Buddhism along the Silk Road: A Hyperdoc for Students

Here is a Hypedoc (Webquest) about the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road between the 2nd and 12th centuries.

It's based on a terrific website simply called " A History of the Silk Road.  It has tabs for Buddhism, important people, travelers (including Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo), inventions (such as paper and gunpowder), Pax Mongolica, and even the Belt and Road Initiative.

Another resource for the hyperdoc was the Sackler Museum's digital exhibit of the Sogdians  (who the museum called "Influencers on the Silk Road.")  The Sogdians were central Asian nomads known for their trade and agriculture during their golden age between the 4th and 8th centuries.

The variety of religion was a big feature of Sogdian culture. In an essay called "Believers, Proselytizers, and Translators, the authors review the development of Zoroastrianism, which started in Iran.

My hyperdoc takes students into the Sackler Exhibit and asks them questions about Zoroastrianism and introduces them to the geography of the Silk Road with a terrific google map. In addition, it looks at the development of Buddhism, especially at its height during the Song Dynasty.  Students also read some of Ibn Batuttua's writing about Muslim life in West Africa.