Where East Met West

About 2,000 years ago, traders from East Asia made their way west carrying shimmering fabrics, magnificent jewels, and exotic spices. At the same time, merchants from Europe and the Middle East headed toward China with gold, silver, and other unique wonders of their own.

Many of those traders braved treacherous conditions. They endured blinding sand­storms, scaled snow-covered mountains, and faced bands of thieves—all to trade their goods along a 4,000-mile-long route called the Silk Road.

Despite its name, the Silk Road wasn’t an actual road. Instead, it was a network of trading routes developed around 130 B.C. that began in China and connected Asia, Europe, and Africa. Eventually, the network stretched from the Chinese city of what is now called Xi’an in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 

Few merchants traveled the entire distance, however. Most moved back and forth between towns along the way, trading items such as gunpowder, paper, and silk with people who carried the goods on to the next leg of the journey. Over time, sprawling trading posts and cities sprang up along the trails.

Goods weren’t the only things that traveled along the Silk Road. Knowledge, cultures, and religions were shared as well. Buddhism, for example—which originated in India—reached China and other Asian countries via merchants on the Silk Road. Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism also spread this way.

Diseases traveled too. Experts say the Black Death—a pandemic that killed tens of millions of people in Asia, Europe, and Africa in the 1300s—spread by way of the Silk Road.

By the 15th century, more and more merchants were traveling by sea, which proved to be a safer, faster, and cheaper way to trade goods—contributing to the decline of the Silk Road. Still, these ancient trails have had a lasting impact on the interconnected world we know today.

In fact, a series of infrastructure projects that have drawn comparisons to the Silk Road are now underway. Since 2013, China has been helping to fund the construction of seaports, railways, roads, and telecommunications networks throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa in part to help facilitate trade.

The project, which international leaders expect to be completed by 2049, is officially called the Belt and Road Initiative. But its fitting nickname? The New Silk Road.