In Chapter seven there is a snapshot of the Economic Exchange along the silk Roads. It tells what were the major resources traded and moved along the the Silk Roads for specific countries. I found the information interesting. I like seeing what was important and accessible to different areas of this time. Things like silk, bamboo, ginger, chrysanthemums and paper make great sense. Things like mirrors and lacquerware are understandable though interesting. Obviously if the chinese had access to mirrors then they would want to spread these to further areas to share or trade them, though it is just interesting to hear about people of this time using mirrors. The Forrest lands of Siberia exchanged just animals and people pretty much along with basic needs for a forrest environment. Falcons, livestock, horses, furs and slaves were their big movers, but the one I found the most interesting was the walrus tusks. I would not think there would be many walrus' in the forrest areas of Siberia but I guess times were different then. If one were to make a chart of the United States today I wonder what it would look like? We live in a world where so much of what we have is imported...so what would we have? iPhones, certain cars, oranges, peaches, avocados, apples, vegetables, certain types of wood...that is a quick thought that I am sure is barely tapping into what we are really about.

The unfortunate thing that was exchanged along the silk road was disease. Smallpox and measles wiped people out. Through simple contact and communication people were infecting one another and killing many. On that chart nowhere is there medical care or vaccines. I guess that is a major one the US could put on theirs today also. It is hard to imagine a world in which disease is incurable. It is hard to fathom that living to 30 would be considered old. That children die daily because they are not strong enough to fight this new strain of sickness that has attacked people. As crazy as our country can be our medical fields are amazing. People today can be cured of so many diseases that once killed many. Measles, mumps, smallpox, syphilis, polio all are gone. Cancer is being cured and fought as is AIDS, amazing. In history we learn of all the great minds and inventors, the great warriors and leaders, but think of how many the world lost because there was no cure for a unknown disease.