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Northern Route of the Silk Road (6th century)
The 6th-century northern route of the Silk Road was an overland trade road running across Central Asia to northern China, from the oasis city-states …
Timeline
- 501–534Dunhuang · GansuThe Northern Wei ruled the Hexi Corridor, and oasis towns such as Dunhuang and Jiuquan supplied and sheltered caravans on the northern route. Sogdian merchants traveled east along the northern Tianshan routes, establishing trading stations in Hexi and engaging in the silk and luxury goods trade.
- 540–580Samarkand · UzbekistanIn the 5th and 6th centuries, Sogdian merchants were the dominant force on the northern route; their trading networks extended from Samarkand and Bukhara to the Mongolian steppe, the Hexi Corridor, and even towns in the Central Plains, controlling long-distance trade in silk, musk, gold, and silver.
- 589–600Daxing City (Chang'an) · ShaanxiAfter the Sui destroyed Chen and unified China, Daxing City became the empire's political center, and Sogdian expatriate communities were active in Hexi and Guanzhong. Trade goods from the northern route entered Chang'an via the Hexi Corridor, and the Sui court interacted with steppe powers such as the Turkic khaganate, keeping the overland route open.
Sources
- The Sogdian Merchant Network — Yutaka Yoshida (2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.491
- SOGDIAN TRADE — Étienne de la Vaissière https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade/
- Historical Trade Routes of the Sogdians https://sogdians.si.edu/historic-trade-routes-of-the-sogdians/
- Sogdians in China: A Short History and Some New Discoveries — Étienne de la Vaissière http://silkroadfoundation.org/newsletter/december/new_discoveries.htm