Stitch the Silk Route

Kargil, with its more violent association, hides a gem in the Ladakh town's Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum that showcases Silk Route trade artefacts. Flanked by Suru river and dotted with dilapidated caravan serais, visitors get a tangible sense of the journey weary traders once undertook.

This rich history of the route comes alive in the episode of BBC's The Forum, Silk Routes: Two Thousand Years of Trading, where host Bridget Kendall engages a trio of experts: Valerie Hansen of Yale, Susan Whitfield of British Library, and Tamara Chin of Brown University.

Over 40 mins, the podcast unpacks the Silk Route not merely as trade corridors but also as vibrant networks that transported ideas across deserts, mountains and seas. From silk and paper to horses, these routes fostered cross-cultural exchanges that shaped civilisations.


The route was never a single path. They were multiple routes, including maritime links, weaving together distant regions, stitching the world in ways still resonant today. In an era of growing protectionism, the podcast is a timely reminder of the enduring value of openness and connectivity.