The Silk Road was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. 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. The name "Silk Road" was first coined in the late 19th century, but some 20th- and 21st-century historians instead prefer the term Silk Routes, on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia as well as East Africa and Southern Europe.
Dunhuang is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is best known for the nearby Mogao Caves.
Zhang Qian was a Chinese diplomat, explorer, and politician who served as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the late 2nd century BC during the Western Han dynasty. He was one of the first official diplomats to bring back valuable information about Central Asia, including the Greco-Bactrian remains of the Macedonian Empire as well as the Parthian Empire, to the Han dynasty imperial court, then ruled by Emperor Wu of Han.
Turpan, generally known in English as Turfan, is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of 69,759 km2 (26,934 sq mi) and a population of 693,988 (2020). The historical center of the prefectural area has shifted a number of times, from Yar-Khoto to Qocho and to Turpan itself.
The Battle of Talas was an armed confrontation between the Abbasid Caliphate and the Tibetan Empire against the Tang dynasty in 751 AD. In July of that year, the Tang and Abbasid armies clashed at the Talas River over control of the regions surrounding the Syr Darya. According to Chinese sources, it was initially marked by several days of military stalemate before the balance of power was decisively tipped in the Abbasids' favour due to the defection of a Tang-allied mercenary column, consisting of some 20,000 Karluk Turks, who subsequently played a vital role in routing the Tang army.
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, Northwestern China occupying an area of about 888,000 km2 (343,000 sq mi) and one of the largest basins in Northwest China. Located in China's Xinjiang region, it is sometimes used synonymously to refer to the southern half of the province, that is, Southern Xinjiang or Nanjiang, as opposed to the northern half of the province known as Dzungaria or Beijiang. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern boundary is the Kunlun Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The Taklamakan Desert dominates much of the basin. The historical Uyghur name for the Tarim Basin is Altishahr, which means 'six cities' in Uyghur. The region was also called Little Bukhara or Little Bukharia.
The Hexi Corridor (Chinese: 河西走廊; pinyin: Héxī Zǒuláng; Wade–Giles: Ho2-hsi1 Tsou3-lang2, Xiao'erjing: حْسِ ظِوْلاْ, Mandarin pronunciation:[xɤ˧˥ɕi˥tsoʊ˨˩˦lɑŋ˧˥]), also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China. It refers to a narrow stretch of traversable and relatively arable plain west of the Yellow River's Ordos Loop (hence the name Hexi, meaning "west of the river"), flanked between the much more elevated and inhospitable terrains of the Mongolian and Tibetan Plateaus.
Karasahr or Karashar, which was originally known in the Tocharian languages as Ārśi, Qarašähär, or Agni or the Chinese derivative Yanqi, is an ancient town on the Silk Road and the capital of Yanqi Hui Autonomous County in the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang.
Tamralipta or Tamralipti was an ancient port city and capital of Suhma Kingdom in ancient India, located on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The Tamluk town in present-day Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, is generally identified as the site of Tamralipti.
Yumen Pass, or Jade Gate or Pass of the Jade Gate, is the name of a pass of the Great Wall located west of Dunhuang in today's Gansu Province of China. During the Han dynasty, this was a pass through which the Silk Road passed, and was the one road connecting Central Asia with East Asia (China), the former called the Western Regions. Just to the south was the Yangguan pass, which was also an important point on the Silk Road. These passes, along with other sites along the Silk Road, were inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor World Heritage Site. The pass is at an elevation of 1400 meters.
The Protectorate General to Pacify the West, initially the Protectorate to Pacify the West, was a protectorate established by the Chinese Tang dynasty in 640 to control the Tarim Basin. The head office was first established at the prefecture of Xi, now known as Turpan, but was later shifted to Qiuci (Kucha) and situated there for most of the period.
Indo-Roman trade relations was trade between the Indian subcontinent and the Roman Empire in Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Trade through the overland caravan routes via Asia Minor and the Middle East, though at a relative trickle compared to later times, preceded the southern trade route via the Red Sea which started around the beginning of the Common Era (CE) following the reign of Augustus and his conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE.
The Four Garrisons of Anxi were Chinese military garrisons installed by the Tang dynasty in the Tarim Basin between 648 and 658. They were stationed at the Indo-European city-states of Qiuci (Kucha), Yutian (Hotan), Shule (Kashgar) and Yanqi (Karashahr) in modern Xinjiang. The Protectorate General to Pacify the West was headquartered in Qiuci.
The Northern Silk Road is a historic inland trade route in Northwest China and Central Asia, originating in the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an, westwards through the Hexi Corridor into the Tarim Basin, going around north of the Taklamakan Desert along the two sides of the Tianshan Mountains, and then past the Pamir Mountains to reach the ancient kingdoms of Bactria, Sogdia, Kushan, Parthia and eventually the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. It is the northernmost branch of the several Silk Roads providing trade, cultural exchanges and military mobilizations between China and the outside world.
Ban Yong, courtesy name Yiliao (宜僚), was the youngest son of the famous Chinese General, Ban Chao, and the nephew of the illustrious historian, Ban Gu, who compiled the Book of Han, the dynastic history of the Former Han dynasty.
Kashgar or Kashi is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar was a strategically important oasis on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and has a population of 711,300 people. Kashgar's urban area covers 15 km2 (5.8 sq mi), although its administrative area extends over 555 km2 (214 sq mi).
The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and digitise manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from the Mogao caves at the Western Chinese city of Dunhuang and various other archaeological sites at the eastern end of the Silk Road. The project was established by the British Library in 1994, and now includes twenty-two institutions in twelve countries. As of 18 February 2021 the online IDP database comprised 143,290 catalogue entries and 538,821 images. Most of the manuscripts in the IDP database are texts written in Chinese, but more than fifteen different scripts and languages are represented, including Brahmi, Kharosthi, Khotanese, Sanskrit, Tangut, Tibetan, Tocharian and Old Uyghur.
Silk Roads: The Routes Network of Chang'an-Tian Shan Corridor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which covers the Chang'an-Tianshan portion of the ancient Silk Road and historical sites along the route. On June 22, 2014, UNESCO designated a 5,000 km stretch of the Silk Road network from Central China to the Zhetysu region of Central Asia as a World Heritage site. The corridor spans China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and includes 33 new sites and several previously designated heritage sites.
The coastline of Tamil Nadu is located on the southeast coast of Indian Peninsula, and forms a part of Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. It is 1076 km long and is the second longest coastline in the country after Gujarat. Chennai, the capital of the state and an important commercial and industrial center in the country is located in the northern part of the coast with Kanniyakumari, forming the southern tip where Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea meet. It also shares maritime border with Sri Lanka across the Palk strait in Gulf of Mannar. The coastal corridor consists of 14 districts with 15 major ports and harbors, sandy beaches, lakes and river estuaries. Tamil Nadu is the only state in India with territory on both the eastern and western coastlines.
The Shule Kingdom was an ancient oasis kingdom of the Taklamakan Desert that was on the Northern Silk Road, in the historical Western Regions of what is now Xinjiang in Northwest China. Its capital was Kashgar, the source of Kashgar's water being a river of the same name. Much like the neighboring people of the Kingdom of Khotan, people of Kashgar spoke Saka, one of the Eastern Iranian languages.
