Editing Silk Road (section)

=== Tang dynasty (7th century) ===
{{Further|Tang campaigns against the Western Turks|Conquest of the Western Turks|Tang campaign against the Eastern Turks|Tang dynasty#Trade and spread of culture}}
[[File:ForeignerWithWineskin-Earthenware-TangDynasty-ROM-May8-08.png|thumb|upright|A Chinese ''[[sancai]]'' statue of a [[Sogdia]]n man with a [[Bota bag|wineskin]], [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907)]]
[[File:KingEndybisEthiopia227-235CE.jpg|upright=1.1|right|thumb|The empires and city-states of the [[Horn of Africa]], such as the [[Axumite Empire|Axumites]] were important trading partners in the ancient Silk Road.]]
[[File:Tang China 669AD.jpg|thumb|After the [[Tang dynasty in Inner Asia|Tang defeated the Göktürks]], they reopened the Silk Road to the west.]]

Although the Silk Road was initially formulated during the reign of [[Emperor Wu of Han]] (141–87 BCE), it was reopened by the [[Tang Empire]] in 639 when [[Hou Junji]] conquered the [[Western Regions]], and remained open for almost four decades. It was closed after the Tibetans captured it in 678, but in 699, during [[Empress Wu]]'s period, the Silk Road reopened when the Tang reconquered the [[Four Garrisons of Anxi]] originally installed in 640,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nishijima |first=Sadao |title=Cambridge History of China |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-521-24327-8 |editor-last=Twitchett |editor-first=Denis |volume=I: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220 |location=Cambridge |pages=545–607 |chapter=The Economic and Social History of Former Han |editor-last2=Loewe |editor-first2=Michael}}</ref> once again connecting China directly to the West for land-based trade.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eberhard |first=Wolfram |title=A History of China |publisher=Cosimo |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-59605-566-7 |location=New York}}</ref> The Tang captured the vital route through the [[Gilgit]] Valley from Tibet in 722, lost it to the Tibetans in 737, and regained it under the command of the Goguryeo General [[Gao Xianzhi]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whitfield |first=Susan |title=The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith |publisher=Serindia |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-932476-12-5 |location=Chicago |author-link=Susan Whitfield}}</ref>

While the Turks were settled in the Ordos region (former territory of the [[Xiongnu]]), the Tang government took on the military policy of dominating the central steppe. The Tang dynasty (along with Turkic allies) conquered and subdued Central Asia during the 640s and 650s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ebrey |first=Patricia Buckley |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00ebre |title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of China |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-521-66991-7 |location=Cambridge |author-link=Patricia Buckley Ebrey}}</ref> During Emperor Taizong's reign alone, large campaigns were launched against not only the [[Göktürk]]s, but also separate campaigns against the [[Emperor Taizong's campaign against Tuyuhun|Tuyuhun]], the [[Tang campaign against the oasis states|oasis states]], and the [[Emperor Taizong's campaign against Xueyantuo|Xueyantuo]]. Under [[Emperor Taizong of Tang|Emperor Taizong]], Tang general [[Li Jing (Tang dynasty)|Li Jing]] [[Tang campaign against the Eastern Turks|conquered the Eastern Turkic Khaganate]]. Under [[Emperor Gaozong of Tang|Emperor Gaozong]], Tang general [[Su Dingfang]] [[Conquest of the Western Turks|conquered the Western Turkic Khaganate]], an important ally of the Byzantine empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Skaff |first=Jonathan Karem |title=Military Culture in Imperial China |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-03109-8 |editor-last=Nicola Di Cosmo}}</ref> After these conquests, the Tang dynasty fully controlled the [[Western Regions|Xiyu]], which was the strategic location astride the Silk Road.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tikhvinskiĭ, Sergeĭ Leonidovich and Leonard Sergeevich Perelomov |title=China and her neighbours, from ancient times to the Middle Ages: a collection of essays |publisher=Progress Publishers |year=1981 |page=124}}</ref> This led the Tang dynasty to reopen the Silk Road, with this portion named the '''Tang-Tubo Road'''<!--boldface per [[WP:R#PLA]]--> ("Tang-Tibet Road") in many historical texts.

The Tang dynasty established a second [[Pax Sinica]], and the Silk Road reached its golden age, whereby Persian and Sogdian merchants benefited from the commerce between East and West. At the same time, the Chinese empire welcomed foreign cultures, making it very cosmopolitan in its urban centres. In addition to the land route, the Tang dynasty also developed the maritime Silk Route. Chinese envoys had been sailing through the [[Indian Ocean]] to [[Kanchipuram|India]] since perhaps the 2nd century BCE,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sun |first=Guangqi |title=History of Navigation in Ancient China |publisher=Ocean Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-7-5027-0532-9 |location=Beijing}}</ref> yet, it was during the Tang dynasty that a strong Chinese maritime presence could be found in the [[Persian Gulf]] and [[Red Sea]] into [[Persia]], [[Mesopotamia]] (sailing up the [[Euphrates]] River in modern-day [[Iraq]]), [[Arabia]], [[Egypt]], [[Aksum]] (Ethiopia), and [[Somalia]] in the [[Horn of Africa]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bowman |first=John S. |title=Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2000 |location=New York}}</ref>