Established during the Han Dynasty, the Silk Road was an ancient system of trade circuits that connected China to Rome.
Both empires had something the other wanted. China had tea, silk, and spices while Rome, on the other hand, was rich with gems, silver, and gold.
Apart from the aforementioned goods, historians also believed that gunpowder was also exported along with the routes of the Silk Road.
While there is no scientific proof as to the origin of gunpowder, there have been multiple references to firearms and fireworks in China at the start of 600 B.C.
Aside from goods and services, ideas and culture were also carried by Chinese and Roman traders in the Silk Road.
While the Silk Road may have conventionally started trade between Europe and the Far East during the Han Dynasty, it is widely accepted by most scholars that the transport of services and products along these streets dates back even further.
The Silk Road routes were made up of a sizable network of deliberately located markets, highways, and trading posts that were built to centralize the transport, exchange, distribution, and storage of goods.
Even though it has been more than six centuries since the Silk Road has been used for international trades, the routes had a permanent impact on the country’s history, culture, and commerce that echoes even today.
At present, part of the Silk Road still exists in the form of a pathway that links Xinjiang and Pakistan.
The Silk Road was comprised of three routes specifically the Northern Route, the Central Route, and the Southern Route.
According to the accounts of several historians, the trade and commerce industry started on Silk Road officially ended on 1453 A.D.
It is believed that the refusal of the Ottoman Empire to trade products and goods with China contributed to the closure of the Silk Road.
The Silk Road routes further expanded to the Greco-Roman capital of Antioch and throughout the Syrian Desert and Mesopotamia. Likewise, the road also leads to the ports on the Persian Gulf which was once the center of trade and commerce in Mesopotamia.