Cities along the Silk Road

The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes that connected many communities of Eurasia(Europe and Asia) by land and sea, stretching from the Mediterranean basin in the west to the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago in the east.

Its main eastern end was in the Chinese city of Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an, China) and its main western end was in the Greek city of Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey). It came into existence in the 2nd century BCE, when Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty was in power, and lasted until the 15th century CE, when the Ottoman Empire blocked off all the trade routes with Europe after it captured Constantinople and thereby conquered the Byzantine Empire.Garraty, John A. and Peter Gay, eds. The Columbia History of the World. New York: Dorset Press by arrangement with Harper & Row, 1981. . Originally published New York: Harper & Row, 1972. p. 129.

This article lists the cities along the Silk Road, sorted by region and the modern-day countries in which they are located.

Terrestrial/land routes through Eurasia

Major cities, broadly from the Eastern Mediterranean to South Asia, and arranged roughly west to east in each area.

West Asia

Turkey Constantinople, ancient Byzantium (now Istanbul) Bursa Beypazarı Mudurnu Taraklı Konya Adana Antioch İzmir Trabzon

Azerbaijan Baku Shamakhi Barda

Georgia Tbilisi (Tiflis) Batumi (Batoum) Poti

Armenia Yerevan

Lebanon Tyre

Syria Aleppo Tartus Homs Damascus Palmyra Raqqa Dura Europos

Iraq Mosul Erbil Samarra Fallujah Baghdad Ctesiphon Baquba

Iran Tabriz Zanjan Rasht Kermanshah Hamadan Rey (or Ray in modern-day Tehran) Hecatompylos (Damghan) Sabzevar Nishapur Mashhad Tus Bam Yazd Qazvin Qumis (Hekatompylos)

Central Asia

Turkmenistan Nisa Merv Urgench Amul

Uzbekistan Bukhara Shahrisabz Samarkand Tashkent Kokand (Fergana Valley) Andijon (Fergana Valley)

Tajikistan Khujand (Fergana Valley) Istaravshan

Kazakhstan Otrar Ispidjab (or Sairum) Taraz Hazrat-e Turkestan Almaty

Kyrgyzstan Issyk kul Tokmok Bishkek Osh

South Asia

Afghanistan Bactra (Balkh) Herat Alexandria Arachosia (Kandahar) Bamyan Kabul

Pakistan Peshawar Pushkalavati Takshashila Multan Banbhore/Barbarikon Debal/Patala

India Tamralipta (or Tamluk) Leh Jaisalmer Mathura Varanasi (or Benares) Pataliputra

Nepal Kathmandu – see also Patan & Bhaktapur

Bangladesh Wari-Bateshwar Pundranagara Vikrampura Somapura Bhitargarh Sonargaon Chattagram/Chatgaon/Chittagong Comilla/Mainamati/Samatata Jahangir Nagar/Dhaka

Bhutan Jakar Paro

East Asia

China: the northern route along the Taklamakan Desert

Kashgar (or Kashi) (Major City) Liqian Aksu Kucha Korla Loulan Karasahr (Yanqi) Turpan (Turfan) Jiaohe Ruins Turpan Water Museum Gaochang the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves Chang'an Kumul/Hami Ürümqi Yumen Pass (or Jade Gate or Pass of the Jade Gate) (city called Yumenguan or Hecang) Anxi

China: the southern route along the Taklamakan Desert Kashgar (or Kashi) (Major City) Pishan Khotan Niya Mingfeng Endere Charchan Waxxari Ruoqiang Town (Charklik) Miran Yangguan, or Yangguan Pass Dunhuang the Mogao Caves Anxi

China: from Anxi/Dunhuang to Chang'an (Xi'an)

Dunhuang (Major City) Jiayuguan Jiuquan Zhangye Shandan Liangzhou (Wuwei) Tianzhu, Gansu Lanzhou Tianshui Baoji Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an)

Maritime routes to or along the Indian Ocean

South Asia

Pakistan Debal Barbarikon Banbhore

China Ningbo, China Fuzhou, China Quanzhou, China Guangzhou, China

Bangladesh Chittagong, Bangladesh

Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka

India Tamralipta, West Bengal, India Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu, India Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Korkai, Tamil Nadu, India Muziris, Kerala, India Goa, India Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Cochin, Kerala, India Masulipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India Lothal, Gujarat, India

Southern and Eastern Europe

Ukraine

Sudak, Ukraine

Russia Astrakhan, Russia Derbent, Russia

Italy Venice, Italy Rome, Italy

West Asia

Oman Muscat, Oman

Yemen Aden, Yemen

Turkey Ayas, Turkey

Northeast Africa

Somalia hafun, Somalia

Egypt Suez, Egypt

Southeast Asia

Indonesia Perlak, Indonesia

Malaysia Kedah (Early history of Kedah) Malacca

Philippines Bolinao, Pangasinan, Philippines

Thailand Ligor

Vietnam Vijaya, Champa Hanoi, Vietnam Hoi An, Vietnam

List by Claudius Ptolemy

This following list is attributed to Ptolemy. All city names are Ptolemy's, throughout all his works. Most of the names are included in Geographia.

Some of the cities provided by Ptolemy either: no longer exist today or have moved to different locations. Nevertheless, Ptolemy has provided an important historical reference for researchers.

(This list has been alphabetized.)

Africa East Africa – Akhmim, Aromaton Emporion, Axum, Coloe, Dongola, Juba, Maji, Opone, Panopolis, Sarapion, Sennar. North Africa – Caesarea, Carthage, Cyrene, Leptis Magna, Murzuk, Sijilmassa, Tamanrasset, Tingis. Arabia – Cane, Eudaemon Arabia, Mokha, Mosylon, Sanaa, Zafar (Saphar), Saue. Bangladesh – Sounagaora. China – Cattigara, Chengdu, Kaifeng, Qitai, Kunming, Yarkand. Europe – Aquileia, Athens, Augusta Treverorum (Trier), Gades (Cádiz), Ostia. India – Argaru, Astakapra, Bacare, Balita, Barake, Byzantion, Colchi, Erannoboas, Horaia, Kalliena, Mandagora, Melizeigara, Muziris, korkai, Poompuhar, Naura, Nelcynda, Paethana, Palaepatmae, Palaesimundu, Poduca, Semylla, Sopatma, Suppara, Tagara, Tymdis. Pakistan – Barbaricum, Peshawar, Taxila Persia – Alexandria Areion, Kandahar, Persepolis. Persian Gulf – Apologos, Asabon, Charax, Gerrha (or Gerra), Ommana. Red Sea – Adulis, Aualites, Berenica, Malao, ancient Berbera, Mokha, Myos Hormos, Ocalis, Ptolemais Theron. Southeast Asia – Kattigara (Oc Eo), Thaton, Trang. Unknown – Ecbatana (located in either modern Iran or Syria), Jiaohei.

Cities along the Silk Road

Bron en licentie