Silk Road
trade route
also called Silk Route
ancient trade route that, linking China with the West, carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China. Silk came westward, while wools, gold, and silver went east. China also received Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism (from India) via the road.
Originating at Xi'an (Sian), the 4,000-mile (6,400-km) road, actually a caravan tract, followed the Great Wall of China to the northwest, bypassed the Takla Makan Desert, climbed the Pamirs (mountains), crossed Afghanistan, and went on to the Levant; from there, the merchandise was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea. Few persons traveled the entire route, and goods were handled in a staggered progression by middlemen.
With the gradual loss of Roman territory in Asia and the rise of Arabian power in the Levant, the Silk Road became increasingly unsafe and untraveled. In the 13th and 14th centuries the route was revived under the Mongols, and at that time the Venetian Marco Polo (Polo, Marco) used the road to travel to Cathay (China).
The road now partially exists in the form of a paved highway connecting Pakistan and the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang (Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region of), China. The old road has been the impetus behind a United Nations plan for a trans-Asian highway, and a railway counterpart of the road has been proposed by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). The road inspired cellist Yo Yo Ma (Ma, Yo-Yo) to found the Silk Road Project in 1999, which has explored cultural traditions along its route.- World Production of Centrifugal Sugar, Table
- World Production of Centrifugal Sugar, Table 1
- World Production of Centrifugal Sugar, Table 2
- World Production of Centrifugal Sugar, Table 3
- World Production of Centrifugal Sugar, Table 4
- World Production of Crude Steel, Table
- World Production of Dairy Products, Table
- World Production of Major Oilseeds and Products, Table
- World Production of Major Oilseeds and Products, Table 1
- World Production of Major Oilseeds and Products, Table 2
- World Production of Major Oilseeds and Products, Table 3
- World Production of Milk1, Table
- World Production of Milk, Table
- World Production of Milk, Table 1
- World Production of Milk, Table 2
- World Production of Oilseeds and Products, Table
- World Production of Pig Iron, Table
- World professional snooker championship
- World proved reserves of coal
- World Resources Institute
- world's 25 hot spots
- World's 25 Largest Banks
- World's 25 Most Populous Urban Areas
- World's Columbian Exposition
- World Series