Istanbul is located on the historic Silk Road in modern day Turkey.
 Istanbul has three major shipping ports  the Port of Haydarpaa, the Port of Ambarl, and the Port of Zeytinburnu  as well as several smaller ports and oil terminals along the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara
 During its roughly 1,500 years of existence, the Silk Road endured the rise and fall of numerous empires and major events such as the Black Death and the Mongol conquests; after almost every disruption, the network reemerged stronger than before, most notably under the Mongol Empire and its offshoot the Yuan Dynasty

