The Silk road ran for 5,000 miles across Asia and increased trade in [[silk]] and fine goods between [[Asia]] and [[Europe]]. Merchants did not travel the entire length, goods were passed on by middle-men who extracted large sums of money for their services. There is no general consensus as to the date when the silk road began, but silk from China arrived in Rome before the first century A.D. Although the volume of trade fluctuated across time, the Silk Road remained an important trade route until the anti-[[Ch'ing]] revolution of 1911. | The Silk road ran for 5,000 miles across Asia and increased trade in [[silk]] and fine goods between [[Asia]] and [[Europe]]. Merchants did not travel the entire length, goods were passed on by middle-men who extracted large sums of money for their services. There is no general consensus as to the date when the silk road began, but silk from China arrived in Rome before the first century A.D. Although the volume of trade fluctuated across time, the Silk Road remained an important trade route until the anti-[[Ch'ing]] revolution of 1911. |