Every dispatch so far - places walked slowly, cultures met up close, and the people who gave each journey its soul.
The charcoal is lit before anything else. Someone sets a low brazier down on the floor, feeds it, and waits for the coals to settle into an even orange. Nothing about the next three hours will be hurried, and that is the first thing to understand about buna. Buna is the Amharic word for coffee.…
An Ambassador's Astonishment During the 17th century, Sir Thomas Roe — one of the most successful and well-traveled English diplomats of his era, and the first official English ambassador to India — wrote to Charles I from Agra about the Mughal empire, which was not only known for its wealth and military strength, but also…
How Dubai Replaced Geneva as the Vital Node of the Modern Energy Silk Road For decades, the lakeside city of Geneva was home to many of the traders who sold Russia’s oil to consumers around the world. But since Switzerland joined the embargo imposed on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine, much of that trade…
During the 18th century in the American colonies, land, enslaved people, and credit were used as a way of measuring, securing, and multiplying wealth. In a world before modern banks, stock markets, or paper money as we know it, wealth wasn't about how much cash you had in your wallet. It was about tangible assets…
A standout piece in the British Museum’s Silk Roads exhibition is a 7th-century mural from Samarkand, a major Silk Road city. The painting reflects the vibrant cultural exchange and artistic influences that connected Asia, Europe, and Africa centuries before Marco Polo. A small Buddha statue crafted in the Swat Valley of present-day Pakistan and later…
A small Swahili town where the Indian Ocean, Islam and Christianity keep an easy, unhurried peace.
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