Matrix Completion

24x18 inch trade-network map of Afro-Eurasia showing three trade networks at the period of maximum interconnection ~100-600 CE: (1) SILK ROAD overland — from Chang'an (Han capital) through Dunhuang and the Tarim Basin through Central Asian oasis cities (Samarkand, Bukhara, Merv) to Ctesiphon (Sasanian capital) and onward to Antioch, with a southern branch via the Karakoram to Gupta India and a northern steppe route shown in dashed line. Trade goods labeled: silk westward / glass + horses + religions (Buddhism eastward, later Christianity eastward) bidirectional. (2) INDIAN OCEAN maritime — monsoon-driven seasonal trade between East African coast (Aksumite Adulis), South Arabia (Muziris), South India (Muziris on Malabar coast, Pattanam excavations), Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia (Funan), and Han China (via Strait of Malacca to Guangzhou); Roman trade with India documented via Periplus of the Erythraean Sea c. 50 CE noted in legend; trade goods: spices + pepper + cotton + ivory + pearls + Roman gold coins (Roman coin hoards found in South India). (3) TRANS-SAHARAN trade — caravans across the Sahara linking Mediterranean North Africa (Carthage, Alexandria) with sub-Saharan West Africa (early Ghana / Wagadou region — proto-state by 300 CE, full kingdom by 700 CE per Connah); trade goods: salt southbound / gold northbound; camel domestication note (camels enabled trans-Saharan trade by ~300 CE per Bulliet). Style: clean educational atlas with route lines color-coded by network; modern country outlines in faint gray.