Route of Silk Road

Route of Silk Road is one of the major things to know about for Silk Road Adventure, as well as the top attractions along the route. The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting the East and the West in ancient and Medieval times. The term is used for both overland routes and those that are marine or limnic. 

Overland Routes

The Silk Road consisted of several routes. Among the overland routes, the dominating ones were the Northern route, the Southern route and the Southwestern route.

The Northern Route

The easternmost point of the northern route was Chang’an, an important city in central China. The northern route became popular around the first century BC, when the Chiense Emperor Wu of Han, who reigned from 141 to 87 BC, used his army to keep nomadic tribes from attacking travellers within his sphere of influence. From Chang’an, the northern route went northwest through the Chinese provinces Shaanxi and Gansu, before splitting into three different routes.

• 1 followed the mountain ranges north of the Taklamakan Desert
• 2 followed the mountain ranges south of the Taklamakan Desert.
• 3 went north of the Tian Shan mountains through Turpan, Talgar and Almaty in what is now southeastern Kazakhstan.

The Southern Route

The southern route went from China through the Karakoram mountains. Because of this, it was also known as the Karakoram route. The Karakoram mountain range spans the borders of Pakistan, India, and China, and also extends into Afghanistan and Tajikistan in the northwest.

Read More about Southern Silk Road

The Southwestern Route

The southwestern route went from China to India, through the Ganges Delta. This delta region was an important trading hub, and archeological excavations have found an astonishing array of goods from various parts of the world here, such as ancient Roman beads and gemstones from Thailand and Java.

Maritime Routes

The maritime parts of the Silk Road involved waters such as:

• The Yellow Sea
• The East China Sea
• The South China Sea
• The Strait of Malacca
• The Indian Ocean
• The Gulf of Bengal
• The Arabian Sea
• The Persian Gulf
• The Red Sea
• The Mediterranean

Read More: 

• Maritime Silk Road
• Grassland Silk Road

The Silk Road Routes in China

The Silk Road originated in Chang’an, the ancient capital of China, and went along the northern Tien-Shan to Dunhua, the city near the Great Wall of China. The land Silk Route was divided into three main routes  in the territory of China:

North Route of Tianshan Mountain:

Xian — Dunhuang (in Gansu Province) —Kumul (also called Hami in Xinjiang) — Urumqi (in Xinjiang )— Ili (in Xinjiang) — the Soviet Union（in Russia）— Rome(Italy)

North Route of Western China:

Xian— Dunhuang — Kumul — Turpan (in Xinjiang) — Karasahr(in Xinjiang) — Korla (in Xinjiang) — Kuqa (in the Midwest of Xinjiang) — Aksu (in western Xinjiang) — Kashgar (in western Xinjiang) — Pamirs (in the middle part of Asia) — Central Asia

South Route of Western China:

Xian — Loulan (in Ruoqiang County in Xinjiang )— Qiemo County (in south of Xinjiang) — Niya (in Niya Riverside in Xinjiang) — Hotan County (in southern Xinjiang) — Kashgar — Pamirs — Central Asia — Western Asia