The Silk Road of antiquity was a major trading route stretching from the Korean Peninsula, Japan, China and India to the Mediterranean and the European countries to trade silk from east to west and items from Europe to the east. It also was used to spread philosophies, technologies, religion and culture between the two extremes China/India and Europe and the Middle East.
A subsequent theory, known as the “Kelp Highway,” came closer to the mark: As the from the East might have settled there before moving on to North America. “
