Silk Roads and Beyond

The “Silk Road” was a name first used by a 19th-century German geographer to describe the movement of Chinese silks westward during the period of the Han Empire (206 BCE to 220 CE). Today, it refers to the extensive land and sea trade networks of Eurasia and Africa in the ancient and medieval periods. The term, then, is something of a misnomer: no singular road existed and silk—while an important commodity—was far from the only “thing” exchanged along these networks. Broadening the term to the plural “Silk Roads” emphasizes the variety of economic, social, and cultural interactions and exchanges that were facilitated by these networks, some of which extended far beyond central Asia to encompass the trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean trade routes of the ancient and medieval worlds.

Sericulture—the cultivation of silkworms for the production of silk goods—features prominently in this toolkit. Students will learn about silkworm farming, the natural processes of raw silk creation, and how this raw material is manufactured into silk thread and textiles. The focus on silk also extends beyond the manufacturing process. In Legendary Silk Heists, students will examine two instances of silk-making technology theft that led to the spread of Chinese sericulture to Byzantium and Khotan in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

In Women and Textile Production: A Global Perspective, the focus shifts to the material realities of the labor behind sericulture. By examining silk production in Song China and comparing it to other textile practices in medieval Mesoamerica and 19th-century America, students will have opportunities to consider how and why this type of work has historically been relegated to women. In Sacred Cloth: Silk in Medieval Western Europe, students will work with images of objects and artworks that showcase the luxuriousness of silk materials by way of their role in Christian religious practice.

Because of its focus on trade networks, this toolkit also examines the material culture of economy and money. In Numismatics: Coins, East Africa, and Religious Exchange, students analyze the making and meaning of modern coins before comparing and contrasting them with images of coins from the Kingdom of Aksum in east Africa. Tracing the development of Aksumite coins over time also allows students to consider the role of religion in Indian Ocean trade.

Finally, Travel and Trade in Later Medieval Africa helps students consider the interconnectivity of multiple networks of exchange beyond the Silk Roads. Students will explore trans-Saharan trade, analyze visual depictions of important African figures made by Europeans, and consider the objects and resources required for long journeys in the premodern world.