Cities along the Silk Road

The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes that connected many communities of Eurasia by land and sea, stretching from the Mediterranean basin in the west to the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago in the east.

Its main eastern end was in the Chinese city of Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an, China) and its main western end was in the Greek city of Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey). It came into existence in the 2nd century BCE, when Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty was in power, and lasted until the 15th century CE, when the Ottoman Empire closed off the trade routes with Europe after it captured Constantinople and thereby conquered the Byzantine Empire.[1]

This article lists the cities along the Silk Road, sorted by region and the modern-day countries in which they lie.

Map of the Silk Road, 1st century CE

Terrestrial/land routes through Eurasia

Major cities, broadly from the Eastern Mediterranean to South Asia, and arranged roughly west to east in each area.

West Asia

Turkey

Azerbaijan

Georgia

Armenia

Lebanon

Syria

Iraq

Iran

Central Asia

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan

Tajikistan

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

South Asia

Afghanistan

Pakistan

India

Nepal

Bangladesh

Bhutan

The chain of cities along the northern route along the Taklamakan, probably based on Bento de Góis's itinerary, from Hiarcan (Yarkand) to Cialis (Karasahr or Korla) to Sucieu (Suzhou, Gansu)

East Asia

China: the northern route along the Taklamakan Desert

Map of eastern Xinjiang with prehistoric sites and the courses of the Folke Bergman, 1939

China: the southern route along the Taklamakan Desert

China: from Anxi/Dunhuang to Chang'an (Xi'an)

The ruins of a Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province, the eastern edge of the Silk Road

Maritime routes to or along the Indian Ocean

South Asia

Pakistan

China

Bangladesh

Sri Lanka

India

Southern and Eastern Europe

Ukraine

Russia

Italy

West Asia

Oman

Yemen

Turkey

Northeast Africa

Somalia

Egypt

Southeast Asia

Indonesia

Malaysia

Philippines

Thailand

Vietnam

List by Claudius Ptolemy

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cities along the Silk Road.

This following list is attributed to Ptolemy. All city names are Ptolemy's, throughout all his works. Most of the names are included in Geographia.

Some of the cities provided by Ptolemy either: no longer exist today or have moved to different locations. Nevertheless, Ptolemy has provided an important historical reference for researchers.

(This list has been alphabetized.)

See also

References

  1. ^ Garraty, John A. and Peter Gay, eds. The Columbia History of the World. New York: Dorset Press by arrangement with Harper & Row, 1981. ISBN 978-0-88029-004-3. Originally published New York: Harper & Row, 1972. p. 129.