| 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 |
