This tracker shows how China’s 2013 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—a plan to promote infrastructure development across Africa, Asia, and Europe with Chinese financing—changed countries’ bilateral economic relationships with the nation over time.
This collection includes 11,000+ images of major sites along the Silk Road taken between 2006-2010. These photographs take the viewer on a trip through multiple Chinese provinces and the regions of Inner Mongolia and Tibet to map out the modern-day Silk Road that was shaped by the interconnected web of trade routes linking medieval Asia.
“Travels of Xuanzang” is an interactive depiction of the pilgrimage of Xuanzang, a Chinese monk who traveled 10,000 miles along the Silk Road and the Indian subcontinent in search of Buddhist texts.
ArcGIS is a web-based mapping tool developed by Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) that allows users to create maps based on Geographic Information System data. This map, created by Dr. Tom Mueller of California University of Pennsylvania, displays both water and land routes of the Silk Roads.
The Korea Society is a private, nonprofit organization that is dedicated to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding, and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea. On their site they have a vast collection of resources for teachers that include: readings with background context for getting to know Korea, multiple engaging pdf documents that cover topics from the Silla Dynasty to the Korean War, and a large collection of lesson plans that contain all the information necessary for crafting dynamic and effective lessons. Educational resources from The Korea Society are free to use and make it easy to center Korea in your classroom.
“Silla Korea and the Silk Road: Golden Age, Golden Threads” is a 192-slide curriculum guide developed for high school world history and geography courses, published by the Korea Society. The guide shows how contemporary themes of globalization in Asia are not new, as indeed, trade in goods and cultural practices along the Silk Road had a profound effect on Korean states, and in turn helped to spread Korean culture to other parts of Asia. The guide is divided into five parts: 1. Was Silla (Korea) Part of the Silk Road? [A nice overview of Silk Road History] 2. Did the Silk Road Create Silla’s Golden Age? [A Detailed Account of Global Influences on the Korean Peninsula] 3. Sillan Individuals and the Silk Road [Fantastic individual biographies of notable figures in Silla history] 4. Concluding Exercise: Does International Trade Help or Hurt Culture? 5. Advanced Readings.
