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The Ancient Silk Road was the great transcontinental trade route linking China and Europe. Historically, the road was never called such until the geographer Baron von Richthofen gave it that romantic name in the late 1800s. Chinese silk had always been craved by the great civilisations of the world and was therefore a most important cargo throughout its history.
The original route started at Luoyang and Chang’an (now Xian), reached the Yellow River at Lanzhou, then skirted westward along deserts and mountains before dividing into three at the oasis of Dunhuang. It then thread its way through Xinjiang before reaching Kashgar, the westernmost point in China, and then stretched thousands of miles more over the Pamir Mountains, across Afghanistan to the Levant. From there merchandise would be shipped across the Mediterranean.
There was certainly a flourishing trade along its route from the fourth century BC to fourth century AD, the silk from Seres (The Kingdom of Silk) fetching extravagant prices in Rome with purple silk being reserved for the Emperor. Thus goods were traded from east to west and vice versa but there was also an exchange of
knowledge and ideas so that, via the Silk Road, China inherited Buddhism from India. Few traders, however, would have travelled the road’s entire route but goods would have been handled in stages by merchants from different regions, many of
whom left historic relics – including coins – in their wake.