A major cause of the Protestant Reformation was the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church. Martin Luther began early in his writings criticizing this practice in saying that the Pope had no authority or right to sell this type of indulgence.
The Silk Road was a network of trade routes that was extremely popular during Antiquity, all the way to the 18th century. This network connected faraway regions such as East and South Asia, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula and Southern Europe.
One of the benefits of the Silk Road for the countries the route crossed is that it allowed people in these regions to trade goods, providing a source of money as well as access to goods that were not normally available in their region. Another benefit was the fact that the road allowed for cultural exchange among these regions.
In the early 20th century, the Balkans were called a ''powder keg'' because the political situation in the region was very unstable.
