This program featuring Michael Wood takes viewers to the India of the early centuries AD, a time that saw Indian civilization grow into a major participant in the first global economy as trade enriched it through contact and exchange. The rediscovered site of Rome's most significant trading port in India and a trip to Madurai, the ancient capital of South India, offer insights into the spice trade, while a journey to Merv, in the desert of Turkmenistan, helps illustrate how North India was opened up to the world by merchant caravans using the Silk Road between China and the West.

Classroom Video On Demand is distributed by Infobase for Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Cambridge Educational, Meridian Education, and Shopware. Encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on December 12, 2009.

India: 200 B.C. to 300 A.D. (1:26) -- Importance of the Monsoon To Traders (1:24) -- Boat Builders of Kerala, India (1:50) -- India's Spice Trade (1:27) -- Indian Food (1:00) -- Indian-Roman Trade (1:13) -- Famous Indian Port (1:46) -- Living Presence of the Past (1:10) -- Classical Civilization of Southern India (2:05) -- Goddess of the City (1:22) -- Tamil Manuscript (1:24) -- Madurai: Market Place to the World (1:28) -- India's Gold (1:43) -- Silk Road (1:18) -- Ancient Civilization of the Kushan (2:02) -- Kushan Inscriptions (1:23) -- Kushan Empire Flourishes (1:20) -- Peshawar: Kushan Capital (2:18) -- Silk: Rich Cargo (1:00) -- Excavation in Peshawar (0:21) -- King Kanishka's Burial Mound (2:52) -- Descriptions of Kanishka's Stupa (2:10) -- Buddha's Ashes (1:58) -- Kushan Empire (1:15) -- Kanishka's Capital in Matura (1:34) -- Matura: City of the Gods (1:06) -- Kushan: Bringers of Peace (0:54) -- Ayurveda Medicine (1:39) -- Ayurveda: Passed from Master to Student (0:59) -- Buddhism in China (1:26) -- Death of Kanishka (1:26) -- Cycle Plays about Krishna (1:16) -- Kushan Temple Ruins (1:40) -- Kushan Legacy (1:30).