Monks who lived in the monasteries would pray for the success of trade missions and the health of their patrons. It was win-win, especially when you consider that one of the central materials used in Mahayana Buddhist rituals is silk. And a third reason the Silk Road changed all our lives, worldwide interconnectedness of populations led to the spread of disease. Measles and smallpox traveled along it, as did bubonic plague, which came from the east to the west in 534, 750, and most devastatingly in 1346. This last plague, known as the Black Death, resulted in the largest population decimation in human history, with nearly half of Europeans dying in a four-year period. A sizable majority of people living in Italy died, as did two-thirds of Londoners. And it quite possibly wouldn't have happened without the Silk Road.