179. The Golden Road: Rise of the Indosphere

For weeks, William the Conqueror has been stuck on the Normandy coast, waiting. Then the wind changes. The Normans land in England, and the stage is set for the most famous battle in English history. The Bayeux Tapestry made these events immortal, but what really happened at Hast ...  Show more

Who was William the Conqueror? Who was Harold Godwinson? Who was Harald Hardrada? And how did these three rivals change the course of English history forever? In Episode 2 of this series, Anita Anand and William Dalrymple are joined by Marc Morris, author of The Norman Conquest a ...  Show more

The best-selling historian William Dalrymple presents India as the great superpower of ancient times in The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World. He argues that for more than a millennium India art, religions, technology, astronomy, music and mathematics spread fa ...  Show more

Ancient India was the single greatest trading partner of the Roman Empire. For centuries, Indian sailors navigated the Indian Ocean and Red Sea to bring goods, ideas and religious beliefs to the Greco-Roman ports based on the Egyptian coast. ...

The Silk Road is one of the most famous trade routes in history, a vast interconnected network along which not only goods but ideas, knowledge and culture flowed. Sam Willis joins Rebecca Franks to discuss its remarkable history and answer listener questions on the subject, spotl ...  Show more

For centuries, a vast and vibrant trade route connected the East and West. Its stories contain legendary names, like Marco Polo. Not only did it spread rare goods across the world, but ideas and belief systems too. It was known as "The Silk Road." Explore the history, culture, an ...  Show more