Chapter 59: New Pieces In Play

''Despite the conflicts that marked its inception, Berk's Dragon Mail service transformed European society and shortly the world within Hiccup Haddock's lifetime, with regular mail and trade routes that extended to China, India, Madagascar and the northern reaches of the Vestrilands by AD 1100. ''

''The effects this had on social norms, commerce, and the sciences can only be seen by comparing the state of the world in AD 1000 with that of AD 1200. In 1000, the world's human population was approximately 275 million people (+/- 20 million), the majority of whom were living in feudal or tribal societies, and approximately 2-3 million dragons, living either in nomadic bands or in the few remaining nests. By AD 1200, the human population had doubled to a minimum of 550 million people, and possibly as high as 600 million, while dragons had reached a population of over 50 million, and social structures…''

—The Dragon Millennium, Manna-hata University Press, Ltd.

Foreshadowing
Put spoilers here

Epigraph Tie-In

 * The epigraph is about the Dragon Mail. The chapter shows Hiccup discussing some of the logistics of setting up the Dragon Mail with their merchant partners.

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