Eurasia in the Making: Revival of the Silk Road: A Study on Cross-Border Trade And...

by Markus Kaiser

The trade routes connecting Europe and East Asia have fascinated scholars, traders, and adventurers throughout the centuries. Although its modern incarnation may lack the romantic aura of the fabled "Silk Road," the recent and rapid growth of private trade and commodity exchange has contributed significantly to a revival of the Silk-Road trade.

This takes the form of long-distance petty trade across the newly established borders of states that were formerly part of the Soviet Union as well as into other neighboring countries--including Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China, India, Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia. Like the old "Silk Road," the modern version is an agglomeration of different routes with different starting points, running through Central Asia and connecting Asia and Europe; it manifests evidence of the continuity in trading patterns on the Eurasian continent.

Markus Kaiser is senior lecturer in development studies and research fellow of the Institute of Global Society Studies at the University of Bielefeld He serves as director of the Center for German and European Studies at the St. Petersburg State University.

230 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008