Challenges of Silk Road Map Activity

The challenges that the Silk Road map activity posed included the difficulty of identifying the locations of the cities or other geographical features. It was also difficult to accurately portray the routes of the Silk Road from the reading. At times, the reading did not indicate how the route reached a certain area. For example, one of routes went to the south of the Caspian Sea and then across the Karakorum into India. It was a struggle to try to figure out how that would happen after finding out Karakorum's location. Otherwise, there were no other problems with completing the assignment. In regards to the struggles that these routes may have presented to merchants and caravans, the differing environments along the way would have definitely been an issue. They could be crossing deserts, rivers, or moving through cities. They have to be incredibly prepared for such a journey in advance. Also, traveling such lengths across dangerous and barren terrains such as mountains and deserts can lead to robberies by nomadic herds or barbarians living near the routes. This would add another important challenge for the merchants when it comes to trading.