Memorabilia along the Silk Road

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3000 B.C.	Silk first produced in China
1500 B.C.	Semi-nomadic stockbreeding tribes inhabit steppes
753 B.C.	Rome founded
500 B.C.	Chinese adopt nomadic style, wear trousers and ride horses
551 - 479 B.C.	Confucius born in China
400 B.C.	Greek culture spread into Central Asia
300 B.C.	Roman expansion begins
	Qin dynasty unites the entire China for the first time
	Qin Great Wall completed
	Han dynasty overthrows the Qin and develops its vast empire
	Buddhism begins to spread north
	Paper first made in China
200 B.C.	The Xiongnu (Huns) rise to power in Central Asia and invade Chinese western border regions
	Zhang Qian travels the Western Regions and opens the route west
100 B.C.	Rome becomes to an empire
1 A.D.	Silk first seen in Rome
	Buddhism begins to spread from India into Central Asia
	Xiongnu controls the Tarim region
	Christianity begins to spread in the world
	General Ban Chao of the Han dynasty defeats Xiongnu and keeps the peace in the Tarim Basin
	The first attempt from China to Rome fails
100 A.D.	Roman empire at its largest
	The first Roman envoy arrives in China
	Buddhism reaches China
200 A.D.	Han dynasty falls and the China breaks up
300 A.D.	Skill of sericulture begins to spread west along the Silk Road
	Xiongnu invades China and China further dissolved into fragments
500 A.D.	Silkworm breeding appears in Europe
	Nestorian Christians reach China
	Sui dynasty reunites China
600 A.D.	Tang dynasty rules in China

	The Silk Road reaches its golden age
	Xuan Zang's pilgrimage to India
700 A.D.	Tang dynasty begins to decline, and with it, the Silk Road drops into a valley
800 A.D.	First porcelain made in China
	Gunpowder invented in China
	Compass begins to be used by Chinese
900 A.D.	Tang dynasty ends
	After short abruption, the Song dynasty reunites China
1100 A.D.	China divided into Northern Sung and Southern Sung
	Genghis Khan unites Mongols
	Silk production and weaving established in Italy
1200 A.D.	Kublai Khan establishes the Yuan dynasty in China
	Silk road trade prospers again
	Marco Polo leaves for the East
1300 A.D.	Third Silk Road route appears in the north
	Yuan dynasty ends and Ming dynasty begins
1400 A.D.	China closes the door to foreigners
	Threatened by strong Uigur power, Ming dynasty greatly reduces the trade along the Silk Road
1600 A.D.	Manchus invades the central plains of China and establish the Qing dynasty
1700 A.D.	The Manchus control the Gobi and Altai districts
1800 A.D.	German scholar, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen firstly names this route as "Silk Road"
	Manchus take over the Tarim Basin, and Xinjiang province established under Qing dynasty
	Lost cities unearthed along the old Silk Road
1900 A.D.	Chinese revolution - end of Chinese feudal dynasties
	Europeans begin to travel in the Silk Road
	Karakoram highway from Islamabad to Kashgar built by China and Pakistan