The Silk Road
This famous trade route connected the Mediterranean to the Pacific.
What is the Silk Road?
Marco Polo was a merchant and explorer from this Italian city.
What is Venice?
The First Crusade was called in 1095 to take back this city.
What is Jerusalem?
This spice was the most valuable, worth more than gold.
What is pepper?
Italy was not a country during the Renaissance. Instead, it was divided into these.
What are city-states?
The Silk Road got its name from this highly desired Chinese export.
What is silk?
Polo claimed to have seen cities larger than any in this continent.
What is Europe?
The Pope promised that Christians who died in battle would go here.
What is Heaven?
Italian cities were in the perfect location for trade because they bordered this sea.
What is the Mediterranean Sea?
The Florin, a powerful currency, was used in this wealthy city-state.
What is Florence?
Along with goods, travelers also exchanged _______ and _______.
What are ideas and knowledge (or culture/religion)?
Marco Polo’s book inspired these two major groups back in Europe.
Who are explorers and mapmakers?
Jerusalem was important to Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Name one reason why.
What is Jesus’ burial site (Christianity) / direction of prayer (Islam) / Holy Temple (Judaism)?
Which traders acted as “middlemen,” buying goods from the East and selling them to Europe?
Who are Italian merchants?
Italian city-states had four advantages: Geography, climate, leadership, and this flexible aspect of their society.
What is social organization?
The Silk Road is sometimes called this because it connected people through goods, beliefs, inventions, and customs.
What is a “cultural highway” (or “highway of culture”)?
Polo’s stories included descriptions of this type of currency, which was new to Europeans.
What is paper money?
In 1098, Crusaders captured this key Muslim city before taking Jerusalem.
What is Antioch?
Name two goods Europeans wanted from the East after the Crusades.
What are oils, spices, fruits, jewels, rugs, fabrics, etc.?
Venice and Genoa fought for control over this sea and Mediterranean trade.
What is the Mediterranean Sea?
Europeans rarely traveled the Silk Road themselves. Instead, they traded with these “middlemen.”
Who are merchants from the Middle East, Central Asia, or the Mediterranean?
Polo spent years in Asia working for this Mongol leader.
Who is Kublai Khan?
A major result of the Crusades was that Europeans were exposed to Muslim knowledge in areas like ________, ________, and ________.
What are medicine, astronomy, and philosophy (plus math/literature)?
These people moved silk, camels, and horses across the Silk Road even though they had no permanent homes.
Who are nomads?
Venice’s location made it easily defended because it was built on islands in this body of water.
What is the Adriatic Sea?