silk roads
Historic trade network
The Silk Roads were ancient trade routes connecting East Asia to the Mediterranean, named for the Chinese silk that traveled westward along them.
The plural reflects that these were networks of paths rather than a single highway—through Central Asian deserts, mountain passes, and oasis towns.
Beyond silk, the routes carried spices, ideas, religions, and diseases.
Silk Road now names online black markets, after the infamous cryptocurrency bazaar shut down by the FBI in 2013.
- spicePlant-derived food flavoring
- spice tradeHistorical exchange of aromatics
- ancient trade routesOld pathways for commerce
- BuddhismEnlightenment-seeking Eastern religion
- marketVenue for trade
cultural exchange · East meets West · caravanserai · desert oasis · Zoroastrianism · Islamic Golden Age · jade · Persian poetry · camel · Confucianism · oasis · Central Asia · paper money · barter economy · Marco Polo · caravan trails · routes · Persia
- Asian landscapesHimalayas, Mount Fuji, rice terraces, Yangtze River, Yellow River
- embroiderycross stitch, cross-stitch, French knot, needlepoint, crewelwork
silk roadssea routes
Navigable ocean pathways
spice routes · shipping lanes · Age of Sail · Columbian Exchange
silk roadsisolationism
Policy avoiding foreign alliances
autarky · closed borders · trade embargo · sakoku · iron curtain