american museum of natural history

i spent a couple hours or so checking out the silk road section. the silk road pages tell about the cities on the route and what was traded and during whiat periods in history. From Baghdad to xi'an, this exhibit tells about the cities themselves. One interesting fact I found amusing was that the city of Baghdad was known as the city of peace. considering what is happening over in that vicinity today, it is quite a contradiction. Samarkand was well known for it's fine paper and shrewd traders who traded from distant countries. before this i had never herd of Samarkand.