[Sca-cooks] Silk Road timeframe

[Terry Decker]

The Silk Road (which is actually a number of trade routes rather than a 
single highway) is over 5000 miles long.  A camel caravan can make 25 miles 
a day, but the length of the journey is such that rest, recuperation, 
weather, and trade would likely cut the daily average to 10 miles per day 
resulting in about a two year journey.

In fact, very few caravans would make the entire trek.  Goods would be 
traded from merchant to merchant over the length of the route, being 
transferred to different caravans over time.  Individuals travelled the 
entire route for their own purposes, but trade goods normally would not.

Most caravans would have travelled in the Spring, Fall or Winter (say after 
the rain, but before the drought) depending on local weather conditions.

Bear

>I tried asking this once before, but it got lost in a sea of other threads.
>
> I need to know what time of year caravans left Constantinople, how long it 
> took for them to reach Samarkand and then how long to reach Beijing.  I 
> want the courses to reflect the meals they would have in each place.
>
> So far, the consensus is that caravans left in late winter/early spring.
>
> Can anyone tell me for some degree of certainty what the timeframe was?
>
> Thanx
> Morgana