Supply chains are networks of different people and companies exchanging goods. The term supply chain has only been around for a few decades, but the concept has been around for centuries. “Most of the great civilizations of the past became great because they mastered the art of commerce. » The Silk Road is one of the earliest examples of a supply chain. Goods and ideas were transported and exchanged over long distances in a system of roads and cities that formed the Silk Road. The Silk Road did not consist of a single route or a single period. It was not until the 18th century that it was called the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a network of many different routes crossing the terrain and connecting cities and cultures. It has had periods of high popularity and periods of low usage. There is no clear beginning for the Silk Road. There were trade routes from city to city across Europe and Asia. Near the beginning of their interactions in 200 BCE, the Silk Roads were little used in East Asia. Over time, roads developed, as did empires such as Rome and Han, which grew both economically and culturally through the use of roads. But instability and economic pressures took their toll on both empires, and when Rome fell in 476, the Silk Roads were used far less than they had originally been. The roads managed to regain their momentum with the emergence of the Byzantine Empire in the east and flourished through the use of the roads already available. However, the Mongols came into play and invaded the empire and ended the Byzantine era with the Silk Roads. In Western Europe, society lived in the period called the Middle Ages where trade was minimal and feudalism had replaced commerce since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Mongols, who had... middle of paper ...... ace at this time, so naturally slaves were traded along established trade routes. The most important aspect of the trade that took place along the Silk Roads was not material goods but rather the exchange of knowledge, beliefs and cultures. The Silk Road made Central Asia a melting pot of cultures stretching from China to the east and Europe to the west. In Central Asia, art, music, fashion and architecture all reflect influences from different cultures. Knowledge of how to produce goods also circulated on the Silk Road. Some goods were unique to specific regions because no one else had learned to produce them, unlike silk which could only be produced in specific regions. The traded goods themselves were valuable to commerce, but the exchange of religious ideas and knowledge was even more critical. component, and had a considerable effect on the world.