Follow the Silk Road: reading a historic map.Suppose you wanted to get a silk shirt. You could buy it in a store or order it on the Internet. But if you had lived centuries ago, it would have taken a long time to get it--and a lot of patience. Before the 500s, China was the only place where silk was made. People in search of the precious fabric had to rely on camel caravans. The caravans carried silk, spices, and other goods from the Orient to Europe. There were no direct roads, so delivery took a long time. The caravans of traders and goods plodded slowly onward, braving scorching scorch v. scorched, scorch·ing, scorch·es v.tr. 1. To burn superficially so as to discolor or damage the texture of. See Synonyms at burn1. 2. deserts, snow-covered mountains, bandits, and other dangers. Merchants did not travel the Silk Road Silk Road Ancient trade route that linked China with Europe. Originally a caravan route and used from c. 100 BC, the 4,000-mi (6,400-km) road started in Xi'an, China, followed the Great Wall to the northwest, climbed the Pamir Mtns. from beginning to end. They would carry their goods only so far, then trade or barter them with other merchants, who carried the merchandise on the next leg of the journey. With each trade, the prices of the goods went up. The Silk Road was not a single road, but a network of many roads. None were paved. Our historic map shows only the main routes and the names of major present-day countries. It does not show political borders because these changed constantly. Can you follow the Silk Road? Study the map, then answer the questions below. QUESTIONS 1. The easternmost section of the Silk Road was in which present-day country? 2. At which eastern city did the Silk Road begin? 3. The Silk Road stretched as far west as which three cities The Three Cities is a collective description of the three fortified cities of Cospicua, Vittoriosa, and Senglea on the Island of Malta, which are enclosed by the massive line of fortification created by the Knights of St John, the Cottonera Lines. in Europe? 4. Today, those cities are part of which country? 5. Which desert separates China and Mongolia? 6. In Central Asia, the Silk Road split into three main westward routes. The central and southern routes looped around which geographical barrier before meeting at Kashgar? 7. The northernmost route ran north of which mountains? 8. Which city on the Tigris River Tigris River Arabic Dijlah Turkish Dicle biblical Hiddekel River, Turkey and Iraq. It originates in the Taurus Mountains at Lake Hazar and flows 1,180 mi (1,900 km) southeast through Turkey and past Baghdad to unite with the Euphrates River at was a stop on the Silk Road? 9. What is the present-day name of Constantinople? 10. How do you think merchandise was transported from Tyre to Italy? ANSWERS: 1. China 2. Changan (Xi'an) 3. Genoa, Venice, and Rome 4. Italy 5. Gobi Desert Gobi Desert Desert, Central Asia. One of the great desert and semidesert regions of the world, the Gobi stretches across Central Asia over large areas of Mongolia and China. 6. Taklimakan Desert Noun 1. Taklimakan Desert - a desert in western China Taklamakan Desert Cathay, China, Communist China, mainland China, People's Republic of China, PRC, Red China - a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in 7. Tien Shan Tien Shan, mountain system: see Tian Shan. Tien Shan Chinese Tian Shan or T'ien Shan (“Celestial Mountains”) Mountain chain, Central Asia. 8. Baghdad (Iraq) 9. Istanbul 10. ship or boat |
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