By modern standards the time taken to travel the Silk Road, or just sections of it, seem impossibly daunting quite apart from the hazards and hardships of the journey.
Six months was the probable time scale for a journey between Samarkand and Beijing. One traveller from the West to Karakorum took 15 weeks to cover 3,000 miles, achieved by using sturdy Mongol horse teams. In the 13th and 14th centuries these hardy ponies were to open up a fast highway across the Asian steppes.
For a period, travellers enjoyed some security from a pax Mongolica which enabled trade across Eurasia to grow rapidly. The “peace” kept the road to Beijing safe by day and night. Camel caravans were able to camp in the open.
Mounting and maintaining a caravan was costly in man and animal power. Away from the main oases, water was a constant concern. Camels were essential. They carried more weight than other pack animals and needed less water and pasture. And their feet did not sink in the sand.
Maintaining oases demanded substantial resources. Turfan, on the fringes of the desert, is a case in point - a place where the summer heat was so great that people lived underground. Only extensive irrigation systems allowed the farming of grains and fruit and the rearing of sheep and horses.
The routes themselves needed protection. The Chinese relied on a chain of watch towers which signalled each other using smoke or flags. They also built postal stations on the routes, each having a complement of pack animals and carts.
