Silk Roads
This luxury textile served as the primary trade good on the trade routes in Asia, so much so that it gave the trading network its name.
What is Chinese silk?
This mighty leader unified the Mongol tribes in 1206 and built the largest contiguous land-based empire in history.
Who is Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan)?
This natural, predictable seasonal weather phenomenon made maritime navigation in the Indian Ocean possible.
What are monsoon winds?
This essential mineral commodity produced in northern/central Africa was heavily demanded throughout the continent for health and food preservation.
What is salt?
This term describes the blending of different cultural or religious ideas, such as the synthesis of Buddhism and Daoism in China.
What is syncretism?
These rest stops and guesthouses spaced about a day’s journey apart along major trade routes, which provided safety from bandits and served as centers for cultural exchange.
What are caravanserai?
This term describes the century of relative stability, safety, and prosperous trade across Eurasia under Mongol rule.
What is the Pax Mongolica?
This triangular sail innovation allowed ships to catch wind in almost any direction.
What is the lateen sail?
This African empire led by the richest man who ever lived, grew exceptionally wealthy by the 14th century by monopolizing and taxing trade in gold and salt across the Sahara.
What is the Empire of Mali?
A young Moroccan (African) Muslim scholar spent 30 years traveling across Dar al-Islam, dictating detailed travelogues that documented cultures across Afro-Eurasia.
Who is Ibn Battuta?
This transportation innovation allowed camels to carry far heavier merchandise loads across long distances without chafing the animal.
What is the camel saddle?
This grandson of Chinggis Khan conquered China, established the Yuan Dynasty, and adopted Confucian style practices to maintain rule.
Who is Kublai Khan?
This massive Chinese ship design allowed maritime merchants to haul considerable amounts of cargo in bulk across the seas?
What is the Chinese junk?
This famous ruler of Mali embarked on a lavish pilgrimage to Mecca, giving away so much gold in Egypt that he temporarily inflated the local economy.
Who is Mansa Musa?
A Venetian (Italian) merchant spent years in the court of Kublai Khan and wrote vivid accounts of China’s wealth that sparked European interest in Asia.
Who is Marco Polo?
You may have stopped at one of these two Silk Road trading cities located in Central Asia at the convergence of major trade routes.
What are Kashgar or Samarkand?
This Dynasty in China was headed by the Mongols instead of the Chinese.
What is the Yuan Dynasty?
This Ming Dynasty admiral commanded massive treasure fleets of up to 300 ships to expand China's tributary system across the Indian Ocean.
Who is Admiral Zheng He?
This technology invented by Arabs, allowed travelers to travel by stars at night.
What is the astrolabe?
A major European intellectual revival was sparked in part by the reintroduction of classical Greek and Roman philosophy preserved by Muslim scholars in Baghdad.
What is the Renaissance?
This type of economy became more popular with the introduction of banking and credit.
What is a money economy?
This Mongol ruler in west Asia was Muslim.
Who is Tamerlane (Timur)?
This country is ideally situated along the Indian ocean for traders from Africa and East Asia to meet in the middle.
What is India?
This west African city was a trade hub first controlled by the Ghana empire, then by Mali.
What is Timbuktu?
This notorious epidemic devastated populations across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe during the 14th century.
What is the Bubonic Plague (Black Death)?