelling together with animals for safety.
  • Oasis: a place in the desert with water, where towns such as Dunhuang and Kashgar grew up.
  • Caravanserai: a walled inn where caravans could rest, feed their animals and trade.
  • Relay trade: goods passed from trader to trader. Few people ever travelled the whole way.

    • A dangerous journey

    Travellers faced the Taklamakan Desert, whose name is often said to mean 'go in and never come out', high passes in the Pamir mountains, sandstorms, bandits and illness. Bactrian camels, with two humps, could carry heavy loads and go days without water, which made them the trucks of the route.

    What was traded

    China sent silk, which only it knew how to make, along with paper, porcelain and tea. Horses, glass, gold, silver, wool and spices came the other way. Each trader added a price, so a bolt of silk in Rome could cost many times what it did in China.

    Sources and further reading

    Written for Kōkiri Learn students in our own words. Check facts against the sources.

    Used in: Silk Roads and Sea Routes: When Worlds Trade