Geography of the Silkroad

The silkroad started in the Han and Tang capitals Chang'an 長安 and Luoyang 洛陽 and lead through the Gansu corridor along the commanderies Wuwei 武威, Zhangyi 張掖, Jiuquan 酒泉 and Dunhuang 敦煌 to the Yumen Pass 玉門關 and the Yangguan Pass 陽關 from where the road first ended in Loulan 樓蘭 (northwest of Lop Nur Lake 羅布泊/Xinjiang, today buried under sand dunes). From there, the silkroad separated in a northern route and a southern route to by-pass the Taklamakan desert. The northern route passed Yiwu 伊吾, Cheshi 車師 , Gaochang 高昌, Yanqi 焉耆, Weixu 危須, Quli 渠犁, Wulei 烏壘, Luntai 輪台, Qiuci 龜茲, Gumo 姑墨 to Shule 疏勒. The southern route passed Shanshan 鄯善, Qiemo 且末, Yumi 扜彌, Yutian 于闐, Pishan 皮山, Shache 莎車, and met the northern route in Shule. Today, many cities of the southern route have been swallowed by the desert. A second northern route was opened in Later Han and lead along Yiwulu 伊吾廬 (modern Hami 哈密), Liuzhong 柳中, Gaochangbi 高昌壁, Cheshi 車師, Jiaohecheng 交河城 (near modern Turpan 吐魯番), crossed the Tianshan and ended in Yanqi 焉耆 and Qiuci. During the division in south and north, the Southern Dynasties (Nanchao 南朝) reached the silkroad via modern Sichuan and Qinghai that was dominated by the Tuyuhun 吐谷渾 realm. From Shule, the silkroad stretched on to the empire of Dayuan 大宛 and from there on divided into many sideroutes to Eastern Europe, Persia and India.

Source

www.chinaknowledge.de [[Category:Silk Road]]