Story of the Silk Road

For centuries, the Silk Road has been a byword for the exoticised East (or West, depending on your perspective). But what really went on along this network of trade routes that linked Europe with Asia, and what can it reveal about the interconnectedness of the realms of the ancient and medieval eras? We often assume that during these periods of history, nations kept themselves to themselves, with only a few empires striking out into unknown territories to extend the boundaries of the known world. The truth is far more complex: a world in which goods and ideas all travelled extensively in the company of merchants who traded their wares via land and sea, revealing a known world that was much larger, brighter and more interlinked than we previously imagined.