History Lesson-Ancient China: The Silk Road

With modern technology, a global exchange of goods and ideas can happen at the click of a button. But what about 2,000 years ago? Shannon Harris Castelo unfolds the history of the 5,000-mile Silk Road, a network of multiple routes that used the common language of commerce to connect the world's major settlements, thread by thread.

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​The Silk Road

Multiple Choice

Which of the following factors hindered early connections between early river valley civilizations?

• Lack of technological innovation

• Physical geography and fear of the unknown

• Over-reliance on agricultural production

• Political restrictions on trade

Multiple Choice

What role did nomadic people play in the establishment of the Silk Road trade?

• Nomadic people stopped trade from occurring along the Silk Roads

• Nomadic tribes played no significant role in the development of trade

• Nomadic people became dependent on the Silk Roads for their survival

• Nomadic tribes established some of the earliest trade along what would become the Silk Roads

Multiple Choice

Conquests of which Greek leader led to the expansion of the Silk Road?

• Darius I

• Zhang Qian

• Alexander the Great

• Pericles

Multiple Choice

What religion makes it way from India along Silk Roads to China?

• Islam

• Buddhism

• Sikhism

• Hinduism

Multiple Choice

The diffusion of maritime technology, like the magnetic compass, led to which effect?

• The dawn of the Age of Exploration and the seeking of alternative trade routes to Asia

• The establishment of more extensive overland trade routes

• The immediate end of all trade in the Asia

• The strengthening of Silk Road trade routes