“The First-Year Seminar Roads of Silk, Streets of Water, taught by Dr. Jen Welsh (History), explored the history of the Silk Road. The term “Silk Road” conjures up a host of exotic images of cross-cultural interaction and trans-continental trade. First invented in the nineteenth century by European explorers, the “Silk Road” actually covers a series of land and sea routes which created an intricate web of connections and relationships across and around Eurasia. In the course, students explored these routes and how they enabled the movement of goods, ideas, and people from the time of Imperial Rome and Han Dynasty China through the fifteenth century. As part of a culminating final project, students worked with objects and works of art in the collections of the Freer and Sackler Galleries at the Smithsonian Institution. They traveled to Washington, DC over a long weekend to experience first hand the process of historical research with one of the finest collections in the world.” Check out the video at First Year Experience (Video Credit: Michael Heagerty)
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