1. The Silk Roads

2. Silk Road Facts
It wasn’t really a road, but trade routes -- 4,000 miles stretching from Rome to China.
Went through the Taklamakan Desert and split where an oasis could be found on each path. What is an oasis?
Ships carried silk and spices to Rome over the Mediterranean Sea.

3. Taklamakan Desert at sunset

4. The dangers of the trip included….
Sandstorms

5. Searing heat up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit

6. Poisonous Snakes

7. Dangerously cold winters
Down to 20 degrees below zero. Yikes!

8. Why would anyone endure this journey?
Few traders made the whole trip. They often worked in relays where
each trader would go a specific distance and exchange goods……and hopefully
return.
Why would anyone endure this journey?

9. http://www. cultural-china
S I L K

10. Spices
Exotic Woods

11. Gemstones, pearls

12. Porcelain from China
Beautiful goods from China and spices and cotton from India came to Rome via the Silk Road

13. Trade routes also spread ideas
Trade routes also spread ideas. What kinds of ideas were spread to China via the Silk Road?
Buddhism
In China, it changed and split into two doctrines:
Mahayana – a more open mass religion that offered salvation to all people and allowed anyone to worship.
Theravada – a much stricter form of Buddhism that followed the original teachings of Buddha.