What was the Silk Road, and why did it matter so much?
It moved more than silk - it moved civilizations.
The answer
The Silk Road was a 6,400-kilometer network of trade routes connecting China to the Mediterranean from roughly the 2nd century BCE to the 15th century CE. Far beyond silk, it transported spices, precious metals, paper, gunpowder, religions (Buddhism, Islam, Christianity), mathematical concepts, and unfortunately, diseases including the Black Death. It was less a single road than a web of caravan paths, sea routes, and oasis towns that served as the backbone of premodern globalization.
Source: UNESCO
- trade
- ancient world
- globalization
- Asia
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