Chapter 8 Outline ? Networks of Communication and Exchange, 300 b.c.e.?1100 c.e. Networks of Communication and Exchange, 300 b.c.e.?1100 c.e. I. The Silk Road Origins and Operations The Silk Road was an overland route that linked China to the Mediterranean world via Mesopotamia, Iran, and Central Asia. There were two periods of heavy use of the Silk Road: (1) 150 b.c.e.?907 c.e. and (2) the thirteenth through seventeenth centuries c.e. The origins of the Silk Road trade may be located in the occasional trading of Central Asian nomads. Regular, large-scale trade was fostered by the Chinese demand for western products (particularly horses) and by the Parthian state in northeastern Iran and its control of the markets in Mesopotamia.