The Silk Road In World History (the New Oxford ... Online

Paper-making, gunpowder, and the compass began their journeys in China. When these reached the Islamic world and eventually Europe, they sparked the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. 3. The Great Melting Pot of Faith

While silk was the "high-tech" export of the East—prized for its weight-to-value ratio—the most profound exchanges were invisible. The Silk Road in World History (The New Oxford ...

The Silk Road was the primary vehicle for the expansion of world religions. traveled from India to China via the merchant caravans of the Kushan Empire. Islam followed the trade routes into Central Asia and Indonesia. Even Nestorian Christianity found a home in the heart of the Mongol Empire. These routes created a unique "cosmopolitanism of the desert," where Manichaeans, Jews, and Hindus lived side-by-side in oasis cities like Dunhuang and Samarkand. 4. The Mongol "Pax Mongolica" The Great Melting Pot of Faith While silk