Historic roads (or historic trails in the US and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient trackways, long-lasting roads, important trade routes, and migration trails. Many historic routes, such as the Silk Road, the Amber Road, and the Royal Road of the Persian Empire, covered great distances and their impact on human settlements remain today.

The Post Track, a prehistoric causeway in the valley of the River Brue in the Somerset Levels, England, is one of the oldest known constructed trackways and dates from around 3800 BCE. The world's oldest known paved road was constructed in Egypt some time between 2600 and 2200 BC.

The Romans were the most significant road builders of the ancient world. At the peak of the Roman Empire there were more than of roads, of which over were stone-paved. Another empire, that of the Incas of pre-Columbian South America, also built an extensive and advanced transportation system.

Much later historic roads include the Red River Trails between Canada and the US, from the 19th century. Such pioneer trails often made use of ancient routes created by indigenous people.

Africa The history of transport in Africa includes some of the earliest paved roads in the world, as well as vast trans-continental trade networks that operated for millennia without formal paving.

Ancient Egypt The world's oldest known paved road, the Lake Moeris Quarry Road, is located in Faiyum, Egypt. Dating to the Old Kingdom period (c. 2600–2200 BC), the road was used to transport massive blocks of basalt from quarries to a quay on the shores of Lake Moeris, from where they were shipped to Giza for pyramid construction. The road covers a distance of 12 km (7.5 mi) and was constructed using slabs of sandstone and limestone, with some sections utilizing petrified wood.Harrell, James A. and Brown, V. Max (1995). "The World's Oldest Surviving Geological Map and Paved Road". Journal of Geology 103 (1): 105–112.

Fuad Street in Alexandria, Egypt is over 2,300 years old. The street was designed after the establishment of the city by Alexander the Great by his Architect Dinocrates of Rhodes, who laid the city’s urban layout. It was known as the Canopic Way in the ancient era and was city’s main street.

Later, the Via Hadriana was constructed by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. It connected Antinoöpolis on the Nile river to the Red Sea port of Berenice Troglodytica, facilitating trade with India and the Horn of Africa.

Horn of Africa In the Horn of Africa, the Kingdom of Aksum (c. 100–940 AD) maintained a sophisticated network of trade routes connecting the interior highlands to the Red Sea.

The Adulis-Aksum Route: The most significant ancient artery was the route connecting the port city of Adulis (near modern Massawa, Eritrea) to the imperial capital at Aksum (in northern Ethiopia). This 8-day caravan journey was a vital link in the global trade network connecting the Roman Empire and India. The route facilitated the export of African ivory, gold, and obsidian, and was described in detail in the 1st-century Greco-Roman text Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.Munro-Hay, Stuart (1991). Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 30–35.

Salt Caravan Routes: Ancient trails connected the Danakil Depression to the Ethiopian highlands. These routes were used for centuries by caravans to transport rock salt bars (known as Amole), which served as currency throughout the region. The difficult ascent from the depression to the highlands required established paths that remained the primary logistical highway for the region well into the 20th century.

Trans-Saharan Trade Routes While not paved in the modern sense, the Trans-Saharan trade routes functioned as permanent highways for the exchange of gold, salt, ivory, and cloth between North Africa and the Sahelian kingdoms. These routes were strictly defined by the location of oases and wells.

The Darb al-Arba'in (The Forty Days Road) was a famous camel track connecting the Nile Valley (specifically Asyut) to the Darfur region in Sudan. It was used from the Old Kingdom of Egypt until the 19th century to trade livestock, spices, and slaves.Kouh, P. (2013). Trade and Travel in the Red Sea Region. Archaeopress. The Garamantian Routes: The Garamantes, a civilization in the Fezzan (modern Libya), developed a complex network of trade routes through the Sahara as early as 500 BC. They utilized chariots and later camels to control trade between the Roman Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa.

Roman North Africa The Roman provinces in North Africa (such as Africa Proconsularis and Mauretania) possessed an extensive road network comparable to that of Europe, built to facilitate military movement and the transport of grain. The Coastal Highway extended from Carthage (Tunisia) through Leptis Magna (Libya) to Alexandria (Egypt). The Limes Tripolitanus was a frontier zone of defense roads and forts protecting the empire from desert incursions, stretching across modern-day Tunisia and Libya.

Asia

China The Silk Road was a major trade route between China and India, Europe, and Arabia. It derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk carried out along its length, beginning in the Han dynasty (207 BCE–220 CE). The Han dynasty expanded the Central Asian section of the trade routes around 114 BCE through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian. The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.

Prior to the Silk Road an ancient overland route existed through the Eurasian Steppe. Silk and horses were traded as key commodities; secondary trade included furs, weapons, musical instruments, precious stones (turquoise, lapis lazuli, agate, nephrite) and jewels. This route extended for approximately . Trans-Eurasian trade through the Steppe Route precedes the conventional date for the origins of the Silk Road by at least two millennia.

See also the Northern Silk Road, the Southern Silk Road: Through Khotan, Tea Horse Road.

The Shudao (), or the "Road(s) to Shu", is a system of mountain roads linking the Chinese province of Shaanxi with Sichuan (Shu), built and maintained since the 4th century BC. Technical highlights were the gallery roads, consisting of wooden planks erected on wooden or stone beams slotted into holes cut into the sides of cliffs. The roads join three adjacent basins separated and surrounded by high mountains. Like many ancient road systems, the Shu Roads formed a network of major and minor roads with different roads being used at different historical times. However, a number of roads are commonly identified as the main routes.Li, Zhiqin, Yan Shoucheng & Hu Ji (1986). Ancient records of the Shu Roads. Xi'an, Northwest University Press. (In Chinese). 蜀道話古，李之勤，阎守诚，胡戟著，西安，西北大学出版社，1986Shu dao hua gu, Li Zhiqin, Yan Shoucheng, Hu Ji zhu, Xi'an, Xibei Daxue Chubanshe, 1986

Japan were roads in Japan dating from the Edo period (between 1603 and 1868). They act important roles in transportation like the Appian Way of ancient Roman roads. Major examples include the Edo Five Routes, all of which started at Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Minor examples include sub-routes such as the Hokuriku Kaidō and the Nagasaki Kaidō.

Kaidō, however, do not include San'yōdō, San'indō, Nankaidō and Saikaidō, which were part of the even more ancient system of Yamato government called Gokishichidō. This was the name for ancient administrative units and the roads within these units, organized in Japan during the Asuka period (AD 538–710), as part of a legal and governmental system borrowed from the Chinese.

Many highways and railway lines in modern Japan follow the ancient routes and carry the same names. The early roads radiated from the capital at Nara or Kyoto. Later, Edo was the reference, and even today Japan reckons directions and measures distances along its highways from Nihonbashi in Chūō, Tokyo.

Indian subcontinent The Grand Trunk Road in the Indian subcontinent was the main road from modern day Bangladesh, through what is now India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. A route since antiquity, it was constructed into a coherent highway by the Maurya Empire in 300 BC. Soon after, the Greek diplomat Megasthenes (c. 350 – c. 290 BC) wrote of his travels along the road to reach Hindu kingdoms in the 3rd century BC After invading India over 1,500 years later, Mughals extended the Grand Trunk Road westwards from Lahore to Kabul (the capital of Afghanistan) crossing the Khyber Pass. The road was later improved and extended from Calcutta to Peshawar by the British rulers of colonial India. For many centuries, the road has acted as a major trade route and facilitated travel and postal communication. The Grand Trunk Road remains under use for transportation in India. The Khyber Pass was an all-season mountain pass connecting Afghanistan to western Pakistan.

Brick-paved streets appeared in India as early as 3000 BC.Lay, Maxwell G (1992). Ways of the World: A History of the World's Roads and of the Vehicles that Used Them. Rutgers University Press.

Europe

Except for Roman roads, European pathways were rarely in good shape and depended on the geography of the region. In the early Middle Ages, people often preferred to travel along elevated drainage divides or ridgeways rather than in the valleys. This was due to thick forests and other natural obstacles in valleys.

The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.Graciela Gestoso Singer, "Amber in the Ancient Near East", i-Medjat No. 2 (December 2008). Papyrus Electronique des Ankou. Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade. As an important commodity, sometimes dubbed "the gold of the north", amber was transported overland by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to the Mediterranean area from at least the 16th century BC.Anthony F. Harding, "Reformation and Barbarism in Europe, 1300–600 BC", in Barry W. Cunliffe, ed., Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe, Oxford, Oxford U. Press, 2001. The breast ornament of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen (ca. 1333–1324 BC) contains large Baltic amber beads.Reeves, C.N. The Complete Tutankhamun: the king, the tomb, the Royal Treasure. London, Thames & Hudson, 1990.Serpico, M. and White, R. "Resins, amber and bitumen". in P.T. Nicholson – I. Shaw (ed.). Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000, Part. II, Chapter 18, 430–75: 451–54). Cited, Gestoso Singer.Hood, S., "Amber in Egypt", in C. W. Beck & J. Bouzek (ed.) Amber in Archaeology (Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Amber in Archaeology, Liblice 1990, Institute of Archaeology): 230–35. Prague: Czech Academy of Sciences. The quantity of amber in the Royal Tomb of Qatna, Syria, is unparalleled for known second millennium BC sites in the Levant and the Ancient Near East.Anna J. Mukherjee, et al., "The Qatna lion: scientific confirmation of Baltic amber in late Bronze Age Syria" Antiquity 82 (2008), pp. 49–59. From the Black Sea, trade could continue to Asia along the Silk Road.