where did the silk road get its name
Silk Road 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 â€“ 220 CE). The Han dynasty expanded Central Asian sections of the trade routes around 114 BCE, largely through missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy, Zhang Qian.[4] The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.[5]
Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (/ˈɡoʊ.bi/; Mongolian: Говь, Gowĭ, [ɢɔwʲ], "semidesert"; Chinese: 戈壁; pinyin: Gēbì, Xiao'erjing: قْبِ, [kɤ́.pî], Dungan: Гәби) is a large desert region in Asia.[1] It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Taklamakan Desert to the west, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, and by the North China Plain to the southeast. The Gobi is notable in history as part of the great Mongol Empire, and as the location of several important cities along the Silk Road.