The Mongol empire and the Yam relay network
The largest contiguous land empire in history ran on the yam: a network of relay stations where couriers changed horses, moving messages hundreds of kilometres a day.
Why it matters
The Pax Mongolica briefly connected Beijing to Baghdad and Novgorod — goods, paper money, gunpowder, plague and ideas moved at unprecedented speed. Empire as a communication protocol, from the Royal Road's descendants.
People
Genghis Khan · Ögedei Khan
Threads
This event sits on Transportation.
Related events
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica — Mongol empire