![]() ![]() Trans-Eurasian trade through the Steppe Route precedes the conventional date for the origins of the Silk Road by at least two millennia. This route extended for approximately 10,000 km (6,200 mi). Silk and horses were traded as key commodities secondary trade included furs, weapons, musical instruments, precious stones (turquoise, lapis lazuli, agate, nephrite) and jewels. Prior to the Silk Road an ancient overland route existed through the Eurasian Steppe. The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route. The Han dynasty expanded the Central Asian section of the trade routes around 114 BCE through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian. It derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk carried out along its length, beginning in the Han dynasty (207 BCE–220 CE). The Silk Road was a major trade route between China and India, Europe, and Arabia. as centuries passed, well-trodden paths were made, winding among the rocks, and, by the easiest of grades, over or around hills". Some suggest that the portage routes of North American indigenous peoples followed "the game trails the animals had made around rough water. Roe disputes this theory – and its wider application – in "The 'Wild Animal Path' Origin of Ancient Roads". ![]() One of the most interesting of specific examples of a railway following an ancient highway of buffalo and Indian is to be found on the Baltimore and Ohio. How important these strategic points are now considered is evident from the fact that a railway crosses the mountains at each of them the New York Central, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Pennsylvania, and the Chesapeake and Ohio cross the first great divide in the eastern portion of our country on routes selected centuries ago by the plunging buffalo. It is also obvious that the buffalo found the course from Atlantic waters to the head of the Great Kanawha, and that he opened a way from the Potomac to the Ohio. It is certain that he discovered Cumberland Gap and his route through that pass in the mountains has been accepted as one of the most important on the continent. That he found the points of least resistance across our great mountain ranges there can be little doubt. That sagacious animal undoubtedly “blazed”-with his hoofs on the surface of the earth-the course of many of our roads, canals, and railways. There is great truth in Thomas Benton's figure when he said that the buffalo blazed the way for the railways to the Pacific. The buffalo, because of his sagacious selection of the most sure and most direct courses, has influenced the routes of trade and travel of the white race as much, possibly, as he influenced the course of the red-men in earlier days. It is claimed that some of the earliest roads were created by humans who followed already existing paths made by animals, and, in particular, that trails created by the herds of buffalo shaped the routes taken first by indigenous peoples and then colonists, especially in North America: Such pioneer trails often made use of ancient routes created by indigenous people.įurther information: American bison § Habitat and trails Much later historic roads include the Red River Trails between Canada and the US, from the 19th century. Another empire, that of the Incas of pre-Columbian South America, also built an extensive and advanced transportation system. At the peak of the Roman Empire there were more than 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) of roads, of which over 80,000 kilometres (50,000 mi) were stone-paved. The Romans were the most significant road builders of the ancient world. The world's oldest known paved road was constructed in Egypt some time between 26 BC. The Post Track, a prehistoric causeway in the valley of the River Brue in the Somerset Levels, England, is one of the oldest known constructed trackways and dates from around 3800 BCE. ![]() Many historic routes, such as the Silk Road, the Amber Road, and the Royal Road of the Persian Empire, covered great distances and their impact on human settlements remain today. They include ancient trackways, long-lasting roads, important trade routes, and migration trails. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. Historic roads (historic trails in USA and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. The Roman Appian Way, near Casal Rotondo, to the southeast of Rome, Italy. (The trackways date to the 4th and 7th century AD). The map of Achaemenid Empire and the section of the Royal Road, of the Persian Empire, noted by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (c. For ancient animal trackways, see Fossil trackway. ![]()
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