Technology/Trade
These triangular sails allowed ships to sail closer to the wind and were crucial for navigation in the Indian Ocean trade networks.
What are lateen sails?
This "Mongol Peace" facilitated safe trade and cultural exchange across the vast Eurasian empire from the 13th-14th centuries.
What is Pax Mongolica?
This economic system based on currency rather than barter facilitated long-distance trade and urban commercial development.
What is a money economy?
This West African city became a major center of Islamic learning and trans-Saharan trade, famous for its libraries and scholars.
What is Timbuktu?
his philosophical approach emphasizing reason and worldly concerns over religious doctrine gained prominence during periods of cultural exchange and renaissance.
What is secularism?
These large Chinese vessels with multiple masts and watertight compartments dominated East Asian maritime trade from the Song Dynasty onward.
What are junk ships?
his term describes the period of Mongol domination over Russian principalities, during which tribute was extracted and local rulers were controlled.
What is the Mongol Yoke?
These organized groups of merchants and pack animals transported goods across long-distance overland trade routes, especially along the Silk Roads.
What are caravans?
This strategic city controlled the eastern end of the Silk Roads and served as a crucial link between China and Central Asia.
What is Kashgar?
These military innovations including catapults, trebuchets, and gunpowder weapons revolutionized medieval warfare and urban defense.
What are siege weapons?
This navigational instrument used the positions of celestial bodies to determine latitude and was essential for long-distance ocean voyages.
What is the astrolabe?
This Mongol-established dynasty ruled China from 1271-1368, with Kublai Khan as its most famous emperor
What is the Yuan Dynasty?
This early form of paper money developed in Song China allowed merchants to deposit cash in one location and withdraw it in another.
What is flying cash?
This Central Asian city was a major hub on the Silk Roads, known for its beautiful Islamic architecture and as Tamerlane's capital.
What is Samarkand?
This West African kingdom (c. 300-1200 CE) was the first major empire to control trans-Saharan gold and salt trade routes.
What is Ghana?
This major port city on the Malay Peninsula controlled the strategic strait between the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, becoming a crucial hub for spice trade.
What is Malacca?
This Mongol khanate controlled Persia and the Middle East, eventually converting to Islam and adopting local administrative practices.
What is the Il-Khanate?
This powerful commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns dominated trade in the Baltic and North Sea regions.
What is the Hanseatic League?
This Byzantine capital controlled the strategic passage between Europe and Asia until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1453.
What is Constantinople?
This legendary founder of the Mali Empire is celebrated in the epic oral tradition as a great warrior and unifier.
Who is Sundiata?
. This Indian Ocean port city on the Malabar Coast was a major center for pepper trade and attracted merchants from across the maritime world.
What is Calicut
This Mongol khanate controlled the western steppes and Eastern Europe, maintaining power over Russian principalities for centuries.
What is the Golden Horde?
These scattered communities of merchants and traders maintained cultural connections to their homelands while facilitating long-distance commerce
What are diasporic communities?
This collection of city-states in northern Nigeria became wealthy through trans-Saharan trade and developed sophisticated political systems.
What are the Hausa Kingdoms?
This Bantu language became the lingua franca of East African trade, blending African and Arabic elements in coastal trading cities.
What is Swahili?