Some of the most influential times in early history have been the times at which to cultures have come into contact with each other, whether through trade, war, or other events. The reason why the inter-cultural contact is so important is because through that contact goods and, most importantly, ideas are both given and received. Besides for usually advancing the economy of the cultures, the contact also advances the knowledge of both, and it is this knowledge that has been passed on to today's world. If every culture were isolated throughout history, the advancement of the culture would be dramatically slowed, and the isolated culture would have a grievous disadvantage in the rest of the world. However, two excellent examples of cross-culture contact can be seen in the Silk Road and the Indian Island Basin.

The Silk Road connected much of Eurasia and South Africa. The Silk Road...