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300 BCE
Alexander the Great
Under Alexander the Great's conquests, Western people became aware of Central Asia for the first time. In 300 one of his men founded a settlement in northern Afghanistan, Ai Khanum -
Period: 221 BCE to 206 BCE
Qin Dynasty
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Period: 206 BCE to 220
Han Dynasty
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53
Silk in Rome
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100
Buddhism arrives in China
Around 100 AD Buddhism from India starts to appear in China. -
138
Han Emperor Wu the Great sends his emissary Zhang Qian to the west
The Han Dynasty were looking for allies to support them against the Nomad Empire. They also wanted to bring bigger horses to breed with their own horses in China. Emissaries like Zhang Qian were sent out on missions. They took court silk with them and traded it along the way. -
150
Paper first appears in Xuanquan, China
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Period: 265 to 420
Jin Dynasty
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313
Sogdian Letters
The letters describe activities of Sogdian merchants. These Iranian speaking people created colonies along the Silk Road trade routes trade routes, from Samarkand (in modern day Uzbekistan) all the way to China, between 3rd century BC and 8th century AD. -
Period: 618 to 907
Tang Dynasty
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638
Christianity enters China
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750
The Silk Roads peak
This is the time when most trade is happening along the Silk Roads. Chang'an, the capital of China at the time is the richest city in the world. -
751
Battle of Talas
Arabs defeat the Chinese at Talas (in modern day Kyrgyzstan) and capture Chinese papermakers, which introduces paper making into Central Asia and Europe. -
Period: 960 to 1279
Song Dynasty
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1206
Genghis Khan unites the Mongols, starting the expansion of the Mongol Empire.
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1250
Silk Road thrives under the Mongols
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1271
Marco Polo travels to China along the Silk Road
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Period: 1279 to 1368
Yuan Dynasty
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Period: 1368 to
Ming Dynasty
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Period: to
Qing Dynasty
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Trade along the Silk Road collapses
Many traders are now taking the sea route between Europe and the Far East instead of going overland on the Silk Road. -
Aurel Stein's first archaeological expedition
