The Silk Road

{
  "version": 1,
  "title": "The Silk Road",
  "subtitle": "Thousands of kilometres of dust, mountains and markets: how one trade route connected the ancient world.",
  "topic": "The history of the Silk Road trade route",
  "domain": "history",
  "emoji": "🐪",
  "kicker": "History",
  "chips": [
    "Ancient trade",
    "Asia to Europe"
  ],
  "style": {
    "palette": "copper",
    "background": "silk",
    "fonts": "book",
    "captions": "cinema",
    "effects": [
      "vignette",
      "film",
      "leak"
    ],
    "enter": "reveal-up",
    "transition": "blur",
    "header": [],
    "progress": "glow"
  },
  "narration": {
    "voice": "M2",
    "speed": 0.94
  },
  "scenes": [
    {
      "kind": "intro",
      "say": [
        "Two thousand years ago, a bolt of silk could change hands twenty times before it reached its buyer.",
        "This is the story of the road that carried it."
      ]
    },
    {
      "kind": "worldmap",
      "heading": "One road, many lands",
      "lead": "The Silk Road was never one road. It was a web of paths across a whole continent.",
      "places": [
        {
          "place": "China",
          "note": "Silk and paper",
          "tone": "rose",
          "say": "It began in China, the only land that knew how to make silk."
        },
        {
          "place": "Uzbekistan",
          "note": "Oasis cities",
          "tone": "amber",
          "say": "It crossed the oasis cities of Central Asia, where caravans rested and traded."
        },
        {
          "place": "Iran",
          "note": "Carpets and glass",
          "tone": "violet",
          "say": "It passed through Persia, famous for carpets, glass and fine metalwork."
        },
        {
          "place": "Turkey",
          "note": "The gateway",
          "tone": "sky",
          "say": "It reached the gates of Europe in what is now Turkey."
        },
        {
          "place": "Italy",
          "note": "The end of the line",
          "tone": "emerald",
          "say": "And silk finally arrived in the markets of Italy."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "kind": "journey",
      "heading": "Following a caravan",
      "lead": "Let us follow one caravan across the whole route.",
      "header": false,
      "transition": "zoom-in",
      "stops": [
        {
          "place": "Xi'an",
          "tone": "rose",
          "say": "The caravan leaves Xi'an, the capital, loaded with silk."
        },
        {
          "place": "Samarkand",
          "latitude": 39.65,
          "longitude": 66.96,
          "mode": "walk",
          "tone": "amber",
          "say": "Months later it reaches Samarkand, one of the richest markets in the world."
        },
        {
          "place": "Baghdad",
          "mode": "walk",
          "tone": "violet",
          "say": "Then it crosses the desert to Baghdad, a city of scholars and libraries."
        },
        {
          "place": "Istanbul",
          "mode": "walk",
          "tone": "sky",
          "say": "Next comes Constantinople, today called Istanbul, where Asia meets Europe."
        },
        {
          "place": "Venice",
          "mode": "boat",
          "tone": "emerald",
          "say": "And a ship carries the silk the last stretch to Venice."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "kind": "tags",
      "heading": "What travelled the road",
      "transition": "swirl",
      "items": [
        {
          "text": "Silk",
          "weight": 3,
          "tone": "rose"
        },
        {
          "text": "Spices",
          "weight": 3,
          "tone": "amber"
        },
        {
          "text": "Paper",
          "weight": 3,
          "tone": "sky"
        },
        {
          "text": "Glass",
          "weight": 2,
          "tone": "violet"
        },
        {
          "text": "Gunpowder",
          "weight": 2,
          "tone": "orange"
        },
        {
          "text": "Ideas",
          "weight": 3,
          "tone": "emerald"
        },
        {
          "text": "Stories",
          "weight": 2,
          "tone": "teal"
        },
        {
          "text": "Medicine",
          "weight": 1
        },
        {
          "text": "Music",
          "weight": 1
        }
      ],
      "say": [
        "Silk gave the road its name, but it carried far more than silk.",
        "Spices, glass and paper moved west. Gunpowder and medicine moved with them.",
        "And so did ideas, music and stories, which is why the Silk Road is sometimes called the first internet."
      ]
    },
    {
      "kind": "timetravel",
      "heading": "A road with a long life",
      "from": 100,
      "header": false,
      "events": [
        {
          "year": 105,
          "title": "Paper is invented",
          "text": "A court official in China perfects it.",
          "tone": "sky",
          "say": "In the year one hundred and five, paper was perfected in China."
        },
        {
          "year": 751,
          "title": "Paper travels west",
          "text": "Papermakers are taken to Samarkand.",
          "tone": "amber",
          "say": "In the year seven hundred and fifty-one, papermakers reached Samarkand, and the secret began to spread."
        },
        {
          "year": 1271,
          "title": "Marco Polo sets out",
          "text": "A young merchant leaves Venice for Asia.",
          "tone": "violet",
          "say": "In twelve seventy-one, a young merchant named Marco Polo left Venice for Asia."
        },
        {
          "year": 1453,
          "title": "The land route closes",
          "text": "Constantinople falls and ships take over.",
          "tone": "rose",
          "say": "In fourteen fifty-three, Constantinople fell, and traders started to look for routes by sea."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "kind": "statement",
      "eyebrow": "The real treasure",
      "text": "The greatest cargo was never silk. It was **ideas**.",
      "icon": "📜",
      "header": false,
      "transition": "fade",
      "say": "The greatest cargo was never silk. It was ideas."
    }
  ]
}