The Silk Road, stretching from China to the Mediterranean Sea, was not one road, but a network of trade routes across land and sea. Originating in the ancient Chinese capital of Chang’an, the overland routes crossed modern-day India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria and Iran en-route to various Mediterranean ports, from where the goods were carried to Rome by boat. Typically, traders did not travel the entire 6,440 km distance, instead covering one section of the route and passing their goods to another caravan for the next stage. As the name suggests, the Silk Road facilitated the trade of Chinese silk, but many other goods were carried along the route. Tea, gunpowder, spices, and porcelain travelled from East to West, while wool, linen, glass and wine travelled in the opposite direction. Not only commodities, but also ideas and technology were transmitted along the Silk Road. Algebra, astronomy, medicine and papermaking were brought to the West, while construction and seafaring methods flowed East from Europe. The Silk Road also enabled the dissemination of religion, most notably the spread of Buddhism from India to China. The Silk Road was in use from the second century BC until the fifteenth century AD. Many factors contributed to the route’s demise, including the fall of the Mongol Empire and the resulting political and economic fragmentation along the route. The rise of maritime trade between Europe and Asia was another major cause.