Supply chains are networks of different people and businesses that exchange 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 trade.” The Silk Road is one of the first examples of a supply chain. Goods and ideas were moved and exchanged over long distances in a system of routes and cities that formed the Silk Road. The Silk Road did not consist of a route or a period of time. It wasn't even called the Silk Road until the 18th century. The Silk Road was a network of many different routes that crisscrossed the land and connected cities and cultures. It has had periods of great popularity and periods of little use. There is no clear beginning for the Silk Road. There were city-to-city trade routes throughout Europe and Asia. Towards the beginning of their interaction patterns in 200 BC, the Silk Roads were minimally used in East Asia. As time passed, roads increased, as did empires such as Rome and Han which grew both economically and culturally through the use of roads. But instability and economic pressures put a strain on the two empires, and when Rome fell in 476, the Silk Roads were used much less than they had originally been. The roads were able to recover when the Byzantine Empire emerged in the east and was able to prosper thanks to the use of the roads already available. However, the Mongols come into play and invade the empire and end the Byzantine era with the Silk Roads. In Western Europe, society was the period called the Middle Ages where trade was minimal and feudalism had taken the place of trade after the fall of the Roman Empire. The Mongols, who in this era had… an ace of paper…, 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 transformed Central Asia into a melting pot of cultures from China in the east and Europe in the west. In Central Asia, art, music, fashion and architecture all show influences from different cultures. Knowledge about how to produce goods also flowed through the Silk Road. Some goods were unique to specific regions because no one else had learned how to produce them, unlike silk which could only be produced in specific regions. The traded goods themselves were valuable for trade, but the exchange of religious ideas and knowledge was most critical. component and has had a far-reaching effect on the world.