For centuries, we’ve been taught to picture Asia’s past through the “Silk Road.” But The Golden Road flips the map. Historian William Dalrymple argues that for nearly 1,500 years, India wasn’t on the sidelines of world history—it was a central engine of ideas, trade, and culture, connected by predictable monsoon winds and a vast maritime network.
Along these sea lanes, Indian merchants and monks carried far more than spices and textiles. Buddhism traveled from India into Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. Sanskrit became a prestige language across Southeast Asia. Monumental wonders like Borobudur and Angkor Wat drew from Indian artistic and religious worlds, then transformed them into something local and new. Even the math we use every day—place value and zero—made its way west via Baghdad and eventually helped reshape Europe.
If you like big-history revelations, this one’s a ride.
