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The Silk Road [a] was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. [1] Spanning over 6,400 km (4,000 mi), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds .
Horizontal looms operated by foot-treadles were faster and more efficient. Silk (6th century) Manufacture of silk began in Eastern Europe in the 6th century and in Western Europe in the 11th or 12th century. Silk had been imported over the Silk Road since antiquity. The technology of "silk throwing" was mastered in Tuscany in the 13th century.
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.
In the mountains of Uzbekistan, archaeologists aided by laser-based remote-sensing technology have identified two lost cities that thrived along the fabled Silk Road trade route from the 6th to ...
These were roadside stations which supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa, and southeastern Europe, and in particular along the Silk Road. Caravanserais provided water for human and animal consumption, for washing, and for ritual ablutions.
In the late Middle Ages, transcontinental trade over the land routes of the Silk Road declined as sea trade increased. Centuries went by, civilizations, and dynasties were formed, prospered, or perished, but the route that linked the continents of Europe and Asia survived and expanded, becoming known as the Silk Road.
Prior to the Silk Road an ancient overland route existed through the Eurasian Steppe. Silk and horses were traded as key commodities; secondary trade included furs, weapons, musical instruments, precious stones (turquoise, lapis lazuli, agate, nephrite) and jewels. This route extended for approximately 10,000 km (6,200 mi). [6]
Claudius Ptolemy, the Greco-Egyptian geographer of Alexandria, wrote about a "Stone Tower" (λίθινος πύργος, Lithinos Pyrgos in Greek, Turris Lapidea in Latin) which marked the midpoint on the ancient Silk Road – the network of overland trade routes taken by caravans between Europe and Asia. It was the most important landmark on ...