The chestnut trees of Europe tell a hidden story charting the fortunes of ancient Rome and the legacy it left in the continent's forests. The ancient Romans left an indelible imprint on the world they enveloped into their empire. The straight, long-distance roads they built can still be followed beneath the asphalt of some modern highways. They spread aqueducts, sewers, public baths and the Latin language across much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. But what's perhaps less well known is the surprising way they transformed Europe's forests. According to researchers in Switzerland, the Romans had something of a penchant for sweet chestnut trees, spreading them across Europe. But it wasn't so much the delicate, earthy chestnuts they craved – instead, it was the fast-regrowing timber they prized most, as raw material for their empire's expansion. And this led to them exporting tree cultivation techniques such as coppicing too, which have helped the chestnut flourish across the continent.
3 days ago | 15
Interesting. When I learned about the silk roads in school I learned anout them when we studied ancient asia.
3 days ago | 8
Maybe the first silk road but trade across southern asia, the Mediterranean and north and eastern africa has been happening for 4000 years at least. Cinnamon comes from sri lanka. Any society that had cinnamon had a trade network to sri lanka. Lapis lazuli comes from Afghanistan. Most of the tin for bronze came from Afghanistan. Some was coming from Britain. Cedar from Lebanon was used in Iran to build persepolis. That was before the helenic period. India was where gem stones came from. Africa was where gold came from.
12 hours ago | 0
"Globalism is bad we need to be like the Romans!" - Wannabe Alpha males in 2025.
14 hours ago | 0
Lol another fake story propagated n popularized by europeans😂🤦 if u read the chronicles of greeks n the fabric they were flooding into their markets you ll realise it has nothing to do with so called silk road or chiba or any of the Chinese silk lo
1 day ago | 1
National Geographic
In the ancient world, Rome's elite craved a fabric so luxurious it was thought to grow on trees. Intrepid explorers forged new paths across continents to meet this demand, creating a web of trade routes that became the very first Silk Roads. Beyond just goods, these routes sparked an exchange of ideas and beliefs between Rome and Han China.
Uncover more about how the Silk Roads got their start: on.natgeo.com/BRYTCSRH1010
3 days ago | [YT] | 3,049