On The Silk Road

The name Samarkand evokes images of the exotic Silk Road of antiquity. Samarkand is located in modern day Uzbekistan, in central Asia, North of Afghanistan. It was an administrative center in the Persian Empire. Alexander the Great conquered Samarkand in 329 BCE. The trade route brought silk and spices to the Roman Empire; and it endured long enough to make Venice the richest trade city of Renaissance Europe. The trade in silk caused an enormous outflow of gold and silver from the Roman Empire, creating an a negative balance of trade. In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List.