The Silk Road, Old and New

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Networks of goods, peoples, cultures, and trade stretch from China to the Mediterranean Basin. These “silk roads”—overland across Eurasia and through maritime routes across the Indian Ocean—have shaped empires, spread religions and fueled global economies for millennia. Today, new silk roads, like China's Belt and Road Initiative, build on old and extend beyond their traditional reach, to Africa and beyond. How has the SilkRoad influenced the modern global economy, politics, and world religions? How can the transregional lens of the “silk road” help us understand globalization, borders, and migration?