The Silk Road was a series of trade routes set up throughout the Chinese "Han Dynasty" around 200 B.C. linking diverse civilizations from China all the way towards the Mediterranean; although trade was not the main purpose of it, and it was more like a network of pathways. It was named 'Silk Road' by German geographer Ferdinand Von Richthofen.
The Silk Road transformed the world and history since it merged cultures and founded global commerce; spreading knowledge, technology and being a cultural bridge between East and West; promoting not only commodity exchange but ideas, such as Buddhism and Islam; i.e. Buddhist monks traveled from India to Central Asia and China, so it connected different kingdoms and empires.
