From caravan route to the UNESCO list: where does the name "Silk Road" come from, and which of its parts are on the World Heritage List?

The name "Silk Road" for the route caravans travelled for centuries appeared much later, in 19th-century works in German. Today parts of this route stand on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "corridors": the Chang'an–Tianshan Corridor in 2014 and the Zarafshan–Karakum Corridor in 2023. Short theses and a calculation of how prices grow in trade with many intermediaries.

Whenever Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva come up, the phrase "Great Silk Road" is almost always mentioned. Interestingly, the merchants who travelled these routes did not call it that themselves. Both the name and the recognition of the route as world heritage came much later.

Key theses

Not one road but a network. "Silk Road" refers to many overland routes linking East and West. UNESCO, too, is inscribing it not as a single site but divided into separate "corridors" (World Heritage Site).
The name appeared in the 19th century. The German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen used the term "Seidenstraße" (Silk Road) in his multi-volume work on China in 1877. The term became widely popular in the 1930s, especially after Sven Hedin's 1936 book (German Way).
Who used the term first is debated. In 2019 the researcher M. Mertens showed in "The Silk Road" journal that the term also appears in German works predating Richthofen. So rather than saying "Richthofen invented the term", it is more accurate to say "it became widely known through him".
2014: the first Silk Road corridor. "Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an–Tianshan Corridor" was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2014 as a joint site of China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (UNWTO, World Heritage Site).
2023: the Zarafshan–Karakum Corridor. The joint nomination of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in September 2023 (UCL, Daryo, yuz.uz). According to yuz.uz, Uzbekistan acted as coordinator in preparing the nomination.
Cities along the route were recognised earlier. Uzbekistan's historic cities entered the list before the corridors: Itchan Kala in Khiva in 1990, the Historic Centre of Bukhara in 1993, the Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz in 2000 and "Samarkand – Crossroad of Cultures" in 2001 (Wikipedia list, WorldAtlas).

Then and now

Aspect	Era of caravan trade	Today
Name of the route	Today's name not yet in use	"Silk Road" (a term widespread since the 19th century)
Recognition	A trade route	UNESCO World Heritage: corridors (2014, 2023) and individual cities (1990–2001)
Movement of goods	By caravan, through many intermediaries	Rail, road, air, logistics companies

Example: if there are many intermediaries, how does the price grow?

The following example was prepared by the author; the figures are hypothetical and do not represent historical prices. It helps explain why prices rose so sharply along long trade routes.

A bolt of cloth costs a hypothetical 100 coins at the start of the route. Four merchants carry it to its destination in turn, and each sells it for the price he paid plus 25%:

Stage	Calculation	Price
Starting price	—	100.00 coins
Merchant 1	100 × 1.25	125.00 coins
Merchant 2	125 × 1.25	156.25 coins
Merchant 3	156.25 × 1.25	195.31 coins
Merchant 4	195.31 × 1.25	244.14 coins

Check: 100 × 1.25⁴ = 244.14. Although each merchant added "only 25%", the final buyer pays almost 2.44 times the starting price. Markups are not additive but multiplicative: 4 × 25% is not 100% but an increase of about 144%.

Practical lesson: the same logic works in today's import chains. If goods are bought directly from the manufacturer, each intermediate markup drops out. When analysing a price, it helps to write down the number of intermediaries and each one's markup separately.

Link to the previous period: Ibn Khaldun wrote about the effect of trade and taxes on the prosperity of the state, and the legacy of Imam al-Bukhari raises questions of honesty in trade. Trade along the Silk Road was one of the practical arenas where such ideas were applied. The next stage: the era when paper money and credit documents began to replace goods.