Producing the Goods

The Silk Roads facilitated the passage of not only goods to trade but also the knowledge and technology that went into producing them. Foodstuffs were often traded across Central Asia, and with them, an exchange in technologies and agricultural practices too, as well as new crops and even new breeds of animals. Similarly, the movement of metal goods, glass, textiles and ceramics was followed by the transition of the techniques of these crafts themselves, enriching the countries along the Silk Roads not just in material goods but in the technological innovation that lay behind their production.