Historian says his book on ancient trading routes shows globalization is an old concept

Peter Frankopan believes we have all been looking at history the wrong way.

Often seen only from a Western perspective, the accepted story of mankind largely ignores the contribution made by that huge bridge between the West and the East that is now often referred to as the Silk Road.

In his new 636-page history, The Silk Roads, the historian aims to put that right by showing how the interconnectedness of Europe, the old Ottoman Empire, Central Asia, the Caucasus and China have for millennia been the very cradle of civilization.

He argues history did not begin with the ancient Greeks and Romans and that European movements such as the Renaissance or the Enlightenment were not new but partially derived from a fusion and exchange of ideas, cultures and religions along what we now see as some old caravan trail.

"We are all brought up in the West being taught this monolithic story which hasn't really changed for 200 years. If you went back to a classroom in 1850 England, you would find much of the same topics being taught. I am not sure what relevance the Battle of Hastings would have to a boy growing up in Shanghai today."

Frankopan, 44, who is director of the Centre for Byzantine Research at Oxford University and was speaking in offices overlooking Victoria station in central London, believes his book's essential theme is globalization - not as a new but a very old concept.

"It certainly ain't nothing new. We might think we are living in a new age of exchanges between China and the West but we can go back 2,500 years and find Chinese sources that suggest a world where the exchanges were just as strong."

Frankopan points out the term "silk road" is not as old as what it describes and dates back only to the 19th century when it was used by German geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen - uncle of World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthoven, otherwise known as the Red Baron - when he used the word "seidenstrasse".