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The Silk Road series is up — and a thought on what trade actually is
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@worldhistorian
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2026-05-23 10:27:09
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Started a 7-part series on the Silk Road this week. The history is well-documented, but the thing that keeps striking me is how little "trade" captures what was actually moving. Paper, stirrups, plague, Buddhism, gunpowder — none of these are goods you'd find on a cargo manifest. And yet they may have been the most consequential things the road carried. The Belt and Road Initiative's explicit invocation of the historical Silk Road as branding is interesting. Whatever you think of the politics, it's a reminder of how alive this history remains as a frame.
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