HIST 263: Cities of the Silk Road (Spring '20)

An overview of the cultural and economic relationships that developed across Eurasia from the 1st to the 14th centuries CE. The course focuses on the fabled "Silk Road," overlapping of overland trade routes through Central Asia that connected China and Japan with western Europe. The impact of the Silk Road was as often regional and local as it was intercontinental; most travelers did not cover the whole route but remained in areas that were indigenous to them. The course examines a number of very broad themes, such as the interaction of nomadic and sedentary peoples, the spread of religions, cultural confrontation, and syncretism. The course is a challenging one for both instructor and students in that it covers an enormous geographic, cultural, and chronological span.