The "Silk Road" is actually several interconnected routes that linked the cultures of China, Persia, India, Egypt and Europe. Shown here is the central road that began at Chang'an in China and reached to Tyre on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This corridor was used as far back as the 400s B.C.E., and by the mid-100s B.C.E. it had become a major trade thoroughfare.

Much more than silk moved along the Silk Road. Precious stones, crafted goods, animals and weaponry were traded across 4,000 miles. Of course, where trade leads, ideas follow. Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity all cross-pollinated on the Silk Road.