Origins & Timeline
A network of trade routes connecting China to Europe and the Middle East.
What is the Silk Road?
The regions connected by the Silk Road.
What are China (the Far East) and Europe/Middle East?
The luxury material that gave the road its name.
What is silk?
The explorer who travelled the Silk Road to China in 1275.
Who is Marco Polo?
The type of food influence the Silk Road brought to Europe.
What are spices?
The dynasty that officially opened the Silk Road around 130 BC.
What is the Han Dynasty?
The desert that key routes passed through near Palmyra.
What is the Syrian Desert?
Types of agricultural products traded along the Silk Road.
What are fruits, vegetables, grain, and/or livestock?
The Mongol ruler served by Marco Polo.
Who is Kublai Khan?
The major religions spread along the Silk Road.
What are Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism?
The envoy sent by Emperor Wu to explore Central Asia.
Who is Zhang Qian?
A major river system connected to Silk Road trade routes.
What are the Tigris and Euphrates rivers?
The Chinese invention that revolutionised communication in Europe.
What is paper?
The German scholar who coined the term “Silk Road.”
Who is Ferdinand von Richthofen?
The major effect of paper spreading to Europe.
What is the rise of mass communication and printing?
The year the Silk Road effectively closed due to Ottoman actions.
What happened in 1453 AD?
The Persian road that predated the Silk Road.
What is the Royal Road?
The substance that spread along the Silk Road and transformed warfare.
What is gunpowder?
The empire that built the Royal Road.
What is the Persian (Achaemenid) Empire?
The way gunpowder changed European history.
What is transforming warfare and giving military advantages?
This term is preferred by historians because it reflects the complex network of interconnected trade paths rather than a single route.
What are the “Silk Routes”?
The three cities that linked Mediterranean trade to Mesopotamia.
What are Antioch, Ctesiphon, and Seleucia?
The non-physical things exchanged along the Silk Road.
What are culture, language, religion, philosophy, and science?
The two empires that benefited from Silk Road trade in early centuries BC.
What are the Roman Empire and the Kushan Empire?
The reason the Silk Road is still important today.
What is its lasting impact on global trade, culture, and connections?