[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]