The Silk Road, or Silk Roads, has proven to be a productive but at the same time elusive concept, increasingly used as an evocative metaphor. With China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, it has found fresh invocations and audiences. After it was coined by Ferdinand von Richthofen in the 19th century it might very well have been forgotten in the 20th century if it had not been used by Sven Hedin in 1936 as a book title. And Hedin may not have used it if he had not worked closely with the German historical geographer Albert Herrmann. This paper explores these interactions, which have had enduring consequences.
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