Top Highlights

• But when he sent his first men out to explore what would become the Silk Road, he didn’t find any reason to attack his neighbors. Instead, his men brought back horses of incredible breeding stock, spices from the west, and cultural enrichment in return for the jade and silks they had carried out with them. Thus began the economic and cultural excha...
• The city-states of the Sogdians would play a strong role in their ability to be at the forefront of trade along the Silk Road, and their location made their towns the perfect oases along the route. Being able to trade equally with Eastern Europe to the West and China and India to the East made the Sogdians a wealthy people. Many wares were passed t...
• Kazakh tribal leaders participated in the trade along the Silk Road by providing safe passage for merchants in exchange for a portion of their goods, essentially creating a turnpike or toll road through their lands. Because of the rugged nature of the terrain, only skilled travelers could complete the route without the protection and guidance of lo...
• Moving west through the desert on the trek towards the Mediterranean, travelers would eventually reach the ancient cities of Babylon and Baghdad, Palmyra, and Petra (now in modern-day Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, respectively.) These oases provided respite from the wear and danger of traveling through the stark desert landscape and offered merchants a ...
• Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Although it would be easy to say the Silk Road ended at the Mediterranean Sea, that’s not quite the case. From the port cities of Antioch, Tyre, and Gaza, goods would be moved by ship across the eastern portion of the sea and into Greece and modern-day Italy (then still mostly city-states) to be transported over...