Mondo Knows Facts

The Han Dynasty established the Silk Road trade route

Diplomat Zhang Qian explored Central Asia to connect Chinese merchants with western markets

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han around 130 BCE, envoy Zhang Qian traveled into Central Asia to forge military alliances. His diplomatic missions opened profitable trade routes connecting China to Persia and the Roman Mediterranean, enabling the exchange of silk, spices, technologies, and ideas.

Eastern Han Dynasty bronze mirror
Gary Lee Todd ยท CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท licence ยท source

Where this comes from

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

More facts like this

Tags: silk road, china, trade

The Han Dynasty established the Silk Road trade route: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Diplomat Zhang Qian explored Central Asia to connect Chinese merchants with western markets. The figure is taken from UNESCO World Heritage Centre, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?
Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.