Editing Silk Road (section)

== Name and contested significance ==
[[File:Woven silk, Western Han Dynasty.jpg|thumb|Woven [[silk]] textile from Tomb No. 1 at [[Mawangdui]], [[Changsha]], [[Hunan]] province, China, [[History of the Han dynasty|dated to the Western Han Era]], 2nd century BCE]]
The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in [[silk]], [[History of silk|first developed in China]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Miha Museum (Shiga, Japan) |first=Sping Special Exhibition |date=14 March 2009 |title=Eurasian winds toward Silla |url=http://www.miho.or.jp/english/member/shangrila/tpshan23.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409105904/http://www.miho.or.jp/english/member/shangrila/tpshan23.htm |archive-date=9 April 2016}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=The Horses of the Steppe: The Mongolian Horse and the Blood-Sweating Stallions {{!}} Silk Road in Rare Books |url=http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/rarebook/02/index.html.en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202055856/http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/rarebook/02/index.html.en |archive-date=2 February 2017 |access-date=23 February 2017 |website=dsr.nii.ac.jp}}</ref> and a major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive transcontinental network.<ref name="Waugh 2007, p. 4">Waugh (2007), p. 4.</ref><ref name="The Silk Roads 1998 pp. 1-2">{{Cite book |last=Eliseeff |title=The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-92-3-103652-1 |pages=1–2 |chapter=Approaches Old and New to the Silk Roads |postscript=none |orig-year=First published 1998}}, {{ISBN|1-57181-221-0|1-57181-222-9|plainlink=yes}}.</ref> It derives from the German term {{lang|de|Seidenstraße}} (literally "Silk Road") and was first popularized in 1877 by [[Ferdinand von Richthofen]], who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872.<ref name="The Silk Roads 1998 pp. 1-2" /><ref>Waugh, Daniel. (2007). "Richthofen's "Silk Roads": Toward the Archaeology of a Concept." ''The Silk Road''. Volume 5, Number 1, Summer 2007, p. 4.</ref>{{sfn|Ball|2016|p=156}} However, the term itself had been in use in decades prior to that.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mertens |first=Matthias |title=Did Richthofen Really Coin 'the Silk Road'? |url=https://edspace.american.edu/silkroadjournal/wp-content/uploads/sites/984/2020/02/2-Mertens-Did-Richthofen-Really-Coin-the-Silk-Road.pdf |website=The Silk Road}}</ref> The alternative translation "Silk Route" is also used occasionally. Although the term was coined in the 19th century, it did not gain widespread acceptance in academia or popularity among the public until the 20th century. The first book entitled ''The Silk Road'' was by Swedish geographer [[Sven Hedin]] in 1938.{{sfn|Ball|2016|pp=155–156}}

The use of the term 'Silk Road' is not without its detractors. For instance, [[Warwick Ball]] contends that the maritime [[spice trade]] with [[Indo-Roman trade relations|India and Arabia]] was far more consequential for [[Roman economy|the economy]] of the [[Roman Empire]] than the [[Sino-Roman relations|silk trade with China]], which at sea was conducted mostly through India and on land was handled by numerous intermediaries such as the [[Sogdia]]ns.{{sfn|Johanson|2006|p=1}} Going as far as to call the whole thing a "myth" of modern academia, Ball argues that there was no coherent overland trade system and no free movement of goods [[Europeans in Medieval China|from East Asia to the West]] until the period of the [[Mongol Empire]]. He notes that traditional authors discussing east–west trade such as [[Marco Polo]] and [[Edward Gibbon]] never labelled any route a "silk" one in particular.{{sfn|Ball|2016|pp=154–156}} [[William Dalrymple]] points out that in pre-modern times, maritime travel cost only a fifth of overland transport,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dalrymple |first=William |date=2024-10-06 |title=The Silk Road still casts a spell, but was the ancient trading route just a western invention? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/06/the-silk-road-still-casts-a-spell-but-was-the-ancient-trading-route-just-a-western-invention |access-date=2024-10-06 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref> and argues for the pre-13th century primacy of an India-dominated "[[The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World|Golden Road]]" extending from Rome to Japan.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lakshmi |first=Rama |date=2024-03-08 |title=Silk Route talk irritates Dalrymple. His new book says India, not China, ruled trade, ideas |url=https://theprint.in/feature/around-town/silk-route-talk-irritates-dalrymple-his-new-book-says-india-not-china-ruled-trade-ideas/1992912/ |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}} See also Ferdinand Mount, "One-Way Traffic," ''London Review of Books'', September 12, 2024, pp. 9-10.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dabhoiwala |first=Fara |date=2024-09-07 |title=The Golden Road by William Dalrymple review – when India ruled the world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/sep/07/the-golden-road-how-ancient-india-transformed-the-world-william-dalyrmple-review |access-date=2024-10-06 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

The southern stretches of the Silk Road, from [[Khotan]] ([[Xinjiang]]) to Eastern China, were first used for [[jade]] and not silk, as long as 5000 [[BCE]], and are still in use for this purpose. The term "Jade Road" would have been more appropriate than "Silk Road" had it not been for the far larger and geographically wider nature of the silk trade; the term is in current use in China.<ref name="Wood2004">{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Frances |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zvoCv3h2QCsC&pg=PA26 |title=The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia |date=September 2004 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24340-8 |page=26 |access-date=7 March 2019}}</ref>