History of silk and in part replaced natural silk. Following the crisis in Europe, the modernization of sericulture in Japan made it the world's foremost silk producer. By the early 20th century, rapidly industrializing Japan was producing as much as 60 percent of the world's raw silk, most exports shipping through the port of Yokohama. Italy managed to rebound from the crisis, but France was unable. Urbanization in Europe saw many French and Italian agricultural workers leave silk growing for more lucrative factory work. Raw silk was imported from Japan to fill the void. Asian countries, formerly exporters of raw materials (cocoons and
Cities along the Silk Road of the names are included in "Geographia". Some of the cities provided by Ptolemy either Nevertheless, Ptolemy has provided an important historical reference for researchers. Cities along the Silk Road This articles lists cities located along the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes which connected Europe with the Far East, spanning from the Mediterranean Sea to the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Major cities, broadly from the eastern Mediterranean to South Asia, and arranged roughly west to east in each area by modern-day country "Turkey" "Georgia" "Armenia" "Lebanon" "Syria" "Iraq" "Iran" "Turkmenistan" "Uzbekistan" "Tajikistan" "Kazakhstan"