Mapping the Silk Road

The history of the Silk Road is significant because it disseminated not only goods, but also culture and styles of workmanship. Over the hundreds of thousands of miles between China and Turkey, aristocrats, merchants, royalty, and commoners were affected in some way by the goods that were traded along this elusive network of trade routes. Symbols and designs that we associate with many cultures today have been influenced by and appropriated from other cultures.