Editing Silk Road (section)

== History ==

=== Precursors ===

==== Chinese and Central Asian contacts (2nd millennium BCE) ====
[[File:ChineseJadePlaques.JPG|thumb|right|Chinese [[jade]] and [[steatite]] plaques, in the [[Scythian art|Scythian-style]] [[animal style|animal art]] of the steppes. 4th–3rd century BCE. [[British Museum]].]]

[[Inner Asia|Central Eurasia]] has been known from ancient times for its horse riding and horse breeding communities, and the overland [[Steppe Route]] across the northern steppes of Central Eurasia was in use long before that of the Silk Road.<ref name=":2" /> Archeological sites, such as the [[Berel burial ground]] in [[Kazakhstan]], confirmed that the nomadic [[Arimaspians]] were not only breeding horses for trade but also produced great craftsmen able to propagate exquisite art pieces along the Silk Road.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 December 2012 |title=Treasures of Ancient Altai Nomads Revealed |language=en-US |work=The Astana Times |url=http://astanatimes.com/2012/12/treasures-of-ancient-altai-nomads-revealed/ |url-status=live |access-date=23 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223211537/http://astanatimes.com/2012/12/treasures-of-ancient-altai-nomads-revealed/ |archive-date=23 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=21 August 2013 |title=Additional Berel Burial Sites Excavated |language=en-US |work=The Astana Times |url=http://astanatimes.com/2013/08/additional-berel-burial-sites-excavated/ |url-status=live |access-date=23 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223213908/http://astanatimes.com/2013/08/additional-berel-burial-sites-excavated/ |archive-date=23 February 2017}}</ref> From the 2nd millennium BCE, [[nephrite]] jade was being traded from mines in the region of [[Yarkent County|Yarkand]] and [[Khotan]] to China. Significantly, these mines were not very far from the [[lapis lazuli]] and [[spinel]] ("Balas Ruby") mines in [[Badakhshan]], and, although separated by the formidable [[Pamir Mountains]], routes across them were apparently in use from very early times.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

Genetic study of the [[Tarim mummies]], found in the [[Tarim Basin]], in the area of [[Loulan Kingdom|Loulan]] located along the Silk Road {{convert|200|km|0|abbr=off}} east of Yingpan, dating to as early as 1600 BCE, suggest very ancient contacts between East and West. These mummified remains may have been of people who spoke [[Indo-European languages]], which remained in use in the Tarim Basin, in the modern day [[Xinjiang]] region, until replaced by Turkic influences from the [[Xiongnu]] culture to the north and by Chinese influences from the eastern [[Han dynasty]], who spoke a [[Sino-Tibetan language]].{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

Some remnants of what was probably Chinese silk dating from 1070 BCE have been found in [[Ancient Egypt]]. The Great Oasis cities of Central Asia played a crucial role in the effective functioning of the Silk Road trade.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pollard |first1=Elizabeth |url=https://archive.org/details/worldstogetherwo03alti |title=Worlds Together Worlds Apart |last2=Rosenberg |first2=Clifford |last3=Tignor |first3=Robert |publisher=Norton |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-393-91847-2 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/worldstogetherwo03alti/page/n329 278] |url-access=limited}}</ref> The originating source seems sufficiently reliable, but silk degrades very rapidly, so it cannot be verified whether it was cultivated silk (which almost certainly came from China) or a type of ''[[wild silk]]'', which might have come from the Mediterranean or Middle East.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1038/362025b0|volume = 362|issue = 6415|page = 25|last1 = Lubec|first1 = G.|first2=J. |last2=Holauerghsrthbek |first3=C. |last3=Feldl |first4=B. |last4=Lubec |first5=E. |last5=Strouhal |title = Use of silk in ancient Egypt|journal = Nature|date = 4 March 1993|bibcode = 1993Natur.362...25L|s2cid = 1001799|doi-access = free}} Also available at {{Cite web |title=Use of Silk In Ancient Egypt |url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/egyptsilk.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070920193305/http://www.silk-road.com/artl/egyptsilk.shtml |archive-date=20 September 2007 |access-date=3 May 2007}})</ref>

Following contacts between [[Metropolitan regions of China|Metropolitan China]] and nomadic western border territories in the 8th century BCE, gold was introduced from Central Asia, and Chinese jade carvers began to make imitation designs of the steppes, adopting the [[Scythian]]-style [[animal style|animal art]] of the steppes (depictions of animals locked in combat). This style is particularly reflected in the rectangular belt plaques made of gold and bronze, with other versions in jade and [[steatite]].{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} An elite burial near [[Stuttgart]], Germany, dated to the 6th century BCE, was excavated and found to have not only [[bronze sculpture|Greek bronzes]] but also Chinese silks.<ref name="christopoulos 2012 footnote56">Christopoulos, Lucas (August 2012), "Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD)", in Victor H. Mair (ed), ''Sino-Platonic Papers'', No. 230, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, p. 31 footnote #56, {{ISSN|2157-9687}}.</ref> Similar animal-shaped pieces of art and wrestler motifs on belts have been found in [[Scythians|Scythian]] grave sites stretching from the [[Black Sea]] region all the way to [[Warring States]] era archaeological sites in [[Inner Mongolia]] (at Aluchaideng) and [[Shaanxi]] (at {{ill|Keshengzhuang|de}}) in China.<ref name="christopoulos 2012 footnote56" />

The expansion of Scythian cultures, stretching from the [[Great Hungarian Plain|Hungarian plain]] and the [[Carpathian Mountains]] to the Chinese [[Gansu]] Corridor, and linking the Middle East with Northern India and the [[Punjab region|Punjab]], undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road. Scythians accompanied the [[Assyria]]n [[Esarhaddon]] on his invasion of Egypt, and their distinctive triangular arrowheads have been found as far south as [[Aswan]]. These nomadic peoples were dependent upon neighbouring settled populations for a number of important technologies, and in addition to raiding vulnerable settlements for these commodities, they also encouraged long-distance merchants as a source of income through the enforced payment of tariffs. [[Sogdia]]ns played a major role in facilitating trade between China and Central Asia along the Silk Roads as late as the 10th century, their language serving as a ''[[lingua franca]]'' for Asian trade as far back as the 4th century.<ref>Hanks, Reuel R. (2010). ''Global Security Watch: Central Asia'', Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 3.</ref><ref>Mark J. Dresden (2003). "Sogdian Language and Literature", in Ehsan Yarshater, ''The Cambridge History of Iran'', Vol III: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 1219, {{ISBN|978-0-521-24699-6}}.</ref>

[[File:UrumqiWarrior.jpg|thumb|upright|Soldier with a [[centaur]] in the [[Sampul tapestry]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Christopoulos |first=Lucas |title=Sino-Platonic Papers |publisher=Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations |year=2012 |editor-last=Mair |editor-first=Victor H. |volume=230 |pages=15–16 |chapter=Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD) |issn=2157-9687}}</ref> wool wall hanging, 3rd–2nd century BCE, [[Xinjiang Museum]], [[Urumqi]], [[Xinjiang]], China.]]

=== Initiation in China (130 BCE) ===
{{Main|Protectorate of the Western Regions|War of the Heavenly Horses|Han–Xiongnu War|History of the Han dynasty}}
{{See also|Sino-Roman relations|China–India relations|Zhang Qian}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = Woven [[silk]] textiles from Tomb No. 1 at [[Mawangdui]], [[Changsha]], [[Hunan]] province, China, [[Western Han dynasty]] period, dated 2nd century BCE| footer_align = left | image1 = Silk from Mawangdui 2.jpg | width1 = 150 | caption1 = | image2 = Silk from Mawangdui.jpg | width2 = 150 | caption2 = }}

The Silk Road was initiated and spread by China's Han dynasty through exploration and [[Protectorate of the Western Regions|conquests in Central Asia]]. With the Mediterranean linked to the [[Fergana Valley]], the next step was to open a route across the [[Tarim Basin]] and the [[Hexi Corridor]] to [[China Proper]]. This extension came around 130 BCE, with the embassies of the Han dynasty to Central Asia following the reports of the ambassador [[Zhang Qian]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hogan |first=C. M. |date=19 November 2007 |editor-last=Burnham |editor-first=A. |title=Silk Road, North China |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002140921/http://www.megalithic.co.ukb/article.php?sid=18006 |archive-date=2 October 2013 |access-date=13 July 2011 |website=The Megalithic Portal}}</ref> (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the [[Yuezhi]] against the [[Xiongnu]]). Zhang Qian visited directly the kingdom of [[Dayuan]] in [[Ferghana]], the territories of the Yuezhi in [[Transoxiana]], the [[Bactria]]n country of [[Daxia]] with its remnants of [[Greco-Bactrian]] rule, and [[Kangju]]. He also made reports on neighbouring countries that he did not visit, such as Anxi ([[Parthia]]), Tiaozhi ([[Mesopotamia]]), Shendu ([[Indian subcontinent]]) and the [[Wusun]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Yiping |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35L3Ww72M-YC&pg=PA22 |title=Story of the Silk Road |publisher=五洲传播出版社 |year=2005 |isbn=978-7-5085-0832-0 |page=22 |access-date=17 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=35L3Ww72M-YC&pg=PA22 |archive-date=27 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> Zhang Qian's report suggested the economic reason for Chinese expansion and wall-building westward, and trail-blazed the Silk Road, making it one of the most famous trade routes in history and in the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lovell |first=Julia|authorlink=Julia Lovell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWS53cuiuVgC&pg=PA66 |title=The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC – AD 2000 |publisher=Grove Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8021-4297-9 |page=73 |access-date=17 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=IWS53cuiuVgC&pg=PA66 |archive-date=27 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

After winning the [[War of the Heavenly Horses]] and the [[Han–Xiongnu War]], Chinese armies established themselves in Central Asia, initiating the Silk Route as a major avenue of international trade.<ref name="Li">{{Cite book |last1=Li |first1=Bo |last2=Zheng |first2=Yin |publisher=Inner Mongolia People's Publishing Corp |year=2001 |isbn=978-7-204-04420-7 |page=254 |language=zh |script-title=zh:中华五千年 |trans-title=5000 years of Chinese history}}</ref> Some say that the Chinese [[Emperor Wu of Han China|Emperor Wu]] became interested in developing commercial relationships with the sophisticated urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria, and the [[Parthian Empire]]: "The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan ''"Great [[Ionians]]"'') and the possessions of Bactria ([[Ta-Hsia]]) and Parthian Empire ([[Anxi County|Anxi]]) are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China" (''Hou Hanshu'', [[Later Han History]]). Others<ref>Di Cosmo, ''Ancient China and its Enemies'', 2002</ref> say that Emperor Wu was mainly interested in [[Han–Xiongnu War|fighting the Xiongnu]] and that major trade began only after the Chinese pacified the [[Hexi Corridor]].

[[File:HanHorse.jpg|thumb|A ceramic horse head and neck (broken from the body), from the Chinese [[Eastern Han dynasty]] (1st–2nd century CE)]]
[[File:Bronze coin of Contantius II 337 361 found in Karghalik.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Roman currency|Bronze coin]] of [[Constantius II]] (337–361), found in [[Kargilik Town|Karghalik]], [[Xinjiang]], [[China]].]]

The Chinese were also strongly attracted by the tall and powerful horses (named "[[Ferghana horse|heavenly horses]]") in the possession of the Dayuan (literally the "Great Ionians," the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom|Greek kingdoms of Central Asia]]), which were of capital importance in fighting the nomadic Xiongnu.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Selenium in the Environment |publisher=CRC Press |year=1994 |editor-last=Frankenberger |editor-first=W. T. |page=30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Becker |first=Jasper |title=City of Heavenly Tranquility: Beijing in the History of China |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |location=Oxford |page=18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Liu |first=Xinru |title=The Silk Roads: A Brief History with Documents |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |year=2012 |location=New York |page=6}}</ref><ref name="Rene">{{Cite book |last=Grousset |first=Rene |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/36 |title=The Empire of the Steppes |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-8135-1304-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/36 36–37, 48]}}</ref> They defeated the Dayuan in the [[Han-Dayuan war]]. The Chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies, around ten every year, to these countries and as far as [[Seleucid]] Syria.

{{blockquote|Thus more embassies were dispatched to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai [who later joined the [[Alans]] ], Lijian [Syria under the Greek Seleucids], Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), and [[Tenjiku|Tianzhu]] [northwestern India]&nbsp;... As a rule, rather more than ten such missions went forward in the course of a year, and at the least five or six. (''Hou Hanshu'', Later Han History).}}

These connections marked the beginning of the Silk Road trade network that extended to the Roman Empire.<ref name="Ebrey">Ebrey (1999), 70.</ref>

The Chinese campaigned in Central Asia on several occasions, and direct encounters between Han troops and Roman legionaries (probably captured or recruited as mercenaries by the Xiong Nu) are recorded, particularly in the 36 BCE battle of [[Sogdiana]] (Joseph Needham, Sidney Shapiro). It has been suggested that the Chinese [[crossbow]] was transmitted to the Roman world on such occasions, although the Greek [[gastraphetes]] provides an alternative origin. R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy suggest that in 36 BCE,

{{blockquote|[A] Han expedition into Central Asia, west of [[Jaxartes river|Jaxartes River]], apparently encountered and defeated a contingent of Roman legionaries. The Romans may have been part of [[Mark Antony|Antony]]'s army invading [[Parthia]]. Sogdiana (modern [[Bukhara]]), east of the Oxus River, on the [[Polytimetus]] River, was apparently the most easterly penetration ever made by Roman forces in Asia. The margin of Chinese victory appears to have been their crossbows, whose bolts and darts seem easily to have penetrated Roman shields and armour.<ref>R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy, ''The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present'', Fourth Edition (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993), 133, apparently relying on Homer H. Dubs, "A Roman City in Ancient China", in ''Greece and Rome'', Second Series, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Oct., 1957), pp. 139–148</ref>}}

The [[Han dynasty]] army regularly policed the trade route against nomadic bandit forces generally identified as [[Xiongnu]]. Han general [[Ban Chao]] led an army of 70,000 [[mounted infantry]] and [[light cavalry]] troops in the 1st century CE to secure the [[trade]] routes, reaching far west to the Tarim Basin. Ban Chao expanded his conquests across the [[Pamirs]] to the shores of the [[Caspian Sea]] and the borders of [[Parthia]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/440601/Ban-Chao "Ban Chao"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616061740/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/440601/Ban-Chao |date=16 June 2009 }}. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> It was from here that the Han general dispatched envoy [[Gan Ying]] to [[Daqin]] (Rome).<ref>Frances Wood, ''The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia'', University of California Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-520-24340-8}}, p. 46</ref> The Silk Road essentially came into being from the 1st century BCE, following these efforts by China to consolidate a road to the Western world and [[India]], both through direct settlements in the area of the Tarim Basin and diplomatic relations with the countries of the Dayuan, Parthians and Bactrians further west. The Silk Roads were a "complex network of trade routes" that gave people the chance to exchange goods and culture.<ref name="Bentley1993p32">Jerry Bentley, ''Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 32.</ref>

A maritime Silk Route opened up between Chinese-controlled [[Giao Chỉ]] (centred in modern [[Vietnam]], near [[Hanoi]]), probably by the 1st century. It extended, [[Indo-Roman trade relations|via ports on the coasts of India]] and [[Sri Lanka]], all the way to [[Ancient Rome|Roman]]-controlled ports in [[Roman Egypt]] and the [[Nabataean]] territories on the northeastern coast of the [[Red Sea]]. The earliest [[Roman glassware]] bowl found in China was unearthed from a Western Han tomb in [[Guangzhou]], dated to the early 1st century BCE, indicating that Roman commercial items were being imported through the [[South China Sea]].<ref name="an 2002 p83">An, Jiayao. (2002), "When Glass Was Treasured in China", in Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds), ''Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road'', 79–94, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, {{ISBN|978-2-503-52178-7}}, p. 83.</ref> According to [[Twenty-Four Histories|Chinese dynastic histories]], it is from [[Jiaozhou (region)|this region]] that the [[Sino-Roman relations#First Roman embassy|Roman embassies]] arrived in China, beginning in 166 CE during the reigns of [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Emperor Huan of Han]].<ref name="halsall 2000">{{Cite web |last=Halsall |first=Paul |year=2000 |editor-last=Arkenberg |editor-first=Jerome S. |title=East Asian History Sourcebook: Chinese Accounts of Rome, Byzantium and the Middle East, c. 91 B.C.E. – 1643 C.E. |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/romchin1.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910050947/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/romchin1.html |archive-date=10 September 2014 |access-date=16 September 2016 |website=Fordham.edu |publisher=[[Fordham University]] |orig-year=1998}}</ref><ref>de Crespigny, Rafe. (2007). ''A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD)''. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, p. 600, {{ISBN|978-90-04-15605-0}}.</ref><ref>Yü, Ying-shih (1986). "Han Foreign Relations". In Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds.). ''The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220''. 377–462. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 460–461. {{ISBN|978-0-521-24327-8}}.</ref> Other Roman glasswares have been found in Eastern-Han-era tombs (25–220 CE) further inland in [[Luoyang]], [[Nanyang, Henan|Nanyang]], and [[Nanjing]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Siwen |last2=Qiao |first2=Baotong |last3=Yang |first3=Yimin |date=2022 |title=The rise of the Maritime Silk Road about 2000 years ago: Insights from Indo-Pacific beads in Nanyang, Central China |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |volume=42 |issn=2352-409X |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103383|bibcode=2022JArSR..42j3383X |s2cid=247004020 }}</ref><ref>An, Jiayao (2002). "When Glass Was Treasured in China". In Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds). ''Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road''. 79–94. Turnhout: Brepols. {{ISBN|978-2-503-52178-7}}. pp. 83–84.</ref>

=== Roman Empire (30 BCE – 3rd century CE) ===
[[File:Seidenstrasse GMT Ausschnitt Zentralasien.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Central Asia during Roman times, with the first Silk Road]]

Soon after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30&nbsp;BCE, regular communications and trade between China, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe blossomed on an unprecedented scale. The Roman Empire inherited eastern trade routes that were part of the Silk Road from the earlier Hellenistic powers and the Arabs. With control of these trade routes, citizens of the Roman Empire received new luxuries and greater prosperity for the Empire as a whole.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=21}} The Roman-style glassware discovered in the archeological sites of [[Gyeongju]], the capital of the [[Silla]] kingdom (Korea) showed that Roman artifacts were traded as far as the Korean peninsula.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Proto–Three Kingdoms of Korea {{!}} Silk Road |url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/countries-alongside-silk-road-routes/republic-korea |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223211425/https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/countries-alongside-silk-road-routes/republic-korea |archive-date=23 February 2017 |access-date=23 February 2017 |website=UNESCO |language=en}}</ref> The Greco-[[Roman trade with India]] started by [[Eudoxus of Cyzicus]] in 130&nbsp;BCE continued to increase, and according to [[Strabo]] (II.5.12), by the time of [[Augustus]], up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from [[Myos Hormos]] in Roman Egypt to India.<ref>Strabo, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/2E1*.html ''Geography''], Book II Chapter 5</ref> The Roman Empire connected with the Central Asian Silk Road through their ports in [[Barygaza]] (present-day [[Bharuch]]) and [[Barbarikon]] (near present-day [[Karachi]]) and continued along the western coast of India.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=40}} An ancient "travel guide" to this Indian Ocean trade route was the Greek [[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]] written in 60&nbsp;CE.

[[File:Statuetta indiana di Lakshmi, avorio, da pompei, 1-50 dc ca., 149425, 02.JPG|thumb|upright=.8|[[Indian art]] also found its way into Italy: in 1938 the [[Pompeii Lakshmi]] was found in the ruins of [[Pompeii]] (destroyed in an eruption of  [[Mount Vesuvius]] in 79 CE).]]

The travelling party of [[Maes Titianus|Maës Titianus]] penetrated farthest east along the Silk Road from the Mediterranean world, probably with the aim of regularising contacts and reducing the role of middlemen, during one of the lulls in Rome's intermittent wars with Parthia, which repeatedly obstructed movement along the Silk Road. Intercontinental trade and communication became regular, organised, and protected by the "Great Powers." Intense [[Roman commerce|trade with the Roman Empire]] soon followed, confirmed by the Roman craze for Chinese silk (supplied through the Parthians), even though the Romans thought silk was obtained from trees. This belief was affirmed by [[Seneca the Younger]] in his [[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]] and by [[Virgil]] in his [[Georgics]]. Notably, [[Pliny the Elder]] knew better. Speaking of the ''bombyx'' or silk moth, he wrote in his [[Natural Histories]] "They weave webs, like spiders, that become a luxurious clothing material for women, called silk."<ref>Pliny the Elder, ''Natural Histories'' 11.xxvi.76</ref> The Romans traded spices, glassware, perfumes, and silk.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=21}}

[[File:Cernuschi Museum 20060812 150.jpg|thumb|A Westerner on a camel, [[Northern Wei dynasty]] (386–534)]]

Roman artisans began to replace yarn with valuable plain silk cloths from China and the [[Silla]] Kingdom in [[Gyeongju]], Korea.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=75}}<ref name=":3" /> Chinese wealth grew as they delivered silk and other luxury goods to the Roman Empire, whose wealthy women admired their beauty.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=20}} The Roman Senate issued, in vain, several edicts to prohibit the wearing of silk, on economic and moral grounds: the import of Chinese silk caused a huge outflow of gold, and silk clothes were considered decadent and immoral.

{{blockquote|I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one's decency, can be called clothes.&nbsp;... Wretched flocks of maids labour so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife's body.<ref>Seneca the Younger (c. 3 BCE – 65 CE), ''Declamations'' Vol. I</ref>}} The [[Western Roman Empire]], and its demand for sophisticated Asian products, [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|collapsed in the fifth century]].

The unification of Central Asia and Northern India within the [[Kushan Empire]] between the first and third centuries reinforced the role of the powerful merchants from Bactria and [[Taxila]].<ref name="Iranica">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Sogdian Trade |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade |access-date=4 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117050947/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade |archive-date=17 November 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> They fostered multi-cultural interaction as indicated by their 2nd century treasure hoards filled with products from the Greco-Roman world, China, and India, such as in the [[Bagram|archeological site of Begram]].

The Silk Road trade did not sell only textiles, jewels, metal and cosmetic, but also slaves, connecting the Silk Road slave trade to the [[Bukhara slave trade]] as well as the [[Black Sea slave trade]], particularly slave girls.<ref name="Mayers, K. 2016 p. 122-123">Mayers, K. (2016). The First English Explorer: The Life of Anthony Jenkinson (1529–1611) and His Adventures on the Route to the Orient. Storbritannien: Matador. p. 122-123</ref>

=== Byzantine Empire (6th–14th centuries) ===
{{further|Byzantine-Mongol Alliance}}
[[File:Major powers in Eurasia around 555AD.png|right|thumb|upright=1.3|Map showing Byzantium along with the other major silk road powers during China's [[Northern and Southern dynasties|Southern dynasties]] period of fragmentation.]]

[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] Greek historian [[Procopius]] stated that two [[Nestorian Christianity|Nestorian Christian]] monks eventually uncovered the way silk was made. From this revelation, monks were sent by the Byzantine Emperor [[Justinian]] (ruled 527–565) as spies on the Silk Road from [[Constantinople]] to China and back to [[Smuggling of silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire|steal the silkworm eggs]], resulting in silk production in the Mediterranean, particularly in [[Soufli#Silk museums of Soufli|Thrace]] in northern Greece,<ref name="livius.org">[https://www.livius.org/sh-si/silk_road/silk_road.html "Silk Road"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906212218/https://www.livius.org/sh-si/silk_road/silk_road.html |date=6 September 2013 }}, LIVIUS Articles of Ancient History. 28 October 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.</ref> and giving the [[Byzantine silk|Byzantine Empire a monopoly on silk production]] in medieval Europe. In 568, the Byzantine ruler [[Justin II]] was greeted by a [[Sogdia]]n embassy representing [[Istämi]], ruler of the [[First Turkic Khaganate]], who formed an alliance with the Byzantines against [[Khosrow I]] of the [[Sasanian Empire]] that allowed the Byzantines to bypass the Sasanian merchants and trade directly with the Sogdians for purchasing Chinese silk.<ref>Howard, Michael C. (2012), ''Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies, the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel'', McFarland & Company, p. 133.</ref><ref>Mark J. Dresden (1981), "Introductory Note", in Guitty Azarpay, ''Sogdian Painting: the Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art'', Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, p. 9, {{ISBN|978-0-520-03765-6}}.</ref><ref>Liu, Xinru, "The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia", in Michael Adas (ed), ''Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History'', American Historical Association, Philadelphia: [[Temple University Press]], 2001, p. 168.</ref> Although the Byzantines had already procured silkworm eggs from China by this point, the quality of Chinese silk was still far greater than anything produced in the West, a fact that is perhaps emphasized by the discovery of coins minted by Justin II found in a Chinese tomb of [[Shanxi]] province dated to the [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618).{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|pp=168–69}}

[[File:Solidus Constans II (obverse).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Solidus (coin)|Coin]] of [[Constans II]] (r. 641–648), who is named in [[Twenty-Four Histories|Chinese sources]] as the first of several [[Byzantine emperor]]s to send embassies to the Chinese [[Tang dynasty]]<ref name="halsall 2000" />]]

Both the ''[[Old Book of Tang]]'' and ''[[New Book of Tang]]'', covering the history of the Chinese [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907), record that a new state called ''Fu-lin'' (拂菻; i.e. Byzantine Empire) was virtually identical to the previous ''[[Daqin]]'' (大秦; i.e. Roman Empire).<ref name="halsall 2000" /> Several ''Fu-lin'' embassies were recorded for the Tang period, starting in 643 with an alleged embassy by [[Constans II]] (transliterated as ''Bo duo li'', 波多力, from his nickname "Kōnstantinos Pogonatos") to the court of [[Emperor Taizong of Tang]].<ref name="halsall 2000" /> The ''[[History of Song (Yuan dynasty)|History of Song]]'' describes the final embassy and its arrival in 1081, apparently sent by [[Michael VII Doukas]] (transliterated as ''Mie li yi ling kai sa'', 滅力伊靈改撒, from [[Caesar (title)|his name and title]] Michael VII Parapinakēs Caesar) to the court of [[Emperor Shenzong of Song|Emperor Shenzong]] of the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279).<ref name="halsall 2000" />

However, the ''[[History of Yuan]]'' claims that a Byzantine man became a leading astronomer and physician in [[Khanbaliq]], at the court of [[Kublai Khan]], Mongol founder of the [[Yuan dynasty]] (1271–1368) and was even granted [[Chinese nobility|the noble title]] 'Prince of Fu lin' ([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: 拂菻王; Fú lǐn wáng).<ref>Bretschneider, Emil (1888), ''Medieval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources: Fragments Towards the Knowledge of the Geography and History of Central and Western Asia from the 13th to the 17th Century, Vol. 1'', Abingdon: Routledge, reprinted 2000, p. 144.</ref> The [[Uyghurs|Uyghur]] [[Nestorian]] Christian diplomat [[Rabban Bar Sauma]], who set out from his Chinese home in Khanbaliq (Beijing) and acted as a representative for [[Arghun]] (a grandnephew of Kublai Khan),<ref>Moule, A. C., ''Christians in China before 1500'', 94 & 103; also Pelliot, Paul in ''T'oung-pao'' 15(1914), pp. 630–636.</ref><ref>Peter Jackson (2005), The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410, Pearson Education, p. 169, {{ISBN|978-0-582-36896-5}}.</ref><ref name="encyclopedia britannica raban bar sauma">Kathleen Kuiper & editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (31 August 2006). "[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rabban-bar-Sauma Rabban bar Sauma: Mongol Envoy]* {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011121817/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rabban-bar-Sauma |date=11 October 2016 }}. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 16 September 2016.</ref><ref>Morris Rossabi (2014). ''From Yuan to Modern China and Mongolia: The Writings of Morris Rossabi''. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 385–86, {{ISBN|978-90-04-28529-3}}.</ref> traveled throughout Europe and attempted to [[Franco-Mongol alliance|secure military alliances]] with [[Edward I of England]], [[Philip IV of France]], [[Pope Nicholas IV]], as well as the Byzantine ruler [[Andronikos II Palaiologos]].<ref>Morris Rossabi (2014). ''From Yuan to Modern China and Mongolia: The Writings of Morris Rossabi''. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 386–421, {{ISBN|978-90-04-28529-3}}.</ref><ref name="encyclopedia britannica raban bar sauma" /> Andronikos II had two half-sisters who were married to great-grandsons of [[Genghis Khan]], which made him an in-law with the Yuan-dynasty Mongol ruler in Beijing, Kublai Khan.{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|p=169}}

The ''[[History of Ming]]'' preserves an account where the [[Hongwu Emperor]], after founding the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644), had a supposed Byzantine merchant named Nieh-ku-lun (捏古倫) deliver his proclamation about the establishment of a new dynasty to the Byzantine court of [[John V Palaiologos]] in September 1371.{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|pp=169–70}}<ref name="halsall 2000" /> [[Friedrich Hirth]] (1885), [[Emil Bretschneider]] (1888), and more recently Edward Luttwak (2009) presumed that this was none other than Nicolaus de Bentra, a [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing|Roman Catholic bishop of Khanbilaq]] chosen by [[Pope John XXII]] to replace the previous archbishop [[John of Montecorvino]].<ref name="Bretschneider1871">{{Cite book |last=E. Bretschneider |url=https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog |title=On the Knowledge Possessed by the Ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian Colonies: And Other Western Countries, Mentioned in Chinese Books |publisher=Trübner & Company |year=1871 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog/page/n31 25]–}}</ref>{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|p=170}}<ref name="halsall 2000" />

=== 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>

=== Sogdian–Türkic tribes (4th–8th centuries) ===
[[File:Caravane sur la Route de la soie - Atlas catalan.jpg|thumb|[[Marco Polo]]'s caravan on the Silk Road, 1380]]

The Silk Road represents an early phenomenon of political and cultural integration due to inter-regional trade. In its heyday, it sustained an international culture that strung together groups as diverse as the [[Magyars]], [[Armenians]], and Chinese. The Silk Road reached its peak in the west during the time of the [[Byzantine Empire]]; in the Nile-[[Oxus]] section, from the [[Sassanid Empire]] period to the [[Il Khanate]] period; and in the [[sinitic]] zone from the [[Three Kingdoms]] period to the [[Yuan dynasty]] period. Trade between East and West also developed across the [[Indian Ocean]], between Alexandria in Egypt and [[Guangzhou]] in China. Persian Sassanid coins emerged as a means of currency, just as valuable as silk yarn and textiles.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=68}}

Under its strong integrating dynamics on the one hand and the impacts of change it transmitted on the other, tribal societies previously living in isolation along the Silk Road, and pastoralists who were of barbarian cultural development, were drawn to the riches and opportunities of the civilisations connected by the routes, taking on the trades of marauders or mercenaries.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} "Many barbarian tribes became skilled warriors able to conquer rich cities and fertile lands and to forge strong military empires."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simpson |first=Ray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0CGQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA184 |title=Aidan of Lindisfarne: Irish Flame Warms a New World |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-62564-762-7 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=0CGQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA184 |archive-date=27 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Radhanites2.png|thumb|upright=1.15|right|Map of Eurasia and Africa showing trade networks, c. 870]]

The [[Sogdiana|Sogdians]] dominated the east–west trade after the 4th century up to the 8th century. They were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia.<ref name="Iranica" /> A.V. Dybo noted that "according to historians, the main driving force of the Great Silk Road were not just Sogdians, but the carriers of a mixed Sogdian-Türkic culture that often came from mixed families."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dybo |first=Anna Vladimirovna |year=2007 |script-title=ru:Хронология Тюркских Языков И Лингвистические Контакты Ранних Тюрков |trans-title=Chronology of Türkic languages and linguistic contacts of early Türks |url=http://altaica.narod.ru/LIBRARY/xronol_tu.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050311224856/http://altaica.narod.ru/LIBRARY/xronol_tu.pdf |archive-date=11 March 2005 |access-date=12 June 2017 |page=786 |language=ru}}</ref>

The Silk Road gave rise to the clusters of military states of nomadic origins in North China, ushered the [[Nestorian Church|Nestorian]], [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]], [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], and later [[Islam]]ic religions into Central Asia and China.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

=== Islamic era (8th–13th centuries) ===
{{further|History of Islamic economics}}
[[File:Baghdad 150 to 300 AH.png|thumb|The [[Round city of Baghdad]] between 767 and 912 was the most important urban node along the Silk Road.]]
[[File:Lions, soie polychrome sogdienne, Asie centrale.jpg|thumb|A lion [[Motif (textile arts)|motif]] on [[Sogdia]]n [[polychrome]] silk, 8th century, most likely from [[Bukhara]]]]

By the [[Umayyad]] era, [[Damascus]] had overtaken [[Ctesiphon]] as a major trade center until the [[Abbasid dynasty]] built the city of [[Baghdad]], which became the most important [[Cities along the Silk Road|city along the silk road]].

At the end of its glory, the routes brought about the largest continental empire ever, the Mongol Empire, with its political centres strung along the Silk Road ([[Beijing]]) in North China, [[Karakorum (palace)|Karakorum]] in central Mongolia, [[Sarmakhand]] in [[Transoxiana]], [[Tabriz]] in Northern Iran, realising the political unification of zones previously loosely and intermittently connected by material and cultural goods.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

The [[Islamic world]] [[Muslim conquest of Transoxiana|expanded into Central Asia]] during the 8th century, under the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], while its successor the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] put a halt to [[Protectorate General to Pacify the West|Chinese westward expansion]] at the [[Battle of Talas]] in 751 (near the [[Talas River]] in modern-day [[Kyrgyzstan]]).<ref name="hanks 2010 p4">Hanks, Reuel R. (2010), ''Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara'', Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 4.</ref> However, following the disastrous [[An Lushan Rebellion]] (755–763) and the conquest of the [[Western Regions]] by the [[Tibetan Empire]], the Tang Empire was unable to reassert its control over Central Asia.<ref>Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Walthall, Anne; Palais, James B. (2006), ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin, {{ISBN|978-0-618-13384-0}}, p. 100.</ref> Contemporary Tang authors noted how the dynasty had gone into decline after this point.<ref>Gascoigne, Bamber; Gascoigne, Christina (2003), ''The Dynasties of China: A History'', New York: Carroll and Graf, an imprint of Avalon, {{ISBN|978-0-7867-1219-9}}, p. 97.</ref> In 848 the Tang Chinese, led by the commander [[Zhang Yichao]], were only able [[Guiyi Circuit|to reclaim]] the [[Hexi Corridor]] and [[Dunhuang]] in [[Gansu]] from the Tibetans.<ref>Taenzer, Gertraud (2016), "Changing Relations between Administration, Clergy and Lay People in Eastern Central Asia: a Case Study According to the Dunhuang Manuscripts Referring to the Transition from Tibetan to Local Rule in Dunhuang, 8th–11th Centuries", in Carmen Meinert, ''Transfer of Buddhism Across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries)'', 19–56, Leiden, Boston: Brill, pp. 35–37, {{ISBN|978-90-04-30741-4}}.</ref> The Persian [[Samanid Empire]] (819–999) centered in Bukhara ([[Uzbekistan]]) continued the trade legacy of the [[Sogdians]].<ref name="hanks 2010 p4" /> The disruptions of trade were curtailed in that part of the world by the end of the 10th century and conquests of Central Asia by the Turkic Islamic [[Kara-Khanid Khanate]], yet [[Nestorian Christianity]], [[Zoroastrianism]], [[Manichaeism]], and [[Buddhism in Central Asia]] virtually disappeared.<ref>Hanks, Reuel R. (2010), ''Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara'', Denver, Oxford: Praeger, pp. 4–5.</ref>

During the early 13th century [[Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia|Khwarezmia was invaded]] by the Mongol Empire. The Mongol ruler [[Genghis Khan]] had the once vibrant cities of Bukhara and [[Samarkand]] burned to the ground after besieging them.<ref>Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare (2016), ''Uzbekistan'', 2nd ed., Bradt Travel Guides, pp. 12–13, {{ISBN|978-1-78477-017-4}}.</ref> However, in 1370 Samarkand saw a revival as the capital of the new [[Timurid Empire]]. The Turko-Mongol ruler [[Timur]] forcefully moved artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand, making it one of the most important trade centers and cultural ''[[entrepôt]]s'' of the Islamic world.<ref>Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare (2016), ''Uzbekistan'', 2nd edition, Bradt Travel Guides, pp. 14–15, {{ISBN|978-1-78477-017-4}}.</ref>

=== Mongol Empire (13th–14th centuries) ===
{{See also|Mongol Empire|Pax Mongolica|5=Fonthill Vase}}
[[File:Chinese celadon vase Branly 71.1886.89.1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|[[Yuan dynasty]] era [[celadon]] vase from [[Mogadishu]].]]

The [[Mongol invasions|Mongol expansion]] throughout the Asian continent from around 1207 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-established the Silk Road (via [[Karakorum (palace)|Karakorum]] and [[Khanbaliq]]). It also brought an end to the dominance of the Islamic Caliphate over world trade. Because the Mongols came to control the trade routes, trade circulated throughout the region, though they never abandoned their nomadic lifestyle.

The Mongol rulers wanted to establish their capital on the Central Asian steppe, so to accomplish this goal, after every conquest they enlisted local people (traders, scholars, artisans) to help them construct and manage their empire.{{sfn|Liu|2010|p=109}} The Mongols developed overland and maritime routes throughout the Eurasian continent, Black Sea and the Mediterranean in the west, and the Indian Ocean in the south. In the second half of the thirteenth century Mongol-sponsored business partnerships flourished in the Indian Ocean connecting Mongol Middle East and Mongol China<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02634937.2019.1652799 | doi=10.1080/02634937.2019.1652799 | title=The role of the ''ortoq'' in the Mongol Empire in forming business partnerships | date=2019 | last1=Enkhbold | first1=Enerelt | journal=Central Asian Survey | volume=38 | issue=4 | pages=531–547 | s2cid=203044817 }}</ref>

The Mongol diplomat [[Rabban Bar Sauma]] visited the courts of Europe in 1287–88 and provided a detailed written report to the Mongols. Around the same time, the [[Venice|Venetian]] explorer [[Marco Polo]] became [[Europeans in Medieval China|one of the first Europeans]] to travel the Silk Road to China. His tales, documented in ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]'', opened Western eyes to some of the customs of the [[Far East]]. He was not the first to bring back stories, but he was one of the most widely read. He had been preceded by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as [[William of Rubruck]], [[Benedykt Polak]], [[Giovanni da Pian del Carpine]], and [[Andrew of Longjumeau]]. Later envoys included [[Odoric of Pordenone]], [[Giovanni de' Marignolli]], [[John of Montecorvino]], [[Niccolò de' Conti]], and [[Ibn Battuta]], a [[Morocco|Moroccan]] [[Muslim]] traveller who passed through the present-day Middle East and across the Silk Road from [[Tabriz]] between 1325 and 1354.<ref>Daniel C. Waugh, [http://www.silk-road.com/artl/paxmongolica.shtml ''The Pax Mongolica''], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990505194222/http://www.silk-road.com/artl/paxmongolica.shtml |date=5 May 1999 }}. University of Washington, Seattle</ref> Some Europeans were also living in China for longer periods around this time. Tombstones of the siblings Caterina and Antonio Vilioni, who died in 1342 and 1344, respectively, were unearthed in the twentieth century in Yangzhou.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ilko |first1=Krisztina |title=Yangzhou, 1342: Caterina Vilioni's Passport to the Afterlife |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |date=2024 |volume=2 |pages=3-38 |doi=10.1017/S0080440124000136}}</ref>

In the 13th century, efforts were made at forming a [[Franco-Mongol alliance]], with an exchange of ambassadors and (failed) attempts at military collaboration in the [[Holy Land]] during the later [[Crusades]]. Eventually, the Mongols in the [[Ilkhanate]], after they had destroyed the [[Abbasid]] and [[Ayyubid]] dynasties, converted to Islam and signed the 1323 [[Treaty of Aleppo]] with the surviving Muslim power, the Egyptian [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluks]].{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

Some studies indicate that the [[Black Death]], which devastated Europe starting in the late 1340s, may have reached Europe from Central Asia (or China) along the trade routes of the Mongol Empire.<ref>J. N. Hays (2005). ''[https://archive.org/details/epidemicspandemi0000hays/page/61 Epidemics and pandemics: their impacts on human history]'' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164624/https://books.google.com/books?id=GyE8Qt-kS1kC&pg=PA61 |date=27 February 2018 }}. p. 61. {{ISBN|978-1-85109-658-9}}</ref> One theory holds that Genoese traders coming from the entrepôt of [[Trabzon|Trebizond]] in northern [[Turkey]] carried the disease to Western Europe; like many other outbreaks of plague, there is strong evidence that it originated in marmots in Central Asia and was carried westwards to the Black Sea by Silk Road traders.<ref>John Kelly (2005). ''The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time''. Harper. {{ISBN|978-0-06-000693-8}}</ref>

=== Decline (15th century – present) ===
The fragmentation of the Mongol Empire loosened the political, cultural, and economic unity of the Silk Road. [[Turkmeni]] marching lords seized land around the western part of the Silk Road from the decaying Byzantine Empire. After the fall of the Mongol Empire, the great political powers along the Silk Road became economically and culturally separated. Accompanying the crystallisation of regional states was the decline of nomad power, partly due to the devastation of the Black Death and partly due to the encroachment of sedentary civilisations equipped with [[gunpowder]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kurin |first=Richard |title=The Silk Road: Connecting People and Cultures |url=https://festival.si.edu/2002/the-silk-road/the-silk-road-connecting-peoples-and-cultures/smithsonian |access-date=2 July 2018 |publisher=Festival}}</ref>

Significant is [[Armenians]]' role in making Europe–Asia trade possible by being located in the crossing roads between these two. Armenia had a monopoly on almost all trade roads in this area and a colossal network. From 1700 to 1765, the total export of Persian silk was entirely conducted by Armenians. They were also exporting raisins, coffee beans, figs, Turkish yarn, camel hair, various precious stones, rice, etc., from Turkey and Iran.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ferrier |first=R. W. |title=The Armenians and the East India Company in Persia in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=26 |issue=1}}</ref>

[[File:Abbasid Caravanseray of Nishapur (Ribati-i-Abbasi of Nishapur) - Morning 244.jpg|thumb|upright=1|One of many remaining [[Safavid Iran|Safavid Empire]] [[Caravanserai]]s in [[Iran]]. [[Shah Abbasi Caravansarai, Nishapur|This particular caravanserai]] is located in the city of [[Nishapur]] which was one of the central Silk Road cities<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sardar |first=Marika |date=July 2011 |title=The Metropolitan Museum's Excavations at Nishapur |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nish/hd_nish.htm |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |orig-year=October 2001 |department=Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History}}</ref> of [[Greater Khorasan]].]]

The silk trade continued to flourish until it was disrupted by the collapse of the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid Empire]] in the 1720s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faroqhi |first=Suraiya |title=An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1914 |date=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-57455-6 |editor-last=İnalcık |editor-first=Halil |volume=2 |pages=505–507, 524 |chapter=Crisis and Change, 1590–1699 |editor-last2=Quataert |editor-first2=Donald}}</ref>