Silk Roads

Peoples, Cultures, Landscapes

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From precious stones to spices, from new religions to technological innovations, the exchange of goods and ideas along the ancient trading routes of the Silk Roads has played a crucial role in the development of civilizations across Europe and Asia

From precious stones to spices, from new religions to technological innovations, the exchange of goods and ideas along the ancient trading routes of the Silk Roads has played a crucial role in the development of civilizations across Europe and Asia.

This beautiful illustrated overview, the first and most ambitious of its kind, places landscapes at the heart of 1,500 years of Eurasian history. With contributions from over 80 leading experts from around the world, each chapter explores the history of trade and cultures along the Silk Roads in the context of a particular terrain – steppe, mountains, deserts, rivers and seas – to reveal how integral the landscapes of the Silk Roads have been in defining the resources, travel and communities of those who lived and traded along these routes.

Gloriously illustrated with detailed maps, stunning photography of the landscapes of Central Asia and 100 iconic treasures, including archaeological artefacts and ancient ruins, this ground-breaking book honours the legacy of richly diverse cultures that advanced and flourished not in spite of their differences, but because of them.

Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards in the Illustrated Travel Book of the Year category
Extent: 480 pp
Format: PLC
Illustrations: 491
Publication date: 2019-10-03
Size: 28.6 x 22.5 cm
ISBN: 9780500021576

Press Reviews

An extraordinary compendium of history and art … a marvel of a book … a brilliant survey that could not be put together in real time, a catalogue of an exhibition that could never be … This is a book to fundamentally jolt our endemic Eurocentricism and Western complacency … [a] one-volume museum
V&A Magazine

The many magnificent illustrations make one long to go travelling
Spectator, Martin Gayford’s Books of the Year

A superbly illustrated volume … the huge variety of the travellers and the merchandise along these complex trajectories is handsomely laid out in this delightful, informative and continually surprising work
The Arts Desk, Books of the Year

A book to experience rather than read … simultaneously erudite and accessible
Asian Review of Books

About the Author

Susan Whitfield is a historian of medieval Central Asia and a former curator at The British Library. Her research focuses on the archaeology, art history and material culture of the Silk Road. The author of many books and articles, she has travelled extensively in Central Asia and visited, studied and documented numerous archaeological sites.

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