Please respond to this essay in 100 words: The Silk Road was a network of ancient routes that merchants used to trade their products through out Central Asia to China. It was the first black market that was developed to help get different goods through out these areas and to help these tradesmen make money. Because silk was a major trade product which traveled on this road, it was named the Silk Road in 1877 by Ferdinand von Richthofen-a well-known German geographer.1 Not only did this route open up a major trading route between Eurasia to China, but it helped to blend the cultures between the merchants and towns. Silk is an extremely soft textile with Chinese origin, and was used for making clothes, banners, and other items of prestige. Silk was known as an extremely high valued product and if you were to wear silk back in this time frame you were noticed as someone with wealth. The Chinese monopoly on silk production however did not mean that the product was restricted to the Chinese Empire on the contrary, silk was used as a diplomatic gift, and was also traded extensively, first of all with Chinas immediate neighbours, and subsequently further afield, becoming one of Chinas chief exports under the Han dynasty (206 BC 220 AD). 2 Silk was not the only textile that was traded across the routes of the Silk Road. Many other products made their way back and forth from different merchants in different town. While the silk trade was one of the earliest catalysts for the trade routes across Central Asia, it was only one of a wide range of products that was traded between east and west, and which included textiles, spices, grain, vegetables and fruit, animal hides, tools, wood work, metal work, religious objects, art work, precious stones and much more.3 New ideas and religions were spread across the territory as a result of trade along the Silk Road. Cultural diversity spread among the regions, new people began to inhabit new lands, new ideas and ways of life were exchanged. Traders going west from China carried new fruits such as peaches and apricots, which the Romans mistakenly attributed to other eastern lands, calling them Persian plums and Armenian plums, respectively.4 Within todays age, the Silk Road now is seen in different forms of trade. Many trade routes are now seen by use of computers, mailing/shipping methods, and maritime methods. Land, air, and sea are the way to ship things to where they need to go now.

Please respond to this essay in 100 words: The Silk Road was a network of ancient routes that merchants used to trade their products through out Central Asia to China. It was the first black market that was developed to help get different goods through out these areas and to help these tradesmen make money. Because silk was a major trade product which traveled on this road, it was named the Silk Road in 1877 by Ferdinand von Richthofen-a well-known German geographer.1 Not only did this route open up a major trading route between Eurasia to China, but it helped to blend the cultures between the merchants and towns. Silk is an extremely soft textile with Chinese origin, and was used for making clothes, banners, and other items of prestige. Silk was known as an extremely high valued product and if you were to wear silk back in this time frame you were noticed as someone with wealth. The Chinese monopoly on silk production however did not mean that the product was restricted to the Chinese Empire on the contrary, silk was used as a diplomatic gift, and was also traded extensively, first of all with Chinas immediate neighbours, and subsequently further afield, becoming one of Chinas chief exports under the Han dynasty (206 BC 220 AD). 2 Silk was not the only textile that was traded across the routes of the Silk Road. Many other products made their way back and forth from different merchants in different town. While the silk trade was one of the earliest catalysts for the trade routes across Central Asia, it was only one of a wide range of products that was traded between east and west, and which included textiles, spices, grain, vegetables and fruit, animal hides, tools, wood work, metal work, religious objects, art work, precious stones and much more.3 New ideas and religions were spread across the territory as a result of trade along the Silk Road. Cultural diversity spread among the regions, new people began to inhabit new lands, new ideas and ways of life were exchanged. Traders going west from China carried new fruits such as peaches and apricots, which the Romans mistakenly attributed to other eastern lands, calling them Persian plums and Armenian plums, respectively.4 Within todays age, the Silk Road now is seen in different forms of trade. Many trade routes are now seen by use of computers, mailing/shipping methods, and maritime methods. Land, air, and sea are the way to ship things to where they need to go now.