The Silk Road opens

After Zhang Qian's missions to Central Asia, caravan routes linked Chang'an to the Mediterranean, moving silk, horses, faiths, technologies and plagues.

Why it matters

The Silk Road was less one road than a relay of cultures — the world's first long-running global network. Buddhism, paper, gunpowder and the plague all traveled it; so did the idea that the world is connected.

Threads

This event sits on Transportation.

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Sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica — Silk Road