Tea Horse Road

The Tea Horse Road was a network of trade routes linking China’s tea-producing regions with Tibet and neighboring areas. It carried tea westward and horses and other goods eastward.

Tea–horse trade: A system of exchange in which Chinese tea was traded for horses from Tibetan and neighboring regions. This exchange gave the route network its name and economic purpose.
Song dynasty: A Chinese dynasty that ruled from 960 to 1279 and expanded state management of tea and horse exchange. Song rulers developed institutions for obtaining horses through tea trade.
Tibetan Plateau: A vast, high-elevation region of Central Asia encompassing Tibet and surrounding areas. The plateau’s communities and geography defined the western reach of the trade.
Tibetan Buddhism: A form of Buddhism that developed in Tibet through the integration of Indian Buddhist traditions and Tibetan practices. Commercial corridors also enabled movement of religious ideas and people between regions.
Tibetan tea brick: A compressed block of tea made for storage and transport, widely used in Tibet and neighboring regions. Compressed tea was suited to long journeys and exchange along these routes.
Tibetan Empire: A powerful Tibetan state that flourished from the seventh to ninth centuries across much of the Tibetan Plateau. Its expansion helped establish early political and commercial connections between Tibet and China.
Tibetan butter tea: A Tibetan drink made by churning tea with butter and salt. Tea carried along the routes became an everyday ingredient in Tibetan food culture.
Sino-Tibetan relations: The historical and political relations between Chinese states and Tibetan polities and communities. Control of trade and access to frontier resources shaped these relations.
Pack animal: An animal trained to carry loads on its back over land. Pack animals carried tea and other goods across terrain where wheeled transport was difficult.
Tea in China: The cultivation, preparation, and use of tea in China, where the plant was domesticated and developed as a major commodity. Chinese tea-producing regions supplied the principal westbound trade good.

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