Major Trade Routes
This overland trade network connected East Asia to the Mediterranean and was most active during the Mongol Empire.
What is the Silk Roads?
This event in 1054, caused by disagreements over theology, language, and papal authority, permanently divided Christianity into Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic branches.
What is the Great Schism?
This Chinese invention improved agricultural productivity and helped feed a growing population during the Song Dynasty.
What is Champa rice?
This West African empire, famous for its gold wealth, reached its height under Mansa Musa in the 14th century.
What is Mali?
This Venetian traveler visited the court of Kublai Khan and later wrote about his experiences.
Who is Marco Polo?
This oceanic trade network connected East Africa, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia using monsoon winds.
What is the Indian Ocean trade network?
This division in Islam began as a political dispute over leadership after Muhammad’s death, eventually creating two major branches of the religion.
What is the Sunni–Shia split?
The spread of this navigational technology from China into the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean helped shift long distance trade from primarily overland routes to maritime routes by the late medieval period.
What is the magnetic compass?
This powerful South Indian state, known for temple construction and naval trade, dominated much of southern India in the early 1200s.
What is the Chola Empire?
This Mongol ruled dynasty governed China after conquering the Song.
What is the Yuan Dynasty?
This trans-Saharan animal made long-distance desert trade possible and led to the rise of states like Mali.
What is the camel?
This devotional movement in India emphasized personal worship and helped spread Hinduism across social classes.
What is the Bhakti movement?
This form of credit used in Indian Ocean trade allowed merchants to avoid carrying large amounts of cash.
What is a letter of credit (or bill of exchange / credit instrument)?
This Chinese dynasty, which ruled until 1279, is known for its strong bureaucracy, economic growth, and use of civil service exams.
What is the Song Dynasty?
This disease spread along Mongol trade routes and devastated populations across Eurasia in the 14th century.
What is the Black Death (or bubonic plague)?
This Chinese dynasty greatly expanded the Grand Canal, boosting internal trade and linking northern and southern China.
What is the Sui Dynasty?
This mystical branch of Islam spread the faith through missionaries, poetry, and personal devotion, especially along trade routes in Africa and South Asia.
What is Sufism (or the Sufi movement)?
This Chinese innovation used woodblocks or movable type to produce books more efficiently.
What is printing?
This political system in medieval Europe was decentralized, with power divided among local lords rather than a strong central government.
What is feudalism?
This deceptive battlefield maneuver, commonly used by Mongol cavalry, involved pretending to retreat in order to lure enemy forces into an ambush.
What is the feigned retreat (or false retreat)?
This commercial alliance of northern European cities dominated trade in the Baltic and North Seas during the late medieval period.
What is the Hanseatic League?
In 1095, this pope called for a series of holy wars to reclaim Jerusalem from Muslim control, launching the First Crusade.
Who is Pope Urban II?
This triangular sail, used in the Indian Ocean, allowed ships to tack against the wind and increased the flexibility of maritime trade.
What is the lateen sail?
This Islamic state, centered in northern India and ruled by Turkic elites, governed much of the subcontinent between 1206 and the early 1500s.
What is the Delhi Sultanate?
This Mongol system of relay stations with fresh horses allowed messages and intelligence to travel rapidly across the empire.
What is the Yam system (or Mongol postal relay system)?