Ancient Roman Roads Still Have a Mysterious Effect, Even When They Vanish

New research shows that the routes the Romans mapped out thousands of years ago are still relevant today.

If you live close to the Roman road network, you are more likely to be in a wealthier area. The trade, profit, and development of these roads are still important in today's world.

The ancient Romans built roads to make it easier for troops to travel. The roads began to connect towns and cities.

Many things should have been adapted to modern circumstances given that much has happened since.

The Roman roads have contributed to the concentration of cities and economic activity along them even though they are gone.

At the peak of the Roman Empire's expansion in the 2nd centuryCE, some 80,000 kilometers of road had been built, with the first being a military supply route.

The researchers used night-time light intensity as an indicator of economic activity and mapped the Roman Empire's roads on top of satellite images. The smaller grids on the map were used to measure a single degree of latitude by a single degree of longitude.

The team says there is a "remarkable pattern of persistence" between Roman road routes and modern economic activity.

Whether the roads spurred economic activity or were built along routes that were already prospering remains, but there are signs that the routes drove an increase in trade and wealth. Market towns along the routes would have been important.

The biggest challenge in research is that. After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was a chance to reorient the economic structures. The urban pattern did not change despite that.

In North Africa and the Middle East, where camel caravans replaced wheeled transport, the Roman roads were not built around or replaced.

There is no correlation between the old routes and economic prosperity in these regions. The researchers say that the market towns are important.

Future infrastructure planning can be affected by the findings. This latest study shows that the economic climate in a particular area can be greatly improved by the decisions that are made about where to put road and rail routes.

New railroad trunk lines may be built in Sweden. The former was important for economic activity in Sweden. Some communities will get a big economic boost if new stretches of the railroad are built.

The research was published in a journal.