Long before the Silk Road, silkworm cocoons already existed in Uzbekistan

In 138BC, Chinese diplomat and explorer Zhang Qian was sent as an envoy to the western regions. The Han dynasty envoy failed to achieve his emperor’s goal of launching a pincer attack against the Xiongnu nomadic confederation, but he unexpectedly discovered a route. The land route started from Changan, present-day Xian, and passed through Gansu province and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, reaching Central and West Asia, and connecting various countries along the Mediterranean. Among the...