What is the Silk Road and why?

The Silk Road, referred to as Silk Road for short, generally refers to the land Silk Road, which is broadly divided into the land Silk Road and the maritime Silk Road.

The overland Silk Road originated in the Western Han Dynasty (202-8 years ago), starting from the capital Chang 'an (now Xi 'an), passing through Gansu and Xinjiang, reaching Central Asia and West Asia and connecting Mediterranean countries. Its original function was to transport silk produced in ancient China.

Data expansion: The Silk Road on the grassland refers to the commercial corridor connecting Mongolian grassland and Eurasia, and it is an important part of the Silk Road. As the artery of nomadic cultural exchange at that time, it crossed Guyin Mountain (now Daqingshan Mountain) in the north from the Central Plains and the Great Wall along Yanshan Mountain, crossed the Mongolian Plateau, the grassland in southern Russia and the northern part of Central and Western Asia in the northwest, and reached the European region in the northern Mediterranean.

The formation of the grassland Silk Road is closely related to the natural ecological environment. In the geographical environment of Eurasia, it is extremely difficult to communicate between the East and the West. Environmental archaeological data show that Eurasia is only in the mid-latitude area between 40 and 50 degrees north latitude, which is the location of the grassland Silk Road.