All of this mattered, for it showed how a new, commerce-focused, and globally connected world was coming to life under the Pax Mongolica—the vast trading zone pacified and policed by the khans. Marco was an evangelist for the Mongol regime, which, for all its severity and illiberality, kept the peace and allowed trade to flourish safely and securely over a hitherto unimaginable span of territory, joining up the Christian west directly with the Chinese and Indian east, and making overland travel through Islamic Persia safe and reliable.
