Trade · c. 138–114 BCE
The Silk Road opens
Dayuan (Ferghana Valley, Central Asia)
Around 138 BCE Emperor Wu of Han sent the envoy Zhang Qian west to seek allies against the Xiongnu. After years as a Xiongnu captive he reached Dayuan (Ferghana), the Yuezhi and Bactria, and returned to Chang'an in 125 BCE with reports of rich states to the west.
Han embassies, campaigns and trade followed, and by around 114 BCE a network of routes linked China with Central Asia and, in time, the Roman world.
Why it mattered
For some 1,500 years the Silk Road carried silk, horses, paper and ideas across more than 6,400 km of Eurasia, linking civilisations that had known little of one another.
Related
- The world in 200 BCE: Rome and Han Rise chapter
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