What was the Silk Road used for?

Answer 1

Although this seems like a "What's the main ingredient in peanut butter cookies?"-kind of question, the Silk Road was used for more than just silk. It ha also been referred to as the Spice Route, with spices from the Orient being brought back to the West and with almost as a great a demand and profit margin as silk.

Answer 2

The Silk Road is an ancient trade route between the Mediteranean and China. Originally, it was known for being used for trade in silk within the Chinese regions and Asia area. Trade in silk grew under the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC - AD 220) during in the first and second centuries AD.


It expanded to become a 7000 mile route crossing China, Central Asia, Northern India, and the Roman Empires.

The Chinese would traded silk with the Indians for precious stones and metals. Indians would in turn trade silk with the Roman Empire. Over time, it developed into a major trade route - and silk was only one of the goods that it was used for. Many other goods were traded on the route.

In addition, because it connected the west and the east, it also became a source for the spread of artistic influences, art works and religious ideas, including the introduction of Buddhism to the west.

Answer 3

As the name implies, the Silk Road was a trade route stretching from the Chinese Empire (and later, Mongolian Empire) through India and Persia to Syria where it was shipped to Italy. Obviously, the main export of China was silk, and so the trade route was named the Silk Road.

Answer 4

The silk road is over 4000 miles long

Answer 5

It was an ancient trade route that, linking China with the West, carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China.

Silk ,jade, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and diamants from India came westward, while wools, gold, and silver went east.

China also received Nestorian Christianity, Islam and Buddhism (from India) via the road, and exported technologies like printing, gunpowder, the astrolabe, and the compass via the road.

Answer 6

It was basically the primary trade route of the Chinese (Oriental East) that ran from ancient China, along the top of India, into the Middle East, and up into the West (Europe).

Answer 7

Trade routes through Asia.