208 Early Asian Civilizations: Supplemental Guide 11A | The Silk Roads
Show image 11A-2: Map of the Silk Roads
Thus, trade began between people from different lands. Over time,
people from one area of the world started to take the same paths to
trade with people from other areas of the world, over and over and
over again. Several permanent trade routes—or ways and roads to
travel from one place to another—were created. One of the longest
and most important trade routes was a web of roads known as The
Silk Roads.[Point out how The Silk Roads reach several ports near the sea, goes through
ancient India (present-day Pakistan), and extends toward east Africa to the
Mediterranean Sea.]
These roads crossed many barriers and joined towns and shipping
ports to different towns in China. For hundreds of years, Chinese
inventions spread to other continents along the five thousand miles of
The Silk Roads.[For reference, you may wish to explain that The Silk Roads were much longer
than the United States is from coast to coast.]
Do you suppose The Silk Roads were actually made out of silk?[Pause for student responses.]
The Silk Roads were not made out of thousands of miles of silk. They
were called The Silk Roads because silk was the main item traded on
these roads. Show image 11A-3: Silk clothing, ties, etc.
Take a look at these pictures of items made from silk. Silk is a type
of material that is very smooth, thin, and lightweight, but it is also
durable. It can be used for many, many things from making weapons
and musical instruments to being used for paper and money.
Everyone who touched this remarkably smooth fabric wanted it for
themselves. China was known as “the land of silk” and many people
were willing to travel over dangerous barriers to buy and trade goods
in exchange for this remarkable cloth.For a long, long time, the Chinese kept how to make silk a deep
secret.