The Uttarapatha, the great 'northern route' running across the Gangetic plain to the northwest, was organised under the Mauryas with measured stages, wells, rest-houses and shade-trees, and was later rebuilt by Sher Shah Suri and the Mughals as the Grand Trunk Road. Lined with caravanserais and milestones (kos minars), it carried armies, pilgrims, merchants and administration across the subcontinent and linked it to Central Asia and the Silk Road. The road strung together a chain of trading towns, garrisons and pilgrimage centres along its length. It remains one of the longest continuously used overland corridors in the world.
This state-maintained highway integrated the subcontinent economically and politically and seeded a corridor of towns along its route for more than two millennia. It is a foundational example of infrastructure as a tool of imperial cohesion and urban networking.