Sumer, Egypt, Indus, Yellow River
The four cradles of civilisation, all riverine, all between 3500 and 2000 BCE. Each invented writing independently.
Ten thousand years of cities, empires, trade routes, and migrations — compressed into things travellers actually encounter on the road.
The four cradles of civilisation, all riverine, all between 3500 and 2000 BCE. Each invented writing independently.
A network. Goods rarely travelled the full length — they were resold ten times between Xi'an and Antioch.
After 1492: potatoes, tomatoes, chili, chocolate went east. Wheat, horses, smallpox, and Catholicism went west. World cuisine as we know it is post-1492.