As human settlements flourished in various parts of
the world throughout the course of history, trade routes
were created to meet the expansion needs of these
burgeoning concentrations of people. The Silk Road is
perhaps one of the most well known of these routes –
it is certainly one of the most historically significant.
For over 1,000 years, it provided the connection
between the East and West, earning its name from
the predominant trade of silk between China and the
above A group of Loba
women rest in Tsarang after
weeding buckwheat fieldsbelow right A juniper
tree, one of the few
remaining in the arid
kingdom owing to
continuous droughtsThe Silk Road may have stretched far further
than originally thought. Today, the Kingdom
of Mustang stands all but forgotten – but this is
set to change with the building of a new road
mustangnepal
Mediterranean. Splintering off from the Silk Road
were the spice roads – also known as the Maritime
Silk Roads, a network of trade sea routes linking
the East with the West; and the Tea Horse Road –
sometimes referred to as the South Silk Road,
between Xishuangbanna and Tibet.
Beyond the tradeable commodities such as
the silk, porcelain, spices, tea and salt that changed
hands between merchants navigating these