Silk Road

Students will learn what it was like to travel and trade along the Silk Road, a 5,000 mile-long route over unmarked desert tracks and the highest mountains in the world. The Silk Road served as the main highway between China and the West from the 1st century B.C. to the 14th century, A.D. Using an enchanting narrative style that is certain to engage students, the four essays and eleven illustrated exhibits describe how and why the Silk Road began. Students will learn why silk was so mysterious and so valuable. They will learn about the importance of spices, the excitement and dangers of caravan life, and about the languages that merchants used to communicate across vastly different worlds. This portfolio includes a Study Guide with reproducible student activities and response key. A timeline of important developments from 3200 B.C. to A.D 1497 helps students put the events of long ago and far away into sharp focus. 4 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * The Silk Road * Silk: The Great Secret * Technology Travels the Silk Road * The Languages of the Silk Road 11 Exhibits and Primary Source Documents: * Map: Silk Road Routes and Goods Traded * Life Cycle of the Silkworm * Caravans * Exerts from Chapter II of Pegolotti's Merchant Handbook (Practica della Mercatura) * Spices * Lost Mail on the Silk Road: A Sogdain Letter * Constantinople * Technology * Marco Polo: From Venice to the Silk Road * The Catalan Atlas and the Story of the Catalan Atlas * Decorative Plate Depicting Silk Road Caravan Scene