Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s1.2

v2.c13.s1.2

The term “Silk Road” was first put forward by a German geographer, Ferdinand von Richthofen, in his book *China* published in 1877. It was called *Seidenstrassen* in German and originally referred to the route of the silk trade between China and Transoxiana and India, in the Western and Eastern Han dynasties. German historian Hermann extended the Silk Road to the western end of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. He settled the basic configuration of the Silk Road through further investigation into the literary records, in his book *The Ancient Silk Road between China and Syria* (Berlin, 1910). At the same time, at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century, some foreign explorers discovered a large number of remains and relics of ancient China and the western regions related to trade and cultural exchanges in northwestern China. The history and archaeology of the Silk Road soon became an important topic of academic research among scholars around the world. Many scholarly works were written and theories formulated which broadened the scope of study of the Silk Road.