History › Classical age › Han dynasty
Silk Road
from c. 130 BC (Zhang Qian's missions) to c. 1450· Event· Global
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details, dates or numbers uncertain.
A web of overland and sea trade routes linking China with Central Asia, India, Persia, the Middle East and Europe.
See it on the History map →What happened
From 138 BC the Han envoy Zhang Qian traveled west seeking allies against the Xiongnu nomads, and reported rich kingdoms and superb horses. Han expansion then secured caravan routes. Few merchants traveled the whole way; goods passed hand to hand through oasis cities such as Dunhuang, Samarkand and Merv. Silk, paper and later porcelain went west; horses, glass, silver and spices went east. Religions, inventions and diseases traveled too. The name was coined in 1877.
Why it matters
For 1,500 years it was Eurasia's main channel for exchanging goods, faiths and technology, carrying Buddhism to China and paper west, and later helping spread the Black Death.
Think of it like
Like a chain of relay warehouses: each city's traders bought from the east, marked up, and sold west; no single hauler ran the whole route.
How we know
Chinese histories, Roman complaints about silk imports, the manuscripts and art of Dunhuang's sealed library cave, hoards of coins, and excavated caravan cities.
Still debated
How much trade was truly long-distance rather than local, and whether the romantic name 'Silk Road' overstates one route, is debated.
Connections (4)
▸Silk Road carried to China the teachings of The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama)Well documented
The connection
Buddhist monks and merchants traveled with caravans from India and Central Asia into China, bringing scriptures and images. Buddhism reached Han China by the 1st century AD. Translators like Kumarajiva (around 400) put texts into Chinese, and the pilgrim Xuanzang walked to India and back (629–645). From China it passed to Korea and Japan.
When and how
Routes via Gandhara (Pakistan and Afghanistan), Kucha and Dunhuang to Luoyang and Chang'an, from the 1st century AD; Korea's Goguryeo received Buddhism in 372.
How we know
Chinese records of early translators, cave temples along the routes such as Dunhuang's Mogao caves, and Gandharan-style Buddhist art found in China.
Debates and open questions
Exactly when Buddhism first entered China is uncertain; the story of Emperor Ming's dream around AD 65 is legend.
▸Han dynasty opened Silk RoadMostly agreed
The connection
Han Emperor Wu sent Zhang Qian west to find allies against the Xiongnu nomads. Zhang's reports of Central Asian kingdoms and superb horses led the Han to campaign westward, build garrisons and extend walls through the Gansu corridor, making caravan travel safer. Chinese silk then flowed regularly toward Persia and Rome.
When and how
From Chang'an through the Hexi (Gansu) corridor to the Tarim Basin and the Ferghana valley, c. 138–100 BC.
How sure are we?
Sima Qian's account of Zhang Qian, and Han frontier documents from Xuanquan logging passing envoys and travelers.
Debates and open questions
Trade across Central Asia predated the Han; how much the Han 'opened' routes versus protected and formalized existing exchange is debated.
▸Silk Road linked China, indirectly, with Roman EmpireWell documented
The connection
By the 1st century AD, Chinese silk reached Rome through Parthian, Kushan and Indian middlemen, and by sea via Indian and Red Sea ports. Wealthy Romans paid heavily; Pliny the Elder complained that India, China and Arabia drained 100 million sesterces a year from the empire. Neither empire knew the other well, and direct contact was rare.
When and how
Routes via Persia, India and the Red Sea, 1st century BC to 3rd century AD; Chinese records report a 'Roman' embassy in AD 166.
How we know
Chinese silk found at Roman-era Palmyra, Pliny's complaint, hoards of Roman coins in India, and Chinese descriptions of 'Daqin', their name for Rome.
Debates and open questions
The AD 166 'embassy' may have been private merchants; how much each empire really knew of the other remains debated.
▸Silk Road later helped carry Black DeathMostly agreed
The connection
The caravan routes that had linked China, Central Asia and the Mediterranean for centuries also carried rats, fleas and infected people. The plague seems to have broken out in Central Asia in the late 1330s, then moved west with traders to the Black Sea, where Italian ships picked it up.
When and how
Central Asia, around 1338; Caffa in Crimea, a Genoese trading port, by 1346; Messina in Sicily, October 1347.
How sure are we?
Ancient DNA from 1338–39 graves near Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, on a trade route, matches the Black Death strain; chronicles trace its westward spread.
Debates and open questions
Whether it spread mainly by caravans, by armies, or by rodents moving between wild colonies is debated; its path into China is unclear.