Traveling the Silk Road

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

• Do you enjoy traveling? Which do you like best: walking, driving, flying, riding a camel?
• Which sounds easier? Which is most convenient?
• Where do you like to eat and stay when you travel?

• If you are thirsty for some orange juice, where can you buy it?
• Where do you go to buy that cool T-shirt you see everyone wearing?

We live in a society where, when we want anything, we just have to go to the store to pick it up. In ancient times, that was not the case.

The early inhabitants in and around Europe and Asia only ate the food their village or city grew, and only had the materials they produced.

• Can you imagine living in a world like that?
• Do you think you would dream of wanting something more?

Around 206 BC, the prosperous Roman Empire heard of silk, which was produced in China, some 4,000 miles away. They desperately wanted this luxurious material, so they sent people traveling to find it, something that had never been done on a grand scale before.

The Silk Road was not just a single road but a variety of different paths, going over land and water between the growing civilizations of Europe and Asia.

Read The Silk Road - Ancient China for Kids, from Mr. Donn, for a short summary.

Then, watch this wonderful TED-Ed video to learn why the Silk Road came about, and the effects it had on the world.

The Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo: