What was the Silk Road?
The Silk Road was a vast network of overland and maritime trade routes connecting China with Central Asia, India, Persia, and the Roman Mediterranean from roughly 130 BCE to 1450 CE. Named for Chinese silk, it carried goods, religions, technologies, and ideas across Eurasia, serving as the ancient world's primary channel for long-distance cultural exchange.
The Silk Road was not a single road but an interconnected network of overland and maritime routes spanning over 6,000 kilometers from eastern China to the Mediterranean Sea. The name, coined by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877, refers to Chinese silk — the most famous commodity traded along these routes — but the network carried far more than luxury textiles.
The overland Silk Road emerged as a major trade corridor after the Han Dynasty diplomat Zhang Qian traveled to Central Asia around 130 BCE, opening formal relations between China and the kingdoms of the western steppes. The routes ran through some of the most challenging terrain on Earth: the Taklamakan Desert, the Pamir Mountains, the Hindu Kush, and the Iranian plateau. Goods rarely traveled the entire distance with a single merchant — instead, they passed through chains of intermediaries, with Sogdian, Parthian, and Kushan traders handling different segments.
The goods traded were diverse: silk, spices, precious metals, gemstones, horses, glassware, and ceramics moved in both directions. But the Silk Road's greatest significance lay in the intangible goods it carried. Buddhism traveled from India to China along these routes. Christianity and Manichaeism spread eastward. Papermaking, gunpowder, and the compass eventually moved westward. Musical instruments, artistic styles, medical knowledge, and agricultural techniques all diffused along the network.
The Silk Road also carried less welcome passengers. Plague bacteria traveled along trade routes, and the Justinianic Plague of the 6th century and the Black Death of the 14th century both likely spread via Silk Road connections. The network's history illustrates a fundamental truth about interconnection: the same channels that spread prosperity and knowledge also spread disease and conflict.