Start here
The Epic Journey of the Silk Road: A Network of Ancient Trade Routes
An overview of the Silk Road as a web of linked overland and sea routes: the main stops from China to the Mediterranean, the goods, and the travellers.
Persia and Asia
The Silk Road
The overland trade routes linking China, Central Asia and the west, and the people who travelled them.
The Ancient Chinese Silk Road: A Story of Trade and Cultural Exchange
How silk was made in Han China, why the state needed it, and what moved between Chang'an and the western regions in exchange for silk.
The Ancient Chinese: The Origins of the Silk Road
How the Silk Road took shape: Zhang Qian's Han missions from about 138 BCE, earlier exchange on the steppe, and the 1877 origin of the name.
The Forgotten Civilization of the Sogdians
The Sogdian merchants of Samarkand and Bukhara carried goods, languages and religions across the Silk Road, from roughly the 4th to the 8th century CE.
The Forgotten History of the Sogdians
The history, language and religion of the Sogdian homeland: the city-states of Samarkand and Bukhara, their rulers, art, beliefs and gradual transformation.
The Impact of the Silk Road on Ancient Trade and Culture
How religions, technologies, foods and art spread along the Silk Road, from Buddhism and paper to grapes, Gandharan sculpture and Dunhuang manuscripts.
Related topics
More in persia and asia
Persian and Arabian Crossroads Susa, Ctesiphon and the Sabaean incense kingdom. Central Asian Kingdoms The Kushan Empire and the Tarim Basin mummies. Petra and the Nabataeans The rock-cut capital of the Nabataeans in Jordan, its builders and its rediscovery. Phoenician People and Seafaring The city-states of the Levant coast, their ships, trade, colonies and alphabet. Chinese Thought and Arts Daoist ideas, balance, the five phases and the brush arts of early China. Chinese Dynasties and Inventions Early Chinese dynasties, the Qin unification, its monuments and the inventions that followed. Angkor and the Khmer The temples and royal city of Angkor in Cambodia and the Khmer builders behind them. Mohenjo-Daro and Indus Cities The planned cities of the Indus Valley, led by Mohenjo-Daro. Harappans and Vedic India The Harappan culture of the Indus plains and the Vedic traditions that came after. Persepolis and Achaemenid Persia The Achaemenid Persian rulers and their ceremonial capital at Persepolis. Qin and the Terracotta Army The First Emperor, his buried army and the walls of the north. Imperial China The Han, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. Mongols and Steppe Peoples Mongols, Yuan, Timurids, Huns and Xiongnu on the steppe. Caliphates and Ottomans The Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates and the rise of the Ottomans. Shambhala and Lost Cities The Shambhala legend and cities said to be lost to history. Scythians of the Steppe Nomadic horse peoples north of the Black Sea and across the steppe. Gobekli Tepe and Early Monuments Carved pillars and enclosures built before farming villages. Trade, Money and Markets How coins, merchants, weights and sea routes tied the ancient world together. Early Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia Early states and cultures on the eastern and southern edges of Asia.