The Great Silk Road

8/3/2019 The Great Silk Road

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A l m a t y , 2 0 1 1

M a d e b y : U l y a n a S e m e n k

8 1 6 , m a r k e t

C h e c k e d b y : S a k e n M u


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The Great Silk Waythe economic artery of Middle Asia

Plan

I. IntroductionII. Silk. Its history and significanceIII. The formation of the Silk Road.IV. Routes takenV. The decline of the Silk RoadVI. Literature reviewsVII. ConclusionVIII. Bibliography


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I. IntroductionThe Silk Road was a system of caravan routes, which linked the huge space from India,

Central Asia, Middle and Near East, the Mediterranean to China and for more than 2 thousand

yearsfrom BC 2 to AD 15. The period of time, when the Silk Road was functioning, was anamazing era of development, discovery of new and improvement of international relationships

between East and West. Ancient civilizations appeared and died, new traditions were born and

whole nations perished. At that time, different monuments of culture were created, and explorers

made surprising discoveries.

Ive chosen this particular topic for my research paper, because I find the history of the

Great Silk Road full of mysteries and unknown facts, so I wanted to investigate it and find out

much new about it.

So I will investigate how was the sericulture in China developing, how the relationsbetween Eastern and Western countries were born, what were other products being traded and

literature reviews will help me make a conclusion. My main aim is to discover how the

knowledge of the history of the Silk Road might be applicable to nowadays situation in the world,

since there is a talk of opening the New Silk Road.

II. Silk[1]Sericulture or silk production has a long and colorful history unknown to most people. For

centuries the West knew very little about silk and the people who made it. For more than two

thousand years the Chinese kept the secret of silk altogether to themselves. It was the most

zealously guarded secret in history.

* Origin of silk. Legend of Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih

Chinese legend gives the title Goddess of Silk to Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih, who was credited

with the introduction of silkworm rearing and the invention of the loom. Half a silkworm cocoon

unearthed in 1927 from the loess soil astride the Yellow River in Shanxi Province, in northernChina, has been dated between 2600 and 2300 BC. Another example is a group of ribbons,

threads and woven fragments, dated about 3000 BC, and found at Qianshanyang in Zhejiang

province. More recent archeological finds - a small ivory cup carved with a silkworm design andthought to be between 6000 and 7000 years old, and spinning tools, silk thread and fabric

fragments from sites along the lower Yangzi Riverreveal the origins of sericulture to be even

earlier.

* The secret of sericulture

The technique and process of sericulture were guarded secrets and closely controlled by

Chinese authorities. Anyone who revealed the secrets or smuggled the silkworm eggs or cocoons

outside of China would be punished by death.

When silk was first discovered, it was reserved exclusively for the use of the ruler. But

gradually the various classes of society began wearing tunics of silk, and silk came into more

general use. As well as being used for clothing and decoration, silk was quite quickly put to

industrial use by the Chinese. This was something which happened in the West only in moderntimes. Silk, indeed, rapidly became one of the principal elements of the Chinese economy. Silk

was used for musical instruments, fishing-lines, bowstrings, bonds of all kinds, and even rag


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paper, the world's first luxury paper. Eventually even the common people were able to wear

garments of silk.

* Silk and its trade

Silk became a precious commodity highly sought by other countries at a very early time,

and it is believed that the silk trade was actually started before the Silk Road was officially

opened in the second century BC. An Egyptian female mummy with silk has been discovered in

the village of Deir el Medina near Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, dated 1070 BC, which isprobably the earliest evidence of the silk trade.

During the second century BC, the Chinese emperor, Han Wu Di's ambassadors traveled

as far west as Persia and Mesopotamia, bearing gifts including silks. A Han embassy reachedBaghdad in AD 97, and important finds of Han silks have been made along the Silk Road. So

since AD II silk became the main product being traded by Chinese merchants for international

trade.

Light, compact and therefore convenient for its transportation, silk attracted the attention

of consumers throughout all the caravan ways, despite the high cost. Also the silk fabrics hadbeen giving the unusual feelings of softness, elegance, beauty and exoticism. Consumers liked to

enjoy and admire it. It very popular in East Turkestan, Middle Asia, India, Alexandria and Rome.

* Trade Goods of the Silk Road[2]

While important to keeping the trade connection open, silk was only one of many items

passing across the Silk Road's network. Precious ivory and gold, food items such as

pomegranates, safflowers, and carrots went east out of Rome to the west; from the east came jade,furs, ceramics, and manufactured objects of bronze, iron and lacquer. Animals such as horses,

sheep, elephants, peacocks, and camels made the trip, and most importantly perhaps, agricultural

and metallurgical technologies, information, and religion were brought with the travelers.

*A secret out to the world

In spite of their secrecy, however, the Chinese were destined to lose their monopoly on

silk production. Sericulture reached Korea around 200 BC, when waves of Chinese immigrantsarrived there. Silk reached the West through a number of different channels. Shortly after AD

300, sericulture traveled westward and the cultivation of the silkworm was established in India.

It is said that in AD 440, a prince of Khotan (today's Hetian)--a kingdom on the rim of

Taklamakan desert -- courted and won a Chinese princess. The princess smuggled out silkworm

eggs by hiding them in her voluminous hairpiece. This was scant solace to the silk-hungry people

of the West.

Then around AD 550, two Nestorian monks appeared at the Byzantine Emperor

Justinian's court with silkworm eggs hid in their hollow bamboo staves. Under their supervisionthe eggs hatched into worms, and the worms spun cocoons. Byzantium was in the silk business at

last. The Byzantine church and state created imperial workshops, monopolizing production andkeeping the secret to themselves. This allowed a silk industry to be established in the Middle East,

undercutting the market for ordinary-grade Chinese silk. However high-quality silk textiles,

woven in China especially for the Middle Eastern market, continued to bring high prices in theWest, and trade along the Silk Road therefore continued as before. By the sixth century the


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Persians, too, had mastered the art of silk weaving, developing their own rich patterns andtechniques. It was only in the 13th centurythe time of the Second Crusadesthat Italy began

silk production with the introduction of 2000 skilled silk weavers from Constantinople.

Eventually silk production became widespread in Europe.

* Silk today

World silk production has approximately doubled during the last 30 years in spite of man-

made fibers replacing silk for some uses. China and Japan during this period have been the twomain producers, together manufacturing more than 50% of the world production each year.

During the late 1970's China, the country that first developed sericulture thousands years agodramatically increased its silk production and has again become the World's leading producer of

silk.

III. The formation of the Great Silk Road[4]The opening of a full-length silk road where trade could pass easily and unhindered did

not happen until nearly 115BC. The Chinese were split into warring factions and only few

fragments of silk made it out of Chinas domains. It wasnt until 221BC that the first emperor of

China, Qin Shi Huang, successfully united his land with those surrounding him. He pooled theresources of the various states, built the earliest form of the Great Wall, and developed road

infrastructure. It was theHan Dynasty that saw the benefits of trade and as the subsequentemperors grew stronger they looked farther afield not only for new lands, but also formed trading

and political allies. Zhang Qian was a young officer of the Imperial Household who was sent in

138 BC to do exactly this and source out the lands to the West which could be brought undercontrol.He played a great role in the formation of the Silk Road through Trans-Eurasian railway.

And by 115 BC the Chinese succeeded in driving out the Barbarians from the Mongolian steppes

and Gansu corridor. They extended the Great Wall to Dunhuang while Yuang Khan and Yumen

Kuan (Jade Gate) were built to mark the entrances to the northern and southern routes through theTaklamakan desert. With the route opened, the offers of the riches of trade became too good for

Chinas neighbours to resist and the inevitable politics began in earnest.

It was through tactic, cunning and guile that the Parthians became very effectivemiddlemen in the Silk Road. In 53BC they prevented the Roman empires expansion at the battle

of Carrhae. And thereby kept Rome almost entirely ignorant of China with whom it effectively

did much of its trade. They were already famed for their ability to control horses with just theirlegs, leaving their upper body free to fight with. Despite the Roman defeat, their demand for silkincreased and the merchants traded increasingly with the Parthians. In the meantime a small tribe,

the Kushans, grew independent from the Parthians. The Kushans placed their capital at Bactriaand expanded forming another at Peshawar. Their interest was purely financial rather than

political. They built cities and connecting canals and before long caravans began to arrive in their

hundreds. These middlemen were extremely effective at what they did and at preserving the ideathat all trade had to go through them by exaggerating the distances involved in the travel.Consequently goods exchanged hands several times during their travels and the price rose

accordingly, allowing the middlemen to also profit handsomely.

It is surprising, but this trans-Asian network remained opened and thrived for severalhundred years. A series of unfortunate disasters in close proximity however brought this

prosperity to an almost abrupt end. The Han dynasty collapsed in 220 AD which caused China to


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break up again. The Romans too were having difficulty defeating barbarian attacks and plague(probably from bacteria brought across from China via the Silk Road) beleaguered this once all-

powerful nation. In 330 AD the empire split, with the capital being moved to Constantinoplebefore it collapsed in 476 AD suffering a series of defeats against the Goths, Visigoths and

Attilas huns. Even the middlemen, the Parthians, were overthrown by one of their subject tribes,

the Sassanians who subsequently brought the Kushans under their control. All this turbulence did

little to help the Silk Road merchants and since the Sassanians preferred to trade by Sea theybegan to cut out the middlemen. The fact that they were often at war with the Romans also did not

help matters. [4]

But as merchants and other travelers traversed The Silk Road, they also carried with them culture,

art, philosophies and beliefs.

* Recovery of the Silk Roads[5]

In 565 AD, the Turks, has started to expand their own empire of Turkestan comprisingof modern day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Xinjiang.They formed their own direct trade route to the north allowing goods to pass via the Caspian Sea

to Baku or Astrakhan and on towards the Black Sea and the Caucasus. The Kazakhs became so

powerful during this period that they effectively controlled the Caspian Sea trade. This gavemerchants the choice of routes and seriously challenged the Persian role as middlemen.

Things were beginning to improve in China under the newly formed Tang Dynasty thatlasted from 618-907 AD. Their influence spread into Central Asia almost as far as the Pamirs and

was used to help welcome foreign trade. They used their power to control and protect the Silk

Roads. New fashions, recreations and innovations thereby flowed into China like never before. It

was also at this time that religion was able to spread rapidly and freely along the silk roads.Despite the death of Mohammed in 632 AD, Islam was spreading rapidly as were other religions.

The irony during the time however, was that Europe was in its Dark Age and owes much to the

merchants and empires of the Silk Road who preserved the previously acquired knowledge.

The subsequent Song dynasties (907-1279) kept trade within China and hugely diminished

their use of the Silk Road. Their loss of control in Central Asia and also parts of northern China

did not allow them to regain the magnitude of the former Tang dynasty. During this time theprecarious nature of the towns that had built up and flourished under the passing trade was

evident for all to see. While trade was burgeoning the cities would have extended influence into

the desert. Military outposts were built to ensure merchants travelled safely and paid their taxes.The income from the taxes and levies helped increase the wealth of the city and allowed some

goods to remain in them improving the quality of life for city dwellers. Conversely, as soon as

trade decreased or collapsed, these once affluent oases became ghost towns all too easily.

Despite the decline of the Eastern Silk Road, the Western half was undergoing aparticularly interesting set of developments. The first of nine crusades occurred from 1095-1099

in response to a call for help from the Byzantine rulers. But the European merchants werentabout to let war affect their trade prospects. For example the Fourth Crusade was persuaded by

the Venetians to attack Constantinople to reinforce their trading dominance there. In fact trade

once again flourished as never before. The Jews rapidly became shrewd bankers and moneylenders as they were the only people whose religion allowed them to make money out of money.


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Despite Christian attempts to split the Muslim world, it remained dominant in the region until the

arrival of the Mongols from the East.

* Pax Mongolica [6]

It was an ordinary man by the name of Genghis Khan (Temujin) born in 1162 AD who

managed to conquer and unite the Mongol people by 1196 AD. These people had always been

present along the Silk Road, but had often been classed as Turks on account of their Turkic

language. Genghis Khan was ruthless in his ambitions for acquiring new lands and control overthe Silk Road. His aim, it seems, was to conquer as much land and plunder as many riches as he

possibly could. He defeated the Mongols and made them obey him. His attitudes seemed toresemble those of Alexander the Great some 1500 years earlier. By 1221, Bukhara, Samarkand

and Tbilisi were destroyed. Many of the cities that he demolished never recovered. Their treasures

and architecture hardly remain today. For example in Rey (now incorporated into Tehran) it canbe hard to imagine that the Silk Road ever passed through since it never recovered from the

Mongol fury.

While the Mongol territorial expansion was ruthlessly occurring, the lands within theircontrol were relatively peaceful and allowed a revival of trade along the Silk Road. During the

Mongol reign in the 13th and 14th centurys trade was revived significantly, although never in theway it had done before. But this was the Grand Finale of the Silk Roads long and distinguished

history. During this time several people travelled almost the entire length of the Silk Road.Although Marco Polo was the most famous of the travelers, he was by no means the only one.

Missionaries and artists were keen to travel and spread their word.


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IV. Routes taken [3]

* Overland routes

The Silk Road in the 1st century

As it extends westwards from the ancient commercial centers of China, the overland,intercontinental Silk Road divides into the northern and southern routes bypassing the

Taklimakan Desert and Lop Nur.

The northern route started at Chang'an (now called Xi'an), the capital of the ancient

Chinese Kingdom, which, in the Later Han, was moved further east to Luoyang. The route was

defined about the 1st century BCE as Han Wudi put an end to harassment by nomadic tribes.

The northern route travelled northwestthrough the Chinese province of Gansu from

Shaanxi Province, and split into three further routes, two of them following the mountain ranges tothe north and south of the Taklamakan Desertto rejoin at Kashgar; and the othergoing north of

the Tian Shan mountains through Turpan, Talgar and Almaty (in what is now southeastKazakhstan). The routes split again west of Kashgar, with a southern branch heading down the

Alai Valley towards Termez (in modern Uzbekistan) and Balkh (Afghanistan), while the other

traveled through Kokand in the Fergana Valley (in present-day eastern Uzbekistan) and then west

across the Karakum Desert. Both routesjoined the main southern route before reaching Merv

(Turkmenistan). A route for caravans, the northern Silk Road brought to China many goods such


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as "dates, saffron powder and pistachio nuts from Persia; frankincense, aloes and myrrh fromSomalia; sandalwood from India; glass bottles from Egypt, and other expensive and desirable

goods from other parts of the world."[11] In exchange, the caravans sent back bolts of silkbrocade, lacquer ware and porcelain. Another branch of the northern route turned northwest past

the Aral Sea and north of the Caspian Sea, then and on to the Black Sea.

The southern route was mainly a single route runningfrom China, through the

Karakoram, where it persists to modern times as the international paved road connecting Pakistanand China as the Karakoram Highway. It then set off westwards, but with southward spurs

enabling the journey to be completed by sea from various points. Crossing the high mountains, it

passed through northern Pakistan, over the Hindu Kush mountains, and into Afghanistan,

rejoining the northern route near Marv. From there, it followed a nearly straight line west

through mountainous northern Iran, Mesopotamia and the northern tip of the Syrian Desert to the

Levant, where Mediterranean trading ships plied regular routes to Italy, while land routes went

either north through Anatolia or south to North Africa. Another branch road traveled from Herat

through Susa to Charax Spasinu at the head of the Persian Gulf and across to Petra and on to

Alexandria and other eastern Mediterranean ports from where ships carried the cargoes to Rome.

* Maritime Routes

Going back nearly 2000 years, during China's Eastern Han Dynasty, a sea route, althoughnot part of the formal Silk Route, ledfrom the mouth of the Red Rivernear modern Hanoi,through the Malacca Straits to Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and India, and then on to the Persian

Gulf and the Red Sea kingdom of Axum and eventually to Roman ports. From ports on the Red

Sea, goods, including silks, were transported overland to the Nile and then to Alexandria fromwhere they were shipped to Rome, Constantinople and other Mediterranean ports.

Another branch of these sea routes led down the East African coast, called "Azania" by

the Greeks and Romans in the 1st century, CE, as described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

at least as far as the port known to the Romans as "Rhapta," which was probably located in thedelta of the Rufiji River in modern Tanzania.

The Silk Road extends from Guangzhou, located in southern China, to present day Brunei,Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Malacca, Ceylon, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Iran and Iraq. In

Europe it extends from Israel, Lebanon (Collectively, the Levant), Egypt, and Italy (historically,

Venice) in the Mediterranean Sea to other European ports or caravan routes such as the greatHanseatic League fairs via the Spanish road and other Alpine routes. This water route is called in

some sources "the Indian Ocean Maritime System".


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IV.The Decline of the Silk RoadDuring the Mongol reign in the 13th and 14th centuries trade was revived significantly,

although never in the way it had done before. But this was the Grand Finale of the Silk Roadslong and distinguished history. During this time several people travelled almost the entire length

of the Silk Road. Although Marco Polo was the most famous of the travelers, he was by no means

the only one. Missionaries and artists were keen to travel and spread their word. Indeed KublaiKhan, Genghiss grandson, was so taken by Marco Polos Christian religion that he ordered him

to send 100 learned Christians from Rome to convert his people. Such a conversion of the

Mongols and their subjects would have undoubtedly changed the face of history. In the end only

two friars were sent who fled in fear before they reached the Khan.

The overthrow of the Mongols by the Chinese and the creation of the Ming dynasty spelled

the end of the Silk Road.This didnt happen overnight, but as the political powers along the Silk

Road began to draw frontiers between themselves, and cut themselves off economically andculturally from one another the Silk Road trade was no longer in such high demand. This was

made especially rapid because secrets of silk, glass and paper among other things were now being

made all across Europe, Central Asia and China.

Furthermore, the rise to power of the conqueror Timur Leng (Tamerlane) in the 14th

century caused further damage to trade passing through. In an attempt to expand his empire fromhis capital, the oasis of Samarkand, he effectively finished off the destruction of neighboring

cities that the Mongols had started.

The power of the nomads, so long the important middlemen in the Silk Road trade, was

also declining. This may have been due to the fact that societies were beginning to settle and

become self-contained rendering the nomads less valuable. For example the Ming dynasties did

nothing to encourage trade between China and the rapidly developing West rather they

encouraged isolation. This attitude persisted until the 19th century when the Western powersbegan to make inroads into Chinese territories.

While the Silk Road was a fantastic link between people, cultures and civilizations, it also

provided a dangerous route for diseases to spread. The Black Death pandemic, which started inChina in the 1320s, is likely to have spread to Europe by travelling along the Silk Road. Its effects

were devastating killing vast percentages of the Chinese, Asian, African and Europeanpopulations. Trade along the Silk Road effectively came to an abrupt halt.

The demise of the Silk Road was further facilitated by the growing maritime trade. Whilst

the Silk Road was never the only route by which goods were traded, it provided a relativelysecure route. There was however at this time a sharp transition towards using the developing sea

routes. There had always been sea trade, though it reflected more the overland trade with local

tradesmen and large levies making goods very expensive by the time they got to their destination.

For longer journeys there were problems with the strength of ships used, scurvy and pirates.


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VI. Literature reviews

1) According to Vadime Elisseeff (2000): Along the Silk Roads, technology traveled, ideas were exchanged, and friendship and

understanding between East and West were experienced for the first time on a large scale.Easterners were exposed to Western ideas and life-styles, and Westerners too, learned about

Eastern culture and its spirituality-oriented cosmology. Buddhism as an Eastern religion received

international attention through the Silk Roads.

By this Elisseeff meant that the Silk Road used to be a kind of like a connecting

component, a knot tying East and West, connecting their cultures, letting people get to know

other peoples religion, ideas and lifestyle. Figuratively speaking, the Silk Road opened eyes of

Western people to East and the other way around.

2) The revival of the Silk Road for modern road transportations will end trade desertificationin many countries without additional investment in infrastructure, which now happening

due to the concentration of world trade only in several major international ports.,- said

Martin Marmi, IRU Secretary General.

It has said about the creating the Motor Silk Road from Uzbekistan to Europe. By thisspeech, Martin Marmi meant that the economy of Uzbekistan and other neighboring countries is,

to say the least, not in its best condition, so creating this Road could help increasing the

economy. And it would expand the area of world trade, because now it is concentrated in major,key ports, therefore other regions are left behind.

3) The basis of the New Silk Road vision is that if Afghanistan is firmly embedded in theeconomic life of the region, it will be better able to attract new investment, benefit from its

resource potential and provide increasing economic opportunity and hope for its people,

Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural AffairsRobert Hormatssaid September 29, 2011.

It has said about new idea of the United States to make the New Silk Road with its main

port in Afghanistan. What Robert Hormats had in mind was that Afghanistan came through a lotof challenges and is still in the time of war, therefore it is in a really bad economic state, theresno development, no investments, so the New Silk Way would help improving economy of the

country, which would also bring the people of Afghanistan hope, because it is obvious that theirpsychological state was affected too, so they need some changes for the better. On the one hand,

it sounds right, because the Great Silk Road used to play the role of peculiar economic artery of

all the places it went through. But on the other hand, apparently , when thinking of Afghanistans

situation, Hormats did not consider the fact that theres actually still a war between Afghanistanand the U.S., so it is obvious, that dealing with the war is more logical way to improve their

economic situation than building the New Silk Road.

4) Hormats was joined via videoconference by Sham Bathija, senior economic adviser ofAfghan President Hamid Karzai. Afghanistan finds itself at a historical crossroads

today, Bathija said. Either it continues to depend on foreign aid as the principal driver ofeconomic development, as well as foreign forces to safeguard its security, or it quickly

shifts to a new model of development rooted in the private sector as the main generator of


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jobs and wealth and the Afghan National Security Forces as the chief guard of our nationaland personal security. For my country, the region and the world to be secure, we must

implement the vision of the New Silk Road initiative, Bathija said, calling the plan the

way forward for improving the livelihoods of people across South and Central Asia. Like

Hormats, Bathija emphasized the importance of building up Afghanistans economic

stability as the country takes full control of its own security from international forces by

the end of 2014.

Bathija hopes for Afghanistan to finally become an independent state, that is able to

control its economy and is free from foreign interventions. In his opinion, Afghanistan is on a

historical crossroad, so whatever decisions are being made now will influence the economy of

Afghanistan and its people themselves in the future, he sees the way out in the New Silk Way.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_route#cite_note-Elisseeff1-32

http://www.arba.ru/news/4485

http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/russian/article/2011/10/20111004140215x9.35

4144e-02.html#axzz1b4CsGwjo




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VII. ConclusionThe Great Silk Road time can be characterized as unique, because of the amount of

significant changes happened in the world at that time. During that period, the world became an

integrated and interconnected system.

For a long time, the exchange of information between nations is a very important factor inthe development of society. Cultural achievements of one nation became known for others

because of the contact between them by trade, migration, gains etc. And a special role in this

process was played by caravan routes, the Great Silk Road in particular, which connected China,India, Central Asia, Middle and Near East, and the Mediterranean region in the Ancient and early

Middle Ages.

It is obvious that the XXI century is and will continue to be the time of the globalization

of international relationships. So thats why the fact of integration of Central Asian countries and

their participation in international programs shows the development not only these particular

regions, but planet as a whole.

Today the world is faced with the need to find new ways of cooperation, to improvediplomatic relationships across the globe and improve the economy.

Nowadays lots of countries want to revive the Silk Road to activate the economy of some

particular regionsUzbekistan, Afghanistan etc. On the one hand I think that this could be a goodidea, because those countries do need a change for a better, since they (especially Afghanistan)

has been facing hardships and wars for a really long time and people of these countries would find

hope again. But, on the other hand, these regions are the centers of drug trade, so opening the road

through all of CIS and Europe countries may increase the distribution of drugs. As for the USAbeing so initiative about that, it seems to me that the USA tries to show the World that they really

care about Afghanistan by suggesting the New Silk Road and wishing for Afghanistans economy

to rise, but they never do anything without the benefit of it. So, assuming that the statement aboutthe U.S. is using the Afghanistan because of its suitable location to transport oil is true, I think

that the U.S.s initiative might be coming from that, they may use it to transport oil.

The history of the Great Silk Way is the history of wide cultural interaction and exchange

between the peoples of the West and the East. It proves that only close cooperation and mutual

enrichment of cultures is the foundation of peace and progress for all the people of the planet.


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VIII. Bibliography[1] http://www.silk-road.com/artl/silkhistory.shtml

[2] http://archaeology.about.com/cs/asia/a/silkroad.htm

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road#Routes_taken

[4] http://www.travelthesilkroad.org/content/view/15/29/ Development of the SilkRoads

[5] http://www.travelthesilkroad.org/content/view/15/29/Recovery of the Silk

Roads

References for literature reviews:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_route#cite_note-Elisseeff1-32

http://www.arba.ru/news/4485





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