A German geographer scholar, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen gave it that romantic name in the late 1800s. In AD 200, this transcontinental route linked the Roman Empire in the west with the imperial court of China and India. Trade along the route was carried on by foreign traders who belonged to neither of the two old empires.
Before the discovery of the sea route to India, the Silk Road was the most important connection between the East and West. It experienced its last great era during the time of the Mongol Empire. Marco Polo and Monk Hiuen Tsiang and Ibn Battuta are some of the great Travelers came to Sri Lanka Tough Silk Route. Sri Lanka had diplomatic and trade relations with Romans and China.
The earliest authenticated reference to Sri Lankan links with Rome is made by the Roman historian and naturalist Pliny the elder who fell victim to the catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Pliny chronicles an account of a Sri Lankan embassy to Rome in the reign of emperor Claudius Caesar (10 B.C. - 54 B.C.).
He records that the leader of the embassy, who is identified by the Roman appellation 'Rachia' spoke of stalwart men of light complexion, blue slit eyes, coarse voices and lacking a common language who called for trade at the port of Mantota in the Mannar coast, then a flourishing trade entry point in the island.
Chinese who regularly called over at this port on their trade missions. The Chinese began exporting ceramics and silk to Sri Lanka as early as the Roman period or even earlier. By the beginning of the ninth century there was a brisk trade in these commodities - shards of Chinese ceramicware found scattered in many places along the coastline of the Jaffna peninsula possibly from ancient shipwrecks.
Some years back a hoard of 6000 fragments of Chinese ceramic ware of undetermined age was discovered at the historic port of Allaipiddy in Jaffna. These findings are symbolic of the regular trade links between early China and Sri Lanka.
Located between India and the Malay Peninsula, the Bay of Bengal linked Eastern Asia with the Indian Sub-continent. On the Indian side, Madras and Pondcherry dominated the Chola Coast where ships set sail for Eastern Asia. Other ships on the maritime trade route between Rome and China passed through Sri Lanka. Often Indian ships collected these cargos and set out for Eastern Asia. In order to reach Vietnam or China the ships had to pass through the Straits of Malacca.
This was considered a dangerous voyage, where ruthless "sea gypsies" or pirates were known to lurk. An option to this, was to unload the cargo on the shore and pay the local people to transport it across the Isthmus of Kra to the far coast where Chinese Junks could collect it. Since this was a difficult undertaking, the majority of trade passed through the Strait of Malacca. Cities overlooking the strait, such as Srivijar (near modern day Palembang) and Malacca became rich and powerful through trade and taxes on passing ships.
A Roman Transport Ship & A Chinese Ship
An Egyptian Ship
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