Content Students Must Know

Geographical Setting

The term Silk Road denotes a network of trails and trading posts connecting East Asia to the Mediterranean. The Silk Road network stretched from the anciet Chinese capital city of Chang'an (now Xi'an) to Byzantium (constantinople), Antioch, Damascus, and other Middle Eastern cities.Beyond these points, other trade networks distributed Silk Road goods throughout the Mediterranean world and to Europe.

The Concept of Asia

Asia can be thought of as the major part of a larger physical territory, the continent of Eurasia. The Eurasian landmass is bounded by the Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, and the Red and Mediterranean Seas, including islands and archipelagos east and south of the landmass (excluding Oceania).

Eurasia's Subregions

  • Intermontaine Desert and Oasis Belt
  • China
  • The Mediterranean
  • The Middle East
  • South Asia
  • Northeast Asia
  • Northern Europe
  • Mainland Southeast Asia
  • Island Southeast Asia
  • TheBoreal Forest
  • The Arctic Littoral
  • Trans-Eurasian Steppe Belt

Students will study maps and create their own maps of the regions.

Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) and the Silk Road Project http://www.silkroadproject.org/teachers/index.html