The simple names of the places through which the Silk Road passed

Overland Silk Road.

The starting point in the east was Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, or Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and westward to Jincheng (present-day Lanzhou) via Longxi or Guyuan, and then through the four counties of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang in the Hexi Corridor, out of Yumen Pass or Yangguan, through Bailongdui to Loulan in the Lop Nur area. In the Han Dynasty, the Western Regions were divided into the south and the north, and the bifurcation point of the north and south roads was in Loulan. The north road traveled westward, passing through Quli (now Korla), Qiuzi (now Kuqa), Gumo (now Aksu) to Shule (now Kashgar).

The south road is from Shanshan (now Ruoqiang), through the end of the road, Jingjue (now Minfeng Niya ruins), Khotan (now Khotan), Pishan, Shache to Shule. From Shule to the west, cross the Green Ridge (present-day Pamir) to Dawan (present-day Ferghana). From there, they traveled west to Bactria (in present-day Afghanistan), Sogdia (in present-day Uzbekistan), Anxi (in present-day Iran), and as far as Lijing (also known as Lixuan, in Alexandria, Egypt) in Great Qin (eastern Roman Empire).

The other route was southwest from Pishan, crossing the Hangdu (present-day Daryl, Pakistan), passing through Zobin (present-day Kabul, Afghanistan) and Wuyishanli (present-day Sistan), and going southwest to Tiaozhi (at the head of the present-day Persian Gulf). If you travel south from Popin to the mouth of the Indus River (present-day Karachi, Pakistan), you can also reach places such as Persia and Rome by sea. This is the basic trunk of the Silk Road formed after Zhang Qian's two missions to the Western Regions during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province (ancient Chang'an), passes through Shaanxi, Gansu and Xinjiang provinces and regions, and the branch line passes through Qinghai and Ningxia provinces.

The basic direction of the Silk Road was formed in the Han Dynasty after BC. Its eastern starting point is Chang'an, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, through Longxi, and then through the four counties of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang in the Hexi Corridor, out of Yumen Pass or Yangguan, through Bailongdui to Loulan in the Lop Nur area. In the Han Dynasty, the Western Regions were divided into the south and the north, and the bifurcation point of the north and south roads was in Loulan.

The north road goes west, passing through Quli, Qiuzi, Gumo to Shule. The south road is from Shanshan, through the end of the road, Jingjue, Khotan, Pishan, Shache to Shule. From Shule to the west, cross the green ridge to Dawan.

From here, you can go west to Bactria and Sogdia and rest in peace, and as far as the plough of Great Qin. The other road is to go southwest from Pishan, cross the hanging crossing, pass through Zongbin and Wuyi Mountain, and go southwest to Tiaozhi. If you head south from Poppy to the mouth of the Indus River, you can also reach places such as Persia and Rome by sea.

Since the Han Dynasty, the Chinese have opened a shipping route from Guangdong to India. After the Song Dynasty, with the further development of southern China and the southward shift of the economic center of gravity, the sea routes from Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou and other places became increasingly developed, going farther and farther, from the South Seas to the first sea, and even as far as the east coast of Africa. People call these sea routes the "Maritime Silk Road".

The most classic land Silk Road, China to the west through the Hexi Corridor, through the 36 countries of the Western Regions, through Kangju, Dawan, Daxia, after the rest of the Tiaozhi to Daqin, today is probably Shaanxi, Gansu, Xinjiang, the five countries of Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Greece, Italy and other countries. The overland Silk Road also had different branch routes in different periods, for example, Xinjiang can be divided into two routes, the north route goes to Wusun, and the south route goes to Qiuzi; During the prosperity of Tuyuhun, the Silk Road once passed through Qinghai Province; There is also the Tsing Yi Road in the south, which can pass through Yelang and Dian to Fat and Tianzhu, and then go to the west through Tianfang and other countries.

In addition, there is also the Maritime Silk Road, there are many routes, the most commonly used one is through Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Mingzhou and other ports through Funan, Linyi, Chenla, Siam, Manraka, Tianzhu, Tianfang and other places, can go to the West.

The Silk Road passes through more than 100 cities in more than 40 countries, including China, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Romania and the Netherlands.

The Silk Road, referred to as the Silk Road, generally refers to the land Silk Road, and is broadly divided into the Land Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road.

Origin and function:

The overland Silk Road originated from the Western Han Dynasty (202-8 BC) when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions to open up a land passage starting from the capital Chang'an (now Xi'an), passing through Gansu and Xinjiang, to Central Asia and West Asia, and connecting the Mediterranean countries.

Its original role was to transport silk produced in ancient China. In 1877, the German geographer Richthofen named "the Silk Road" in his book "China", "from 114 BC to 127 AD, between China and Central Asia, China and India with silk ** as the medium of this Western Regions", this term was quickly accepted by the academic community and the public, and officially used.

With the development of the times, the Silk Road has become a collective name for all political, economic and cultural exchanges between ancient China and the West.

1. Zhang Qian of the Western Han Dynasty opened the official channel "Northwest Silk Road" in the Western Regions;

2. There is the "Steppe Silk Road" that runs north to the Mongolian Plateau and then goes west to the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains into Central Asia;

3. There is the rugged "Southwest Silk Road" from Chang'an to Chengdu and then to India;

4. There is also the "Maritime Silk Road" from Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and other coastal cities, from the South Seas to the Arabian Sea, and even as far as the east coast of Africa.