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The Silk Road E 0 500 Miles

The Silk Road E 0 500 Miles

# 0 800 km The Road e 0 500 miles

SAMARKAND FERGANA VALLEY From its earliest days as Afrosiab/ It was 's desire for horses to The was once lined with This great Central Asian entrepôt Marakanda to its glory days under battle its northern nomads that rabat, or , built to offer remains a vital Silk Road hub at the Timur, Samarkand has been a great prised open the Silk Road. China's food and shelter to passing caravans. junction of trade routes to Fergana, trade centre for 2500 years and has first expeditions west were to Fergana This 'Stone ' in the high the , and the jade became a literary symbol of Silk Road to source its famed 'blood-sweating' pastures of is Central markets of Khotan (China). exotica. Heavenly Horses. Asia's best. NORTHERN ROUTE KONYE-URGENCH This route through the Zhungarian Astride a Silk Road branch following Gap, along the north of the Tian Shan, the Amu-Darya en route to the Volga offered easier travel and better region, Konye-Urgench (Gurganj) pasture for caravans but was also grew rich on transcontinental trade more prone to nomadic raids. until the destruction of its irrigation canals shifted the capital to . Sarai XI’AN (CHANG'AN) Karakoram The beginning and end of the Silk () RUSSIA Road, Tang China's capital was home Astrakhan Lake to a cosmopolitan mix of Central BLACK Balkash SEA Aral Gobi Asian traders, musicians and such Sea Desert exotica as Samarkand's famed golden Trabzon peaches. Hami CASPIAN SEA Turpan Konye-Urgench Jade Gansu (Gurganj) KYRGYZSTAN Gate Corridor Loulan SYRIA Tashkent Aksu Luoyang Bukhara Palmyra Kokand Taklamakan Tyre Osh Kashgar Desert Gaza Samarkand Xi'an Damascus Margiana Yarkand (Chang'an) Rey () (Tehran) JORDAN Khotan Hecatompylos Balkh DUNHUANG EGYPT Ecbatana (Damghan) Herat C H I N A Baghdad (Hamadan) Bamiyan The best example of Silk Road artistic Ctesiphon Mashhad MEDITERRANEAN Kapisa (Kabul) Leh IRAQ fusion, with Central Asian, Tibetan, SEA Indian and Chinese influences Basra Peshawar (PERSIA) blending in spectacular Buddhist cave PENJIKENT Lhasa murals on the edge of the desert. TIBET The Sogdians were the Silk Road's Delhi BHUTAN consummate middlemen and their Hormuz NEPAL communities dotted the Silk Road as Persian JADE GATE Gulf INDIA far as Xi’an (Chang'an). This Sogdian Jade from Khotan was as important a city was once a thriving bazaar town Silk Road product as silk. This with a rich mix of artistic influences. BANGLADESH customs gate and defensive garrisonGulf of marked the division between theT onkin External boundaries shown reflect the requirements of INDIA Central Asian and Chinese worlds. the Government of India. Some boundaries may not be those recognised by neighbouring countries. Lonely Planet always tries to show on maps where travellers may need to cross a boundary THE WAKHAN TASHKURGAN (and present documentation) irrespective of any dispute. SOUTHERN ROUTE : A side branchARABIAN led through SEA the Pamirs The 'Stone Tower' was one of the A string of oases along the fringes of : : : Main Silk Road in approx the 2nd century AD from Tashkurgan towards Balkh and great trading posts of the Silk Road, the Taklamakan Desert made this : Main Silk Road in approx the 7th century AD the Indian borderlands beyond. This halfway along the route and a place of tough desert stretch feasible, until Main Silk Road in approx the 13th century AD was the path taken by and pause before the tough mountain or climate change dried wells and Modern Day International Border as it spread east. desert crossings to come. covered its cities with shifting sand. : : : : : : : :

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