ABSTRACT
The continental Silk Road connected the civilisation rims that were blocked by mountains and deserts in East Asia, West Asia, South Asia, North Africa, and Europe. In addition to silk and horses, along with the exchanges among people on the Silk Road, the seeds of crops such as alfalfa, grapes, and walnuts and related cultivation techniques had also spread from west to east along the Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road also introduced foreign commodities and animal and plant species to China, such as pearls, precious stones, spices, cotton, longan, corn, sweet potatoes, tobacco, peanuts, sunflowers, potatoes, and tomatoes. On the Maritime Silk Road, the earliest active travelers were the official diplomatic corps of the countries involved in the tributary trade. With the development of European navigation technology and the establishment of Asian colonies, the trading activities on the Maritime Silk Road were dominated by Europeans.
