‘Silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade and cultural links between distant parts of the world.’ Examine.

(i) Historians have identified several silk routes, over land and by sea, knitting together vast regions of Asia, and linking Asia with Europe and northern Africa.

(ii) Chinese pottery also travelled the same route, as did textiles and spices from India and Southeast Asia.

(iii) In return, precious metals such as gold and silver flowed from Europe to Asia.