This web page contains silk road facts for kids and is an excellent resource for anyone of any age looking to learn about the old silk road. Our goal is to provide you with accurate, up to date facts about the silk road. In addition to facts about the silk road, we provide additional resources to help you with your research on this old trade route.
The silk road facts below will help you learn about the silk road, where the silk road was, who created the silk road, who used the silk road and other silk road related facts. We hope these silk road facts are interesting and help you learn more about this old trade route.
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21 Silk Road Facts for Kids
- The Silk Road was a connection of land trade routes that connected thousands of miles between the East (Asia) and West (Europe).
- These trade routes were given the name “Silk Road” because of the valuable silk traded along them.
- The Silk Road trade routes connected most of Asia, Persia (Iran), Southern Europe, the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.
- The Silk Road was started around 130 BCE when the Han Dynasty in China started to trade with the West.
- At the peak of its size, the Silk Road stretched for over 4,000 miles.
- The Silk Road was vast and had many different routes. Very few traders would travel along the entire route. Instead, they would travel along a small part and transfer goods to other traders, who travel further down the route.
- Many different parts of the world had products that others wanted. This allowed many Silk Road traders to become very rich. They learned which regions they could buy goods cheap and sell in others for a large profit.
- There were many different types of goods traded along the Silk Road.
- The Chinese were known to sell (export) porcelain, salt, silk, spices, sugar and tea along the Silk Road.
- The Chinese were known to buy (import) cotton, gold, ivory, silver and wool along the Silk Road.
- Traders would travel in large caravans and be protected by guards. Larger size caravans would deter bandits and allow them to import and export more goods.
- Due to the rough terrain of the Silk Road camels were popular for transporting goods bought and sold.
- The Silk Road allowed many different civilizations and regions to interact during its history.
- Many historians say the Silk Road was also a route for cultural trade and not just goods.
- The Silk Road played an infamous role in the spread of disease between the East and the West.
- The Black Death was the deadliest pandemic in human history and some historians believe that it may have traveled outside of Asia via Silk Road among trades or the Mongol army.
- Chinese official and diplomat Zhang Qian is known for expanding the Silk Road during the late 2nd century BCE.
- Chinese military general Ban Chao helped forge long-lasting peace and harmony along the Silk Road in China.
- Chinese military general Ban Yong, the son of Ban Chao, is also known for creating stability along the Silk Road in China.
- Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang used the Silk Road to travel from China to India.
- Italian merchant and explorer Marco Polo used the Silk Road to travel from Italy to China.
Silk Road Pictures
Additional Resources with Silk Road Facts
- Ancient Maps of the Silk Road – Learn about the old silk road trade routes on the Ancient History Encyclopedia website.
- The Legacy of the Silk Road – Discover the legacy of the silk road on the Yale University website.
- Pictures of the Silk Road – View some cool pictures of the silk road on the Flickr website.
- Silk Road – Wikipedia – Explore the Wikipedia website to learn more about the silk road.