Origin
Chang'an / Xi'an
Western Han capital · 202 BCE – 9 CE
The eastern terminus. Today one of China's major inland rail hubs, where China–Europe container expresses begin their westbound run.
OpenPlanetView →OpenPlanetView Network · Eurasian Desk
The Digital Silk Road
Traversing ancient trade corridors through modern lenses — from the Chang'an caravanserais to the rail terminals of today's Eurasian land bridge, documented street by street.
- Corridors Tracked
- 3 overland · middle · maritime
- Waypoints Mapped
- — ancient hubs & modern nodes
- Span
- ~12,000 km Xi'an → Venice, as the caravans walked
- Eras
- 2 caravan routes & container rails
Interactive Selector
Choose Your Corridor
Three routes, one continent. Each waypoint pairs its historic role with its function on the map today.
Regional Documentation
Five Regions, Two Millennia
Each regional hub pairs its ancient role with its modern logistics function.
Gateway
Hexi Corridor & Dunhuang
Jade Gate pass · Mogao caves
The narrow desert funnel where every caravan had to pass — and where the route met the Buddhist, Persian and Graeco-Bactrian worlds.
OpenPlanetView →Crossroads
Samarkand & Bukhara
Sogdian merchant cities
A heart of trans-Eurasian commerce. Sogdian traders ran credit and agency networks along much of the route — among the earliest long-distance commercial financiers.
Documentation plannedBridge
Istanbul / Constantinople
Byzantine & Ottoman capital · 330–1453+
The western gate of the overland route. Its fall in 1453 is one of the factors historians cite in Europe's turn toward the sea routes.
OpenPlanetView →Terminus
Venice
Maritime republic · silk entrepôt
The western terminus where eastern goods were re-exported across Europe — until the Portuguese sea route to India opened in 1498.
Documentation plannedFrom Caravan to Container
2,000 Years in Six Stops
Zhang Qian's Embassy
The Han envoy's journey to Central Asia opens the first documented east–west corridor — and China learns of the horses of Ferghana.
Silk Reaches Rome
Roman writers complain about the drain of bullion eastward. Pliny the Elder put the outflow to India, China and Arabia at 100 million sesterces a year.
Chang'an, World Capital
Tang-era Chang'an hosts foreign merchants, monks and envoys in large numbers — among the most cosmopolitan cities of its age.
The Polo Journey
Marco Polo's account of the Mongol-era route becomes one of Europe's main written sources on the East for two centuries.
The Sea Route Wins
Constantinople falls; then Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut. Overland Eurasian trade enters a long eclipse.
Steel Replaces the Caravan
The corridor returns as rail: container expresses, dry ports and digital customs reconnect the oasis cities — now documented street by street.
The Wider Network
One Continent, One Lens
Silk Street View sits inside the OpenPlanetView ecosystem — physical-world documentation for global trade intelligence.