1. "With the gradual loss of Roman territory in Asia and the rise of Arabian power in the Levant, the Silk Road became increasingly unsafe and untraveled. In the 13th and 14th
centuries the route was revived under the Mongols, and at that time the Venetian Marco
Polo used it to travel to Cathay (China). It is now widely thought that the route was one
of the main ways that plague bacteria responsible for the Black Death pandemic in
Europe in the mid-14th century moved westward from Asia."
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