The Silk Road

The Silk Road

The Silk Road was a trade route that went from China to Eastern Europe. It went along the northern borders of China, India, and Persia and ended up in Eastern Europe near today's Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea.

It was called the Silk Road because one of the major products traded was silk cloth from China. Chinese silk was known for its softness and luxury. The Chinese sold silk for many years and, they sold it for so long even the Romans themselves had called China the "land of silk" which I find really cool.

The Silk Road is a very important part of Ancient China and its civilization, because it helped to generate trade between a number kingdoms and empires of different areas from all over the place. This helped for building, culture, inventions, and other products to spread across the world.

Besides silk, the Chinese also sold tea, salt, sugar and spices. Everything sold by the Chinese people was known around Europe to be expensive, this was because the trip was long .The Chinese people didn’t export all the time they were known to import goods like cotton, ivory and wool.

Although there was some trade between China and the rest of the world for some time, the silk trade was expanded by the Han Dynasty.

Later, under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty set up by Kublai Khan of the Mongols, as of this time the Mongols had defeated the Chinese so the Mongols had control and Kublai Khan was the first Mongol Ruler of the Chinese people, trade from China along the Silk Road would reach its peak, and you begin to get many merchants one of the most famous Merchant that came to China was a man called Marco Polo. During this time the Mongols controlled a significant portion of the trade route, enabling Chinese merchants to travel safely. Also, merchants were given more of a social status during the Mongolian rule over China.