Silk Route

• The Silk Road originated in Xi’an in China.

• Silk was traded from China to the Roman empire starting in the first century
BCE, in exchange for wool, silver, and gold coming from Europe.
• Alongside spreading trade, the Silk Road also became a vital route for the
spread of knowledge, technology, religion, and the arts.
• The Silk Road is an interconnected series of trade routes through Southern
Asia mainly connecting Chang'an (today's Xi'an) in China, with Asia Minor
and the Mediterranean. It extends over 8,000 km (5,000 miles) on land and
sea
• Trade on the Silk Route was a significant factor in the development of the
great civilizations of China, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and Rome, and
helped to lay the foundations for the modern world.
The Chinese Section
Major Stops on the Road

Taklamakan
Desert
Chang’an (Xian today)
• The site of the Han capital was located 5 km northwest of
modern Xi'an. As the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, it
was the political, economic and cultural center of China, the
eastern terminus of the Silk Road, and a cosmopolitan
metropolis comparable with the greatest cities of the
contemporaneous Roman Empire.
The statue is at the starting point of
the ancient Silk Road of Chang'an
(present Xian City).
The Great Mosque – 50,000
Muslims in Xi’an today
Samarkand
• Samarkand population 412,300 in 2005, is the second-largest
city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. The
city is most noted for its central position on the Asian Silk Road
between China and the west. Despite its status as the second
city of Uzbekistan, the majority of the city's inhabitants (90%)
are Persian-speaking Tajiks.
View of the three academies.
Minaret in
Samarkand
Southern Route from
Kashgar
This route terminated at the Mediterranean Sea.
Bactria

• According to some writers, Bactria was the

homeland of Aryan tribes who moved south-west
into Iran and into North-Western India around
2500-2000 BC Later it became the north province
of the Persian Empire in Central Asia. It was in
these regions, where the fertile soil of the
mountainous country is surrounded by the
Turanian desert, that the prophet Zarathushtra
(Zoroaster) was said to have been born and
gained his first adherents.
Bactria
Ancient Bactria

• BALKH - (ancient Bactria) Called the

"Mother of Cities," Balkh is about 22
kms. (13 mi.) west of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Today nothing remains of its ancient
glory except a series of ruins such as
the famous Arch Of Nawbahar and the
remains of a Buddhist Stupa.
Buddhist
stupas in
Bactria
 Baghdad
• Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad
Governorate. With an estimated population of
seven million, it is the largest city in Iraq. It is the
second-largest city in the Arab world (after Cairo)
and the second-largest city in southwest Asia
(after Tehran). Located on the Tigris River the
city dates back to at least the 8th century, and
probably to pre-Islamic times. It was once the
center of Dar al-salam, the Muslim world.
Iraq
map
Mosque in
Baghdad.
Babylon
• The city itself was built upon the Euphrates, and divided in
equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep
embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Babylon
grew in extent and grandeur over time, but gradually became
subject to the rule of Assyria. It has been estimated that
Babylon was the largest city in the world from c. 1770 to 1670
BC, and again between c. 612 and 320 BC. It was perhaps the
first city to reach a population above 200,000.
Rebuilt ruins of Babylon
The final leg of the
journey.
From Antioch to Constantinople (Istanbul today) by sea.
Constantinople (Istanbul)
• Constantinople was the capital of the Roman
Empire (330-395), the Byzantine Empire (395-
1204 and 1261-1453), the Latin Empire (1204-
1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922). It
was officially renamed to its modern Turkish
name Istanbul in 1930 as part of Atatürk's Turkish
national reforms. Strategically located between
the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the
point where Europe meets Asia, Constantinople
was extremely important as the successor to
ancient Rome and the largest and wealthiest city
in Europe throughout the Middle Ages; it was
known as the Queen of Cities (Vasileousa Polis).
Constantinople
Location