You've heard people compare the financial crisis of 2008 and its still lingering aftermath to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Earlier this month, I suggested the Panic of 1893 as another point of comparison.
Now here's an additional global financial crisis to consider, from Oxford University historian Peter Frankopan's just-published "The Silk Roads: A New History of the World."
The crisis was caused by a series of factors that resonate 600 years later: over-saturated markets, currency devaluations and a lopsided balance of payments that went awry. Even with the growing demand for silks and other luxury products, there was only so much that could be absorbed.