大发现年代，也被称为大勘探年代，是欧洲进行全球勘查的一个历史时期，始于15世纪初并一直持续到18世纪。 这一时期通常被认为是中世纪和近代之间的桥梁， 当时西方帝国主义刚兴起，欧洲各王国之间正在经济上互相竞争，他们想通过建立贸易路线和殖民地来寻找财富。 在这一时期众多伟大的探险家中，最杰出的是克里斯托弗•哥伦布，因为他发现了新大陆。欧洲的海外扩张导致了殖民帝国的崛起，旧大陆与新大陆的接触也促进了两边的互相交换：大量的植物、动物、食物、文化等得到迁移。这代表了历史上生态、农业和文化在全球范围内最重大的活动之一。欧洲大勘探让绘制全球性的世界地图成为可能，从而使人们看到一个新的世界与古老的文明正遥相呼应。

The Silk Road is a traffic route in the ancient times connecting China and Eurasia. This trade route focuses on the trade of silk, hence the name “the Silk Road”. As an international trade channel and a bridge of cultural exchanges, the Silk Road effectively improved the economic and cultural exchanges and development between the East and the West, exerting a profound impact on the  progress of the world civilization. Nowadays, under the new historical circumstances, our country proposes the strategy of “One Belt, One Road”(namely the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road). The strategy of “One Belt, One Road” focuses on cooperation and mutual benefits, emphasizing mutual benefits, win-win, as well as common development of the related countries. Once proposed, the strategy has received positive responses from the related countries along the road.