The Great Silk Road is a famous ancient caravan trade route, which played an important role in the developpement of world civilization, it influenced the developpement of trade, cities, arts, and in addition it contributed to the infiltration, formation and mutual enrichment of cultures, religions and languages, which firms an important part of the heritage today. The Great Silk Road is an economical and cultural bridge between Europe and Asia.

Great Silk Road – an original phenomenon of the history of developing of humanity, its aspiration for union and exchanging cultural wealth, conquest of the living spaces and markets for goods. In the East they say: “sitting man is a mat and walking man is a river”. Motion is a life, and traveling, learning of world always was a driving force of progress.

This, the biggest transcontinental trade road in history of humanity had been binding Europe and Asia and in the old time was stretching from antic Rome to ancient capital of Japan Nara. Of course, trade between East and West was from time immemorial, but it was a separate piece of future Great road. For beginning of trade relations in many respects assisted working of in mountains semiprecious stones – lapis lazuli, nephritis, cornelian, turquoise valued in the east. There was “lapis lazuli” road by which they delivered this stone from Central Asia to Iran and Mesopotamia and even to Egypt. At the same time with it appeared nephritis road, which had connected regions Khotana and Yarkent with Northern region of China. Moreover, to the countries of Minor Asia from Sogdiana and Baktria had been exported cornelian and from Khorezm turquoise. All this routs in the end jointed with Silk Road.

Real start of great road, bounded caravan’s way, laid from Central Asia to the west and the South, and routs coming from Chine to East Turkistan, belong to the second century B.C., when for Chinese people for the first time was opened West Side – countries of Central Asia.

We should say that this road was not only one arterial road; it included different itineraries, which formed several branches, like a crown of big three. One of the main roads, crossing Asia from east to west, started at ancient capital of China Chanane and continued until its northwest boundary along desert Gobi, through Tien Shan, part of caravans went to Fergana valley and Tashkent Oasis to Samarkand – capital of Sogdiana, Bukhara, Khorezm, further to the shores of the Caspian Sea. Part of the caravans from Samarqand headed to Baktria and through Kashkadarya valley got out to Termez, from where crossing the Amudarya river, headed to the South to Baktria and India.

Another branch of way from Tarim rounded Takla-Makan desert from South and trough Khotan and Yarkent leaded to Baktria (North Afganistan) and Merv, from where through Persia, Syria reached the Mediterranean, and part of goods by sea got the Rome and Greece.

Downright from name, main subject of trade on caravan ways was silk, very valuable in all sublunary worlds. For example, in the early middle ages silk was most popular calculation unit, forcing out even gold. In Sogdiana price of horse was equated to the price of ten length of silk. With silk paid for finished works, for maintenance of mercenaries, with silk could be paid off for crime.

For the first time to caravan’s road the silk road was given by Venetian merchant Marko Polo, who was the first European that reached the boundary of Chinese empire. And to the scientific turn term “Great Silk Road” in 1877 entered German researcher Ferdinand Rihtgofen in his fundamental work “China”.

Although silk was a main, but not unique goods that was transported on transcontinental road. From Central Asia were exported horses, camels, very estimated in China, military equipments, gold and silver, semiprecious stones and glass wares, leather and worst, carpets and cotton fabrics, gold-embroidery clothes, exotic fruits – watermelons, melons and apricots, fat tail sheep and gun dogs, leopards, lions. From China caravans brought chinaware and iron dishes, furnished wares and cosmetics, tea and rice. In a traveling bag of merchants you could find elephant’s tusk, rhinoceros’s horn, tortoise’s shell, spicier and many other things.

As live memory of nations, laid this unique road connected East and West, can serve ancient Uzbek cities like Samarqand, Bukhara, Khiva, Shaxrizabs, Termez, Tashkent with their architectural monuments, that personifies centuries – old history of Great Silk Road.