The Silk Road
The silk Road was very important to the story of the Polo family and their journey to China . But the silk Road was not just one large road. IT was a number of different routes , often with smaller roads at the side to places tha were good for trade.
One of the most famouse Silk Road routes went from Xi’an in eastern China to Kashgar in western China , then through Samarkand in Central Asia and Baghdad in the Middle East , and finished at cities on the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Silk Road began in the second century BC , but of course it did not stay the same over the centries. Different routes sometimes became more important than others because of new trade or fighting in some areas.
One surprising thing about the Silk Road is its name. People often think that the name is many hundreds of year old, but this is not true. The German traveller Ferdinand von Richthoften first used the words. ‘Silk Road’ in the nineteenth century to describe the different routes from China to Europe. The name is from the must famous thing to come from China-silk.
Silk was one of the most important trade goods. It was very valuable in Europe and merchants could carry it easily on their horses or camels. Silk was as valuable as gold and traders often used it as money to buy spices or other goods. At this time people made Silk into beautiful carpets, clother, shoes, and picture.
Trade good were not the only things that came along the Silk Road. Important new ideas and religions moved with people too. Buddhism travelled from India to China along the Silk Road. And people later brought ideas out of China - how to make people and gunpowder, for example.
Modern tourists can now visit parts of the Silk Road by train, bus, or plane. But of course journeys at the time of Macro Polo were a lot slower. Merchants travelled about
40 kilometres on a very good day but under 20 kilometres on a bad day
Travellers like the Polos often rode on horses or camels. Large Bactrian camels were best when you had to cross high mountrains like the Pamirs in Central Asia . These strong animals could live with the sudden changes from hot to cold on those difficult parts of the Silk Road.
After a long day, travellers usually stopped at a caravanserai - a place where travellers could say. Visitors could find food, drink, and somewhere to sleep there. It was a good place to meet other travellers too, and perhaps find a new caravan to journey with.
Merchants also talked late into the night there, and sometimes learned important news about roads or markets in the area.
The caravanserais often had one large door for all the people and camels to go through. There were big walls all around the place which protected travellers from thieves and dangerous animals at night.
A lot of caravanserais were just small rooms made from stone, and visitors slept on the cold floor. But in some of the bigger towns and cities there were large and beautiful caravanserais . After a hard day on the road, tried travellers could find a bed, a bath, and a market with fine food when they stopped there.
Some of the larger caravanserais were in famous place on the Silk Road like Bukhara or Samarkand in modern - day Uzbekistan . These cities were made rich by traders from across Asia and Eorope. There are still many beautiful buildings there like the Bibi Khanum Mosque in Samarkand and the Mir-I Arab Madrasah in Bukhara
You can still stay in a caravanserais today. But these places are now nice comfortable hotels wiyh showers, television and restaurants for the modern tourists on the Silk Road