The caravan traffic along the Silk Road linking the Sino-Mongol Empire with Europe was more intense under the dominion of the Mongols that at any time before or since. This was the golden age of trade and also the period of Marco Polo's travels. The "Pax Mongolica" and the globalization effected by the Yuan Dynasty (1206 - 1368) guaranteed the exchange of precious goods between the Great Cathay and the West, accelerating the reciprocal understanding of these two worlds.