The Silk Road

overview

The Silk Road was one of the most significant trade routes in world history. A lifeline which stretched from China all the way to Rome, the mythical Silk Road witnessed the rise and fall of empires, and the exchange of innumerable goods, religions, and philosophies.

For centuries, legends of the Silk Road have seduced travellers and scholars alike. Imaginations have been fired by stories of exotic bazaars teeming with wares from distant lands; daring merchants braving treacherous terrains; and Princesses smuggling priceless state secrets, all of which have shaped  understandings of a unique network which facilitated complex cultural exchanges between Asia, Europe and north Africa. 

In this first part of a two-part lecture series on the Silk Road, join Dr Lauren Mackay as she draws on the new exhibition at the British Museum in London to sort fact from fiction about how the Silk Road evolved in Asia. Weaving together myriad narratives of Central Asian Empires as the route began to flourish, this lecture explores the famous travels of Marco Polo, Genghis Khan’s endeavours to control the route, as well as the tragic spread of the Black Death along its paths, which forever altered the landscape of the medieval world.