above Uzbek bread called
non is sold in the Siob
bazaar in Samarkandtop An Uzkbek man donning
a traditional hat, or taqiyah,
poses for a portraitMeanwhile, great advances were made in maritime
navigation and shipbuilding. Columbus discovered
America in 1492, and six years later, Vasco da Gama
sailed the sea route from Portugal to India via the Cape
of Good Hope. Ships could carry far larger cargoes
than a caravan of horses or camels. The journey time
was cut significantly, and though sea travel posed its
own dangers, it was less likely to be affected by regional
conflicts. A clipper ship sailing from Fuzhou to London
could make the trip in under 100 days. Transporting the
same goods by land along the Silk Road would easily
have taken two years, if they ever arrived at all.
The maritime trading routes were best suited
to goods travelling exceptionally long distances,
and/or shipping along coastlines from port to port.
Many of the central parts of the Silk Road were land-
locked, however, with few navigable rivers. Here, the
caravans continued to traverse the mountains, deserts
and steppe until another technological leap made them
obsolete: the arrival of the railroad. Construction of
the Trans-Caspian Railway began in 1879, and the
Trans-Siberian was begun in 1891. By the early 20th
century, India, Turkey, China, and Iran all had railway
networks, too. The Silk Road caravans disappeared –
almost overnight – from view.
the futur e of the Silk Road
The value of the ancient intercontinental routes is being
appreciated again. After a tumultuous 20th century,
China is once again playing a key international role
politically and economically. The countries of Central
Asia, which virtually collapsed after the fall of the
Soviet Union, are recovering. China’s manufacturing
industries require raw materials and fossil fuels, and
once the goods are made in the east coast factories, they
can be sent via Central Asia to their markets in Europe.
China’s leaders see the improvement of
infrastructure and connectivity in Eurasia as key to
the country’s future economic growth. Their plan
for the Silk Road Economic Belt – or One Belt, One
Road – is seeing railways, highways, container ports
and power plants being built at an unprecedented rate.
China believes its final investment in the project could
top USD4 trillion, suggesting that the government has
faith in the Silk Road not only surviving, but growing
and thriving in the decades to come. agSOPHIE IBBOTSON is an international business
consultant and founder of Maximum Exposure Limited.
She is also the author of five Bradt Travel Guides
covering Kashmir, Uzbekistan and Sudan.1498
Vasco da Gama
discovers the sea
route to India, via the
Cape of Good Hope1526
Babur founds
the Mughal Empire in
South and
Central Asia1860s
Imperial Russian
conquest of
Central Asia1877
First use of the name
Seidenstraße by
German traveller and
geographer Ferdinand
von Richthofen1879
Construction of
the Trans-Caspian
Railway beginsculture