Silk was a trade item on the Silk Road.
The Silk Road or Silk Route was an ancient network of trade routes that were for centuries central to cultural interaction originally through regions of Eurasia connecting the East and West and stretching from the Korean peninsula and Japan to the Mediterranean Sea . While the term is of modern coinage , the Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk ( and horses ) carried out along its length , beginning during the Han dynasty ( 207 BCE -- 220 CE ) .