The Silk Road
The shifting network of routes that carried goods, faith, technology, and ideas between China and the Mediterranean.
What the Silk Road was
Not one road but a shifting web of routes linking China and the Mediterranean, and a name invented long after it faded.
The lay of the land
The deserts, oases, and mountain passes that shaped the overland routes, and the sea lanes that ran alongside them.
Goods and the caravan trade
Silk, paper, spices, glass, and horses moving hand to hand through middlemen, and the caravanserais that sheltered them.
The exchange of ideas
How religions, technologies, art, and even disease travelled the routes alongside the merchandise.
Cities of the Silk Road
Chang'an, Dunhuang, Kashgar, Samarkand, and Bukhara: the hubs where the routes and their cultures met.
Decline and legacy
The rise of sea trade, the Mongol peace and its aftermath, and how the Silk Road echoes in the modern world.