WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Silk Road, also called Silk Route, ancient trade route, linking China with the West, that carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China. Silk went westward, and wools, gold, and silver went east. China also received Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism (from India) via the Silk Road.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Silk Road is neither an actual road nor a single route. The term instead refers to a network of routes used by traders for more than 1, 500 years, from when the Han dynasty of China opened trade in 130 B.C.E. until 1453 C.E., when the Ottoman Empire closed off trade with the West.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe.

Detailed explanation-4: -Both terms for this network of roads-Silk Road and Silk Routes-were coined by the German geographer and traveler, Ferdinand von Richthofen, in 1877 CE, who designated them ‘Seidenstrasse’ (silk road) or ‘Seidenstrassen’ (silk routes).

Detailed explanation-5: -The Han Dynasty spanning 4 centuries is considered to be the “Golden Age” of Chinese history. During this time, paper was invented, the largest Chinese historiographic work “Records of the Grand Historian” was written, and the Silk Road was opened under Emperor Wudi.