Ancient Silk Road (map)

Made famous in the West by the Venetian adventurer Marco Polo, the ancient Silk Road spanned one-quarter of the circumference of the Earth. An intricate network of trading routes, in its heyday it stretched from Luoyang and Xi`an in China, through Central Asia to Istanbul and Rome, perhaps the first example of the globalisation of trade. At the heart of this complex web of caravan trails stood Afghanistan, its location a strategic meeting point for merchants from East, West and the Indian subcontinent. As a result, this fabled country was for centuries one of the wealthiest centres of commerce and culture in the region - a Leader in the East.