The "Silk Road," a 4000 mile-long network of interconnecting roads, or caravan tracts, served from ca.

500 BC to 1500 A.D. as the major highway for transporting material goods and knowledge between Europe, the Near East, India, and China ?a the four major centers of civilization at the time. Over this period of almost 2000 years, exotic and commercial goods, skills, knowledge, and religion ?a as well as silk ?a crisscrossed the Eurasian continent, and shaped the course of European and Asian history and culture. ca. 3000 B.C.: China breeds silkworms and produces silk; it is the first country to do so. ca. 500 B.C.-200 B.C.: China begins to conceive commercial methods of transporting silk ?a a material seemingly coveted by all ?a to the West. The Silk Road evelops gradually as a series of trading roads from China

through Central Asia to India. One of its first uses, however, is to bring jade into China from the city of Khotan, located on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in Central Asia. 4th century B.C.: Buddhism begins to spread north from India. 3rd century B.C.: The Bactian and Arabian camels, both vital for desert caravan travel, are domesticated. 2nd century B.C.: