[00:39.65][00:03.26]Unit 8 Adventure
[00:05.80]Culture Corner The Silk Road
[00:09.15]The routes
[00:10.24]For centuries, the Silk Road
[00:11.94]was the most important line
[00:13.58]of communication connecting East and West.
[00:16.92]Although the Silk Road
[00:17.87]covered a huge distance linking modern day
[00:20.71]Xi'an with the Middle East and Europe,
[00:23.65]today one area in particular
[00:26.32]is associated most closely with the name
[00:28.66]of the Silk Road.
[00:30.58]This area is Xinjiang in Northwest China,
[00:34.24]through which two major routes
[00:35.87]of the Silk Road passed on the northern
[00:38.23]and southern side of the Taklamakan desert.
[00:41.95]The name
[00:43.79]The Silk Road got its name in the 19th century
[00:46.96]when a German geographer identified it
[00:49.20]as the route through which the Romans
[00:51.31]got their silk from China.
[00:53.58]However, silk wasn't the only thing
[00:56.02]that passed along the Silk Road;
[00:58.10]anything that had buyers was traded
[01:00.01]along the road.
[01:01.86]Goods were traded from market to market
[01:04.29]passing through many hands
[01:05.92]before they reached their final destinations.
[01:07.60] |