The Silk Road was used regularly from 130 BCE to 1453.

The Silk Road was used regularly from 130 BCE to 1453.

• A. 130 BCE to 1453
• B. 500 BCE to 0
• C. 1 CE to 1000
• D. 200 CE to 900 CE

Answer: (A)

The concept being tested is the time span over which the Silk Road operated as a regular, organized trade network across Eurasia. Regular overland exchange began around the late second century BCE, roughly 130 BCE, as Han China established routes and maintained caravan corridors through Central Asia. This system stayed active for many centuries, supported by successive empires—Han, Parthian, Sasanian, and later Islamic caliphates, Byzantium, and Indian kingdoms—carrying silk, spices, metals, and ideas. By 1453 CE the classic overland Silk Road effectively ended, as the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople closed regular land routes between East and West. Maritime routes continued, but the sustained overland network that defined the Silk Road declined around this time. Other date ranges either begin too early or end too soon to capture this long, continuous period of regular exchange.

The concept being tested is the time span over which the Silk Road operated as a regular, organized trade network across Eurasia. Regular overland exchange began around the late second century BCE, roughly 130 BCE, as Han China established routes and maintained caravan corridors through Central Asia. This system stayed active for many centuries, supported by successive empires—Han, Parthian, Sasanian, and later Islamic caliphates, Byzantium, and Indian kingdoms—carrying silk, spices, metals, and ideas.

By 1453 CE the classic overland Silk Road effectively ended, as the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople closed regular land routes between East and West. Maritime routes continued, but the sustained overland network that defined the Silk Road declined around this time. Other date ranges either begin too early or end too soon to capture this long, continuous period of regular exchange.