# data[].attributes.body
Father of the Silk Road?!?!?!
A man named named Zhang Qian is often called "The Father of the Silk Road"  His travels opened up  a way for trade between china and its western neighbors. In 138 B.C.E, a Han Emporer sent Zhang, along with 100 men to the west
Silk as a Trade Good?!?!
Silk is a fiber used to make cloth. Silk cloth is strong, but also warm, light, and soft. Silk was a valuable good for trade because, at first, only the Chinese people knew how to make it. The Chinese had discovered how to make silk out of the fibers taken from the cocoon of the silkworm. To protect the trade value of silk, the Chinese tried to keep their production process a secret. Under Han rule, revealing the silk-making process was a crime punishable by death.

Rome Trades Glassware for Silk!!!!
When people of other cultures learned about silk, it became a highly prized material. The Romans, in particular, eagerly traded valuable goods for silk.

The first time the Romans saw silk was likely during a battle near the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia. At a key point in the fighting, the enemy unfurled many colorful silk banners. The Romans lost the battle, but this experience led them to want to acquire this remarkable new material.

# data[].attributes.body
The Silk road was not one Continuous road , more like a  Network, with many stops for traders along the way. Most traders would move in between these stops, instead of journeying thousands miles along the entire length of the road.
Traveling The Eastern Silk Road
From Luoyang,  the silk road went along the Gobi Desert to Dunhang(in northeastern China).
To protect themselves before entering the desert, farmers would very often travel in long Caravans of Camels
Goods Exchanged Along the Eastern Silk Road!?!?!
It was costly to carry goods over the Silk Road. For traders to make a profit, goods had to be valuable. They also had to be easy to carry so that merchants could transport more goods on fewer animals. ilk was the perfect trading good because it was both light and valuable. Huge quantities of silk traveled along the Eastern Silk Road from China. Traded for other goods, the silk eventually reached the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where it was then taken by boat to Rome and other Mediterranean cities.

# data[].attributes.body
Kashgar was the central trading point at which the Eastern Silk Road and the Western Silk Road met. Goods from all around Europe and Asia were exchanged and sent to the right places.
Traveling the Western Silk Road
A Journey west from Kashgar began with a difficult trek across the Pamir mountains. Mosr  of the mountain passes were skinny and dangerous. Along this part of the path,  sometimes called the “trail of bones,” left many people and animals dead. After the Pamir Mountains, the route took travelers through a fertile valley in what is now the country of Afghanistan. Then the route went across the Iranian Plateau, passed south of the Caspian Sea, and crossed Mesopotamia.
Goods Exchanged Along the Western Silk Road
Many goods traveled along the Western Silk Road and eventually ended up in China. Traders from Egypt, Arabia, and Persia brought perfumes, cosmetics, and carpets. Central Asian traders brought metal items and dyes, and sometimes traded slaves.

# data[].attributes.body
The trade between East and West along the Silk Road created cultural diffusion, in which ideas and knowledge—as well as goods—spread from one culture to another. For example, China and Rome did not merely trade new products with each other. In time, they learned how to make these products for themselves
Diets, gardening, and agriculture also changed as trade introduced new plants into different areas. For example, China imported many new foods and spices.