Learn About The Silk Road

Travel the ancient network of trade routes connecting East and West — the exchange of silk, spices, ideas, religions, and technologies that shaped civilizations for over a millennium.

The term "Silk Road" was coined by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877, though the trade routes themselves had been active since at least the 2nd century BC when the Han Dynasty's Zhang Qian explored Central Asia around 138 BC. The network stretched roughly 6,400 kilometers from Chang'an (modern Xi'an) in China to the Mediterranean, carrying not just silk but also paper, gunpowder, spices, and diseases — the Black Death of the 14th century likely traveled westward along these routes. Buddhism spread from India to China primarily via the Silk Road, with the Dunhuang Caves in western China containing over 2,000 painted Buddhist sculptures and 45,000 square meters of murals created between the 4th and 14th centuries by merchants and monks who traveled the route.

Superlore makes learning about The Silk Road effortless with AI-generated audio lessons. Listen during your commute, workout, or downtime — and absorb complex ideas at your own pace. Every lesson includes citations so you can dive deeper into the sources.