1. Explore connections between East and West in the First Century CE.
Silk Road Towns
Explore connections
between East and West
in the First Century CE.
These maps explore relationships between major cities in 100 CE, Silk Road towns, and environmental conditions along a Eurasian trading route
that went from China to Rome.
The Silk Road was three times as long as the famous Oregon Trail, and it went over mountains nearly twice as high, but it was nearly 2000 years earlier!
Title page – these maps show some relationships between Silk Road towns and other environmental conditions on a road that was three times as long as the Oregon Trail and nearly 2000 years earlier!

2. Index grid and continents: A-2 _Europe_ B-6 _Africa_ H-3 _Asia_1
If your students need a reminder about the basic geography of this area, have them use the letter-number grid along the edges of Map 1 to locate the places noted at the top of the map: A2 in central Europe, B6 in northeastern Africa, -- H3 in central Asia.

3. Continents and location words (East, West)…
This background map helps students answer the questions on Map 1. A teacher can reinforce concepts of direction and knowledge of basic place names
by asking students what direction a person would go in order to travel from -- Europe to Africa, -- Africa to India,
-- India to central Asia, etc.

4. What do some have in common?2
Where were the largest cities in 100 CE?
Notice, too, that of eight of the largest cities in 100 CE were all located in a very narrow “latitudinal band” (a band running west to east).
What do some have in common?
Students should notice that several cities are on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

5. Overlay “cities” and “rivers” and describe their relationship.3
Overlay “cities” and “rivers” and describe their relationship.
Students can compare Map 2 and Map 3 visually, or they can “overlay” the maps by aligning them on top of each other and holding them up to the light . (Teachers can also make overhead transparencies and put them on top of each other.)
Either way, students should note that four cities are located next to the Mediterranean Sea, and four are located on rivers. (See the next map.)

6. Where were the largest cities located in 100 CE? Why in those places?
This is an alternative to Map 3. It shows both rivers and cities on the same map, without requiring viewers to overlay the maps (but then students don’t learn that skill!)
Students should still be encouraged to make a verbal generalization about the relationships between cities,
the Mediterranean Sea, and rivers.

7. Silk Road routes connected East with West in 100 CE.
The Silk Road was not actually a single road. It was a trading network that connected a number of places. Silk and other goods were carried from the Han Empire in China (the area around the two cities in the East) all the way to the Roman Empire (the four cities around the Mediterranean Sea).
Sept. 22, 2008

8. Where are “Silk Road Towns” located in relation to largest cities in 100 CE?
Individual Silk Road trading towns were part of a long string of towns that grew up in strategic positions along the network of trails and roads that extended from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to China (with branches to India and other places).
Sept. 22, 2008

9. Silk Road Towns helped to “connect” the largest cities in 100 CE.
Students can use the scale of miles to estimate the distance between Luoyang (in China) and
Antioch (on the Mediterranean Sea).
This map combines information about the Silk Road Towns with information from an earlier map that showed the largest cities in the year The point is that the Silk Road connected nearly all of the important places at that time in history.

10. Silk Road Towns The journey between East and West was dangerous!
Examine environmental conditions
near ancient trading towns.
NOTE: The Silk Road was
three times as long
as the Oregon Trail!
It went through higher mountains, drier deserts, and places attacked
by different groups
of raiders.

11. Plan a route between China and the Mediterranean Sea.
To help communicate information about environments along the Silk Road, we use this satellite image in several slides that follow.
(A separate PowerPoint presentation also uses this satellite image and offers comments about historically important places between the Mediterranean Sea and China.)

12. Along this journey there was beauty, and there was danger!4
We numbered towns so we could tell stories and show photos.
Along this journey there was beauty, and there was danger!
Map 4 is meant for taking notes; it is blank except for the Silk Road towns, which are numbered in a way that links with photos of landscapes and artifacts.

13. This map shows the towns on a satellite image.5
The journey passes through challenging environments.
Ask students how they would identify dry areas on the satellite image. (yellow and tan colors)
Find dry areas!
This map shows the towns on a satellite image.
Students should note that most of the towns are located on rivers. That is very important because the towns are located in mostly dry regions in the interior of a continent, far from the ocean.

14. Dry areas are highlighted with red!
The journey passes through challenging environments.
Dry areas are highlighted with red!
Dry areas on the satellite image have yellow and tan colors.
Students should note that most of the towns on Map 5 are located on rivers. That is very important because they are located in mostly dry regions in the interior of a continent, far from the ocean.

15. The journey passes through challenging environments.
Karakum
Kyzylkum
Taklamakan
Arabian Desert
Gobi
Great Salty Desert (not all that great!)
Thar Desert
Part of the Sahara the largest desert in the world
ar-Rub’ al-Khali a dry part of the Arabian

16. 6
Find dry areas!
This map can help students interpret some features that appear on Map 5 (the satellite image). Ask them why this dark blue area has more precipitation. (It’s a high mountain range).

17. How can towns exist in dry areas?
This map puts the red desert symbol on a map of precipitation.
Students sometimes wonder why Silk Routes went through dry areas.
Here is one answer: rain makes rivers, and large rivers are hard to cross, especially when they make deep canyons. It was difficult to travel through this rugged and rainy area between China and India in 100 CE.

18. Overlay “rivers” and precipitation.
This map adds rivers to the map of precipitation.
Rivers in Central Asia were especially important for Silk Road Towns.
Note that the wet area mentioned on the previous map has four (4!) parallel rivers flowing through deep and almost un-crossable canyons (Students could look at Google Earth
to get a view of the terrain in this area).

19. Here is more detailed information about rivers.
This map puts blue lines for rivers and squares for the Silk Road towns on top of a satellite image. Note how the Silk Road towns are often located where small rivers flow out of mountains into deserts.

20. Mountains present difficulties, but they also provide benefits.
The Silk Road also crossed some of the highest mountains in the world.
Traders and pack animals faced cold, ice, and snow in high mountains as they climbed and descended steep trails.
Different traders carried the goods
on different parts of the journey

21. Elevation! Notice the extreme heights between Silk Road Towns.7
Elevation! Notice the extreme heights between Silk Road Towns.
Some of the passes between the high mountain peaks were more than 3,700 meters above sea level.
That’s 12,000 feet, or nearly as high as the highest mountains in the United States outside of Alaska.

22. Overlay rivers and elevation. Notice where rivers begin!
Melting snow from high mountains supports rivers that flow toward several Silk Road Towns.
These high mountains are the sources of many rivers, including the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Yangtze, Huang He, and the rivers that flow into the Aral Sea.