UUntil 1877, the Silk Road did not exist, although the ancient trade route that connected the East and the West with a length of 6,400 km did exist. And until 2024, the Golden Road did not appear in any vocabulary. But now, thanks to the famous historian and author William Dalrymple’s latest book, The Golden Road, we have a name for the route that led to the spread of religion, culture, trade, and science from India to a wide swath of the world—China, Southeast Asia, Western and Central Asia and further to Europe – between 250 BC to 1200 AD In a “slightly dystopian winter evening in Delhi” (his description!) Dalrymple tells us why calling it the Golden Road is so apt: “It’s all about the gold: Roman gold coming in from the West, then turning east to Suvarnabhumi, Golden lands. It also sounds extremely resonant… like an idea that’s always been there.”
