The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the AfroEurasian landmass

that connectedEast, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa. The land routes were supplemented by sea routes, which extended from the Red Sea to coastal India, China and Southeast Asia. Extending 4,000 miles (6,500 km), the Silk Road gets its name from the lucrative Chinese silk trade along it, which began during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE 220 CE). The central Asian sections of the trade [1] routes were expanded around 114 BCE by the Han dynasty, largely through the missions and [2] [citation needed] explorations of Zhang Qian, but earlier trade routes across the continents already existed. In the late Middle Ages, transcontinental trade over the land routes of the Silk Road declined as sea trade [3] increased,. In recent years, both the maritime and overland Silk Routes are again being used, often closely following the ancient routes. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, India, Ancient Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Ancient Rome, and in several respects helped lay the foundations for the modern world. Though silk was certainly the major trade item from China, many other goods were traded, and various technologies, religions and philosophies, as well as the bubonic plague (the "Black Death"), also traveled along the Silk Routes. Some of the other goods traded included luxuries such as silk, satin, hemp and other fine fabrics, musk, other perfumes, spices, medicines, jewels, [4] glassware, and even rhubarb, as well as slaves. China traded silk, teas, and porcelain; while India

traded spices, ivory, textiles, precious stones, and pepper; and the Roman Empire exported gold, silver, fine glassware, wine, carpets, and jewels. Although the term the Silk Road implies a continuous journey, very few who traveled the route traversed it from end to end; for the most part, goods were transported by [4] a series of agents on varying routes and were traded in the bustling markets of the oasis towns. The main traders during Antiquity were the Indian and Bactrian traders, then from the 5th to the 8th century CE the Sogdian traders, then afterward the Arab and Persian traders. As it extends westwards from the ancient commercial centers of China, the overland, intercontinental Silk Road divides into the northern and southern routes by passing 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 southern route was mainly a single route running from China, through the Karakoram, where it persists to modern times as the international paved road connecting Pakistan and China as the Karakoram Highway.

History
Hellenistic era
The first major step in opening the Silk Road between the East and the West came with the expansion of Alexander the Great's empire into Central Asia. In August 329 BCE, at the mouth of the Fergana [14] Valley inTajikistan he founded the city of Alexandria Eschate or "Alexandria The Furthest". This later became a major staging point on the northern Silk Route.

Modern day
The last link of a railway route along the Silk Road was completed in 1990, when the railway systems of China and Kazakhstan connected in Alataw Pass (Alashan Kou). Currently (2008), the line is used by direct passenger service from Urumqi in China's Xinjiang to Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan.[2]. Since July 2011 Chongqing is officially linked to Duisburg, Germany by a freight rail across [31] Eurasia. Compared to the traditional sea trade routes from Guangzhou and Shanghai, the rail link to Europe cuts travel time to Europe from about 36 days by container ship to just 13 days by freight train.

The Silk Road in the 1st century.