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The Silk Road: Historical Geography

The Silk Road: Historical Geography. Developed by Joe Naumann, UMSL. The Silk Road.

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The Silk Road: Historical Geography

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  1. The Silk Road:Historical Geography Developed by Joe Naumann, UMSL

  2. The Silk Road • The Silk Road, or Silk Route, is an interconnected series of trade routes through Southern Asia mainly connecting Chang'an (today's Xi'an) in China, with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean. It extends over 8,000 km (5,000 miles) on land and sea. • Trade on the Silk Route was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and Rome, and helped to lay the foundations for the modern world.

  3. The Chinese Section

  4. Major Stops on the Road Taklamakan Desert

  5. Tourists ready to begin a Silk Road tour.

  6. Cities and Sights Along the Silk Road

  7. Chang’an (Xian today) • The site of the Han capital was located 5 km northwest of modern Xi'an. As the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, it was the political, economic and cultural center of China, the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, and a cosmopolitan metropolis comparable with the greatest cities of the contemporaneous Roman Empire.

  8. Chang’an area – satellite view

  9. The statue is at the starting point of the ancient Silk Road of Chang'an (present Xian City).

  10. City Wall of Chang’an

  11. Big Wild Goose Pagoda

  12. The Great Mosque – 50,000 Muslims in Xi’an today

  13. Tianshui • Tianshuiis the second largest city in Gansu province in northwest China, with approximately 320,300 people. A nearby tourist attraction is the Maijishan Grottoes filled with thousands of ancient Buddhist sculptures. The Qin state, later to become the founding dynasty of the Chinese empire, grew out from this area, and the Qin name itself is believed to have originated, in part, from there. Qin tombs have been excavated from Fangmatan near Tianshui, including one 2200 year old map of Guixian county. It is a diocese of the Roman Catholic church, currently vacant.

  14. 4th largest area of Buddhist grottoes

  15. Maiji Mountain

  16. Market Place

  17. Residential Area

  18. Lanzhou • Early settlement in this region could be dated to the Han Dynasty and has a history of over 2,000 years. The city used to be called the Golden City, when it was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road. To protect the city, the Great Wall of China was extended as far as Yumen.

  19. Lanzhou area – satellite view

  20. Mountain Scenery

  21. Old Irrigation Waterwheel

  22. Sleeping Buddha

  23. Traditional Sheepskin Raft

  24. Lanzhou: Sangke Prairie – local family and their home

  25. Dunhuang • The city is located near the historic junction of the northern and southern Silk Roads, and was therefore a town of military importance. • For centuries Buddhist monks at Dunhuang collected scriptures from the west, and many pilgrims passed through the area, painting murals inside the Mogao Caves or "Caves of a Thousand Buddhas."

  26. Satellite view of Dunhuang area.

  27. The Mingsha Shan dune overlooking Dunhuang

  28. Sand dunes outside Dunhuang

  29. Dunhuang city wall.

  30. Buddhist Temple Grotto of 1000 Caves

  31. Spring oasis near Dunhuang on the Silk Road

  32. Turfan (Turpan) • The Oasis of Turfan (with water provided by karez) is some 260ft under sea level. Around Turfan are quite a few historic sites. Turfan has long been the centre of a fertile oasis and an important trade centre. It was historically located along the Silk Road's northern route. The very heat and dryness of the summer, when combined with the area's ancient system of irrigation, allows the countryside around Turfan to produce great quantities of high-quality fruit.

  33. Turfan Oasis – satellite viewCan you spot the oasis? What a difference water makes!

  34. Karez (underground irrigation)

  35. Karez • 2000 kilometers of underground channels (Karez) bring bring ice-cold water from the Tianshan mountains to Turfan. They have to be underground as otherwise the water would evaporate on the way. This system is 2000 years old.

  36. Desert Road

  37. Flaming Mountains

  38. Home in Turfan

  39. Children from Turfan

  40. Buddhist temple caves

  41. Street and covered walks.

  42. Emin minaret in Turfan

  43. Khotan • Khotan is an oasis town in Khotan Prefecture and its capital as well, population 114,000 (2006). An important station on the southern route of the historic Silk Road, it has always depended on two strong rivers the Karakash River and the Yurungkash River to provide the water needed to survive on the southwestern edge of the vast Taklamakan desert.

  44. Taklamakan Desert – satellite view – near Khotan Kashgar Turfan Taklamakan Desert Khotan

  45. Taklamakan Desert • The Taklamakan is a desert of Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It is known as the largest sand-only desert in the world. Some references fancifully state that Taklamakan means "if you go in, you won't come out"; others state that it means "Desert of Death" or "Place of No Return." It covers an area of 270,000 km² of the Tarim Basin. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road.

  46. Caravan in the Taklamakan Desert

  47. Khotan mosque

  48. Sunday market in Khotan

  49. Man with goat on the road to Khotan

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