Ancient Trade Routes & Maritime Highways
Explore the ancient world’s great overland and maritime trade highways: the Silk Road, Persian Royal Road, Incense Trail, Via Appia, Amber Road, and Qhapaq Ñan with interactive vector GIS maps and site links.
The Silk Road (Trans-Eurasian Trunk)
The legendary overland corridor linking Chang’an, Central Asian oases, Palmyra, and Constantinople
The Persian Royal Road (Chaparkhaneh)
Darius the Great’s 2,700-km paved postal network linking Sardis, Anatolia, and Susa in seven days
The Incense Route (Frankincense Trail)
From the frankincense groves of Dhofar and Shabwa across the Hejaz to Hegra, Petra, and the Mediterranean
The Imperial Roman Highway (Via Appia & Via Egnatia)
The paved basalt spine connecting the Roman Forum to Brundisium, Thessalonica, and Constantinople
The Amber Road (Baltic to Adriatic)
The prehistoric trade corridor bringing golden Baltic succinite amber across Central Europe to Aquileia and Rome
Qhapaq Ñan (The Great Inca Highway)
The 30,000-km masterwork of pre-Columbian engineering scaling the Andean cordillera from Quito through Cusco to Lake Titicaca
The Maritime Silk & Erythraean Spice Route
The monsoon-driven sea highway linking Roman Egypt, Axum, Malabar pepper ports, Sri Lanka, and Canton
The Anatolian Tin & Obsidian Highway (Kültepe-Kanesh Karum)
The Bronze Age network linking Assur, Kültepe-Kanesh, Hattusha, and Troy with donkey caravans carrying tin and cuneiform tablets