The ancient trade network linking China with the Mediterranean is called the Silk Road. The name describes a connected set of overland and maritime routes rather than one single road. These routes crossed Central Asia and connected East Asia with South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.
Chinese silk was an important luxury product, but merchants also carried spices, glass, metals, horses, textiles, paper, and other goods. The routes also moved ideas, technologies, artistic styles, religions, and diseases. Buddhism spread into Central and East Asia through networks that included Silk Road communities, while paper-making knowledge eventually traveled westward.
The expression “Silk Road” was popularized in the nineteenth century by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. Many traders completed only sections of a journey, with goods changing hands repeatedly. That is why it is misleading to imagine a single caravan traveling directly from China to Rome. The maritime routes across the Indian Ocean were closely connected to the overland systems and are sometimes called the Maritime Silk Road.