The Silk Road was the ancient trade network connecting China with the Mediterranean world.
The Silk Road was not one road but a changing network of overland and maritime routes linking East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Silk was one famous commodity, but merchants also moved spices, precious metals, textiles, horses, glassware and other goods.
The routes also carried ideas, technologies, religions, artistic styles and diseases. Their importance changed over time as political control, security, geography and maritime competition shifted. The term “Silk Road” itself is modern: German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen popularized it in the nineteenth century.
Travel was difficult and goods often passed through many intermediaries rather than being carried by one merchant from China to the Mediterranean. That is why historians usually use the plural “Silk Roads” for the broader network.