The Roman Empire’s trade routes extended as far as India and China thanks to the Silk Road oases and entrepôts exporting wool, glassware, silver, and gold, and returning on ships laden with silk and spices. The ruined port town of Arikamedu near Pondicherry, South India, is one of the few sites of Indo-Roman trade known today, believed to have been settled continuously from the 2nd century BCE to the 8th century CE, though its original foundation may date back to the megalithic period. The French colonists first recognized the Arikamedu…
