In the late 8th century CE, the interconnected caravan routes later termed the “Silk Road” formed a transcontinental system linking East Asia, Central Asia, the Islamic world, and parts of Europe. The label “Silk Road” (German: Seidenstraße) was coined much later, in 1877, by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen to describe these long-distance trade corridors, though contemporaries understood them as overlapping commercial and diplomatic routes rather than a single road. By this period, the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), particularly under Emperor Xuanzong (reign 712–756 CE), had projected Chinese influence deep into Central Asia, while frontier conflicts, such as the Battle of Talas (751 CE), revealed the competitive nature of Eurasian geopolitics.
To the west, the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258 CE), founded in 750 CE and ruling from Baghdad from 762 CE onward, integrated transcontinental trade into a rapidly expanding Islamic economic sphere. The Uyghur Khaganate (744–840 CE) secured key steppe corridors, facilitating exchange between sedentary empires and nomadic polities. Major urban centers, Samarkand, Bukhara, Kashgar, Merv, and Nishapur, flourished as hubs of commerce, scholarship, and religious transmission, enabling the circulation not only of silk and silver but also of papermaking, artistic styles, and religious traditions such as Buddhism and Islam. By the 9th century CE, however, political fragmentation in Central Asia and the growing importance of Indian Ocean maritime routes gradually reduced the relative prominence of overland exchange.
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APA Style
Netchev, S. (2025, February 04). Map of the Silk Road During the Late 8th Century. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/146/map-of-the-silk-road-during-the-late-8th-century/
Chicago Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of the Silk Road During the Late 8th Century." World History Encyclopedia, February 04, 2025. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/146/map-of-the-silk-road-during-the-late-8th-century/.
MLA Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of the Silk Road During the Late 8th Century." World History Encyclopedia, 04 Feb 2025, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/146/map-of-the-silk-road-during-the-late-8th-century/.
