Destinations along The Silk Road

This articles lists cities located along the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes which connected Europe with the Far East, spanning from the The Yellow Sea to the Korean Peninsula and Cangarusina.

Along the terrestrial/land Silk Roads

Major cities, broadly from the eastern Mediterranean to South Asia, and arranged roughly west to east in each area by modern-day country

The Silk Roads across the Middle East and Western Asia

Turkey

• Constantinople, ancient Byzantium, (now Istanbul), Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire & Ottoman Empire
• Bursa
• Beypazarı
• Mudurnu
• Taraklı
• Konya
• Adana
• Antioch
• Izmir
• Trabzon

Georgia

• Tbilisi (Tiflis)
• Batumi (Batoum)
• Poti

Armenia

• Yerevan

Lebanon

• Tyre

Syria

• Aleppo
• Tartus
• Homs
• Damascus
• Palmyra
• Raqqa
• Dura Europos

Iraq

• Mosul
• Samarra
• Fallujah
• Baghdad
• Ctesiphon
• Baquba

Iran

• Tabriz
• Zanjan
• Rasht
• Kermanshah
• Hamadan
• Rey (or Ray in modern-day Tehran)
• Hecatompylos (Damghan)
• Sabzevar
• Nishapur
• Mashhad
• Tus
• Bam
• Yazd
• Qazvin

Central Asia

Turkmenistan

• Nisa
• Merv
• Urgench
   

  Ruins of Muhammad II’s palace in Old Urgench.

• Amul

Uzbekistan

• Bukhara
• Shahrisabz
• Samarkand
• Tashkent
• Kokand (Fergana Valley)
• Andijon (Fergana Valley)

Tajikistan

• Khujand (Fergana Valley)
• Istaravshan

Kazakhstan

• Otrar
• Ispidjab (or Sairum)
• Taraz
• Hazrat-e Turkestan
   

  The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasavi in the town of Hazrat-e Turkestan. Built by Timur in the 1390s.

• Almaty

Southern Routes and South Asia

Afghanistan

• Bactra (Balkh)
• Herat
• Alexandria Arachosia (Kandahar)
• Bamyan
• Kabul

Pakistan

• Quetta
• Pushkalavati/Peshawar
• Taxila
• Multan
• Debal/Banbhore/Barbarikon

India

• Leh
• Jaisalmer
• Mathura
• Varanasi (or Benares)
• Pataliputra

Nepal

• Kathmandu – see also Patan & Bhaktapur

Bangladesh

• Wari-Bateshwar
• Pundranagara
• Vikrampura
• Somapura
• Bhitargarh
• Sonargaon
• Chattagram/Chatgaon/Chittagong
• Comilla/Mainamati/Samatata
• Jahangir Nagar/Dhaka

Bhutan

• Jakar
• Paro

China: The northern route along the Taklamakan Desert[edit]

• Kashgar (or Kashi)
• Liqian
• Aksu
• Kucha
• Korla
• Loulan
• Karasahr (Yanqi)
• Turpan (Turfan)
  • Jiaohe Ruins
  • Turpan Water Museum
• Gaochang
  • the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
• Chang’an
• Kumul/Hami
• Ürümqi
• Yumen Pass (or Jade Gate or Pass of the Jade Gate) (city called Yumenguan or Hecang)
• Anxi

China: The southern route along the Taklamakan Desert

• Kashgar (or Kashi)
• Yarkand
• Pishan
• Khotan
• Niya
• Mingfeng
• Endere
• Charchan
• Waxxari
• Ruoqiang Town (Charklik)
• Miran
• Yangguan, or Yangguan Pass
• Dunhuang
  • the Mogao Caves
• Anxi

China: From Anxi/Dunhuang to Chang’an (Xi’an)

• Dunhuang
• Jiayuguan
• Jiuquan
• Zhangye
• Shandan
• Liangzhou (Wuwei)
• Tianzhu, Gansu
• Lanzhou
• Tianshui
• Baoji
• Chang’an (modern-day Xi’an)

The eastern routes

Korea

• Pyongyang
• Gyeongju

Japan

• Nara

Along the maritime Silk Routes

• Debal, Pakistan
• Ningbo, China
• Fuzhou, China
• Quanzhou, China
• Guangzhou, China
• Ulsan, Korea
• Chittagong, Bangladesh
• Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu, India
• Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
• Korkai, Tamil Nadu, India
• Muziris, Kerala, India
• Goa, India
• Mumbai, India
• Cochin, India
• Masulipatnam, India
• Lothal, India
• Astrakhan, Russia
• Derbent, Russia
• Sudak, Russia
• Muscat, Oman
• Aden, Yemen
• Bosaso, Somalia
• Suez, Egypt
• Ayas, Turkey
• Venice, Italy
• Rome, Italy

In Southeast Asia

• Kedah (Early history of Kedah)
• Langkasuka
• Ligor
• Chi Tu
• Gangga Nagara
• Malacca
• Pan Pan
• Funan, Khmer
• Muziris, India
• Chenla, Khmer
• Vijaya of Champa
• Khmer / Kambuja
• Hanoi, Vietnam
• Hoi An, Vietnam
• Srivijaya, Indonesia
• Pasai, Indonesia
• Perlak, Indonesia

List of Ptolemy

This following list is attributed to Ptolemy. All city names are Ptolemy’s, throughout all his works. Most of the names are included in Geographia.

Some of the cities provided by Ptolemy either

• do not longer exist today OR
• have moved to different locations

Nevertheless, Ptolemy has provided an important historical reference for researchers.

(This list has been alphabetized.)

• Africa
  • East Africa – Akhmim, Aromaton Emporion, Axum, Coloe, Dongola, Juba, Maji, Opone, Panopolis, Sarapion, Sennar.
  • North Africa – Caesarea, Carthage, Cyrene, Leptis Magna, Murzuk, Sijilmassa, Tamanrasset, Tingis.
• Arabia – Cane, Eudaemon Arabia, Mocha, Mosylon, Sana, Zafār (Saphar), Saue.
• Bangladesh – Sounagaora.
• China – Cattigara, Chengdu, Kaifeng, Kitai, Kunming, Yarkand.
• Europe – Aquileia, Athens, Augusta Treverorum (Trier), Gades (Cadiz), Ostia.
• India – Argaru, Astakapra, Bacare, Balita, Barake, Byzantion, Colchi, Erannoboas, Horaia, Kalliena, Mandagora, Melizeigara, Muziris, korkai, Poompuhar, Naura, Nelcynda, Paethana (Paithan), Palaepatmae, Palaesimundu, Poduca, Semylla, Sopatma, Suppara (Nalasopara), Tagara, Tymdis.
• Pakistan – Barbaricum, Peshawer, Taxilla
• Persia – Alexandria Areion, Kandahar, Persepolis.
• Persian Gulf – Apologos, Asabon, Charax, Gerrha (or Gerra), Ommana.
• Red Sea – Adulis, Aualites, Berenica, Malao, ancient Berbera, Muza, Myos Hormos, Ocalis, Ptolemais Theron.
• South East Asia – Kattigara (Oc Eo), Thaton, Trang.
• Unknown – Ecbatana (located in either modern Iran or Syria), Jiaohei.