1. Silk Road Study Guide

2. The Southern Silk Road has also
been referred to as the _________.
• Tea Road
http://www.office-supplies-usa.com/images/Herbal_tea.jpg
Jan. 20, 2010

3. During the ____________ Dynasty in China, which lasted from 618-
907 CE, the Silk Road experienced a Golden Age.
• Tang Dynasty
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/tang.html
Accessed on Jan. 8, 2009

4. What did the caravansaries provide
the travelers along the Silk Road?
• Food, water, lodging, and opportunities to
socialize and exchange ideas with other
travelers.

5. At one point in history, China banned
the export of ___________seeds.
• Tea

6. Why was the Southern Silk Road
so important during WWII?
• It allowed the Allied Forces to create a
supply line to China.

7. What did the nomadic peoples to
the north of China trade for tea?
• Superior breeds of horses

8. What did merchants have to do, in order to be
allowed to trade along the Silk Road?
• They had to pay taxes at various
checkpoints.
• They had to declare their trade items.
• They had to register for travel along the
road.

9. The Silk Road stretched from ___________in the East to
______________in the West. (cities)
• Changan, China (Present-day Xi’an)
• Antioch, Turkey

10. Identify the modern-day countries that
are located along the Silk Road.
http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/wp-content/uploads/silkroad_map.jpg
Dec. 7, 2009

11. What type of terrain does the word
steppe refer to?
• Dry treeless grasslands which are often
characterized by hot summers and cold
winters.

12. _______________and ________________are now the top
2 tea producing nations in world.
• Sri Lanka and India

13. During the Tang Dynasty, tea was brought from Yunnan
Province in China to which modern country?
• India

14. Which type of terrain, desert or steppe, would
likely be more difficult to travel across and why?

15. Identify two deserts, as well as two mountain ranges, that
Silk Road travelers may have encountered.
• Taklamakan Desert, Gobi Desert, Syrian
Desert, Great Salt Desert, Kyzyl Kum,and
Kara Kum
• Tien Shan Mountains, Pamir
Mountains, Hindu Kush Mountains, Zagros
Mountains, and Kopet Mountains

16. It was often said that those who enter the
______________of Western China, never make it
out alive.
• Taklamakan Desert
http://www.eventclicks.com/new/2005/images/DESERT%20064.jpg
Dec. 4, 2009

17. __________was referred to as the city of sands by Silk
Road travelers, because a of the seemingly endless sea of
sand that lies directly west of the town.
• Dunhuang

18. What is an oasis, role did they
serve along the Silk Road?
• A relatively small and fertile area
surrounded by arid land.
• These were areas where travelers could
rest, recuperate, and possibly stock up on
some badly needed supplies, especially
water.

19. Name 4 present-day cities in Uzbekistan
that were part of the Silk Road.
• Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand, and
Khiva

20. The earliest substantial interaction between the East and the West
took place after _______________army took over the land that is
now Central Asia leaving a legacy of Greek culture behind.

21. Identify some of the physical hazards that travelers
along the Silk Road often encountered.

22. Identify and describe some of the
reasons why the Silk Road came into
being in the first place.

23. In general, which types of goods
were most profitable?
• Those that were high in value and
weighed little

24. Identify and describe some of the reasons
why the Silk Road began to decline.

25. Why might someone argue that trade patterns
along the Silk Road look like a chain?
• Usually merchants did not travel the entire
length of the Silk Road.
• They would just work one of many
segments of the greater road.

26. What things to traders need to consider
in order to make a profit?

27. What is a caravanserai and how could they
contribute to cultural exchange on the Silk Road?

28. Identify various items that traveled from West to East along
the Silk Road.

29. Identify various items that traveled from East to West along
the Silk Road.

30. How could regional governments
benefit financially from the travel along
the Silk Road?
• They benefited financially by collecting
taxes from the merchants.

31. Why were Marco Polo’s writing
significant?

32. Where was Marco Polo from, why did he go on his journey,
and what where some Chinese inventions that he
witnessed which were not yet used in his homeland?

33. Who was Xuan Zang and what was the
major contribution that he made, and how is
his influence still felt today?

34. ______________the predominant religion practiced in
Central Asia today moved into the region along the Silk
Road beginning in the 7th century CE.
• Islam

35. _____________was a powerful ruler who conquered lands
ranging from China to Eastern Europe and established the largest
contiguous land-based empire in history, once again making
travel safe and secure along the Silk Road.
• Genghis Khan

36. Which major world religion made its way from India, where
it is practiced very little today, to China where it is
commonly practiced.

37. Identify hazards related to human
geography?

38. Travelers referred to the ___________mountains as the Onion
Mountains because the thin air caused by the high altitude made
the travelers feel lightheaded and uncomfortable. These
mountains are some of the highest in the world and include Ismail
Samani Peak, the highest in the former Soviet Union.

39. Which type of landscape would
best describe Tashkent?
• Steppe

40. What does the word caravan refer
to in the context of the Silk Road?
• A group of people traveling together
• This was often done for safety reasons.