Silk Road
The Silk Road was not a single road but a vast network of overland and maritime trade routes that linked China with Central Asia, India, Persia, Arabia, and the Mediterranean world. Taking shape around the 2nd century BCE after the Han dynasty's missions to Central Asia and remaining in use into the 16th century, the network carried silk, paper, spices, and horses, and with them Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and technologies such as papermaking. Its hubs — Chang'an, Samarkand, Merv, Dunhuang, Baghdad, and Antioch — became crossroads of civilizations, and its legacy is still invoked today, from the World Heritage corridors of UNESCO to China's Belt and Road Initiative.