AP World History: Modern Layson's unit 2 test

Layson's unit 2 test

🌐 Networks Overview

Networks of Exchange (1200-1450) Period of expanding Afro-Eurasian trade networks (Silk Roads, Indian Ocean, Trans-Saharan); increased goods, ideas, tech, crops, and disease spread
Key Trade Routes Silk Roads, Indian Ocean Network, Trans-Saharan Routes, (Mediterranean)
Key AP Themes Unit 2 Economics (trade), Governance (Mongols), Culture (religion diffusion), Technology (navigation), Environment (disease & crops)

Major Trade Networks

Silk Roads (China ↔ Middle East), Indian Ocean (East Africa ↔ China), Trans-Saharan (West Africa ↔ North Africa)

Primary Facilitators of Trade Expansion

Mongols, improved nav/transport tech, banking systems, predictable monsoon winds

🐎 SILK ROADS

What are the Silk Roads

Overland luxury trade from China ↔ Middle East ↔ Europe

Major Silk Road Goods from China

Silk, porcelain, paper, gunpowder, tea (ORIGIN: China)

Luxury Goods from Central Asia

Horses, jade (ORIGIN: Central Asia)

Goods from Middle East

Carpets, glassware, metalwork, musical instruments (ORIGIN: Persia/Middle East)

What Is Paper Money?

Paper currency invented in China to make trade easier

What expanded under Mongols?

Bills of Exchange / Banking Houses Medieval Islamic & Chinese finance network

What helped increase the flow of trade?

Caravanserai Inns across Central Asia & Persia enabling safe rest and exchange

What was so important about the Samarkand Central Asian Silk Road?

It was a religion + trade hub in Uzbekistan

What was so important about the Kashgar Silk Road

City linking China and Central Asia; major Islam center (Western China)

What is gunpowder?

An invention from China that spread west via Mongols

What is Printing/Paper

Developed in China as it was used for taxing, spreading decrees or orders, etc.. (spread along Silk Roads)

What is the Compass (early form)

Invented in China for navigation

The IOTN

What is the Indian Ocean Trade Network (IOTN)?

Maritime trade linking East Africa ↔ Middle East ↔ India ↔ SE Asia ↔ China

Bulk Goods (IOTN)

Cotton textiles (India), timber (SE Asia/East Africa), rice (India/SE Asia), ivory (East Africa), spices (SE Asia)

Indian Ocean Luxury Goods

Porcelain (China), pepper (India), spices (Indonesia/Malacca), gold (East Africa)

Monsoon Wind

System Seasonal wind cycles learned in Indian Ocean Basin

Dhow Ships

Arab sailing ships w/ lateen sails (Middle East)

Junk Ships

Large multi-sail ships from China

Lateen Sail

Triangular sail developed in Arab world, improved tacking ability

Compass

(maritime use) From China, improved navigation

Astrolabe Navigation

tool adopted from Classical Greece → improved by Islamic world

What was the importance of Calicut

Trade city on Indian Malabar Coast

What was the importance of Gujarat

Indian trading state; textile + trade center (West India)

What was the importance of the Malacca Sultanate

Controlled choke point at Strait of Malacca; taxed shipping (SE Asia)

What was the importance of the Kilwa Swahili Coast

trade hub; gold + ivory exports (East Africa)

Where DId Diasporic Muslim Merchant Communities Settle

in East Africa, India, SE Asia; spread Islam and trade networks

🏜️ TRANS-SAHARAN TRADE

What was the Trans-Saharan Network

Trade across the Sahara connecting West Africa ↔ North Africa

Where was gold Exported from

West Africa (Mali/Ghana/Songhai)

Where was salt exported from

From North Africa/Sahara

Where were ivory & enslaved people exported from

From West & Central Africa

Where were Camels from and why were they important

Domesticated in Arabian Peninsula, key to desert trade

Camel Saddles

Developed by Arabs/Berbers → allowed military & cargo control

What was the Mali Empire

A West African Islamic empire controlling gold-salt routes

Who was Mansa Musa

Mali emperor; Hajj to Mecca spread gold and Islam

What was Timbuktu

Learning center with Islamic scholars / teachings (West Africa)

What was the Songhai Empire (Don’t need to know just yet)

Succeeded Mali; expanded Saharan trade

⚔️ MONGOLS

RAID AND TRADE

What does Genghis Khan (Temujin) do

Unites Mongol tribes; merit-based military; expands empire (Central Asia/Steppe)

What was the Yuan Dynasty

Period of Mongol rule in China

Il-Khanate Mongol

State in Persia/Middle East

Golden Horde Mongol

State in Russia/Eastern Europe

Chagatai Khanate Mongol

Region in Central Asia Their central point

Religious Tolerance

Mongols were highly tolerant and usually embraced the native language of the areas they conquered. 

Mongol Passports (Paizi)

Travel permits for safe merchant passage

Siege Tech

(Trebuchets, catapults) Adopted from Chinese + Persian engineers

☮️ PAX MONGOLICA

Pax Mongolica

"Mongol Peace"; stabilized Eurasia; boosted trade & Silk Roads

Mongol Trade Policies

Protected merchants, banned corrupt tolls, improved roads

Cultural Transmission

via Mongols Printing, gunpowder, paper, Persian governance, Islamic science

🌱 CULTURAL DIFFUSION & ENVIRONMENT

3 Ms of Diffusion

Merchants, Missionaries, Military spread culture

Islam Spread To

West Africa, East Africa, India, SE Asia

Buddhism Spread Across

Silk Roads from India to East Asia

Arabic Numerals

Developed in India, spread through Islamic world → Europe

Uyghur Script

Adopted writing system from Turkic Uyghurs to run Mongol empire

Champa Rice

Fast-growing rice from Vietnam → China (Song/Yuan) → population boom

Bananas

From SE Asia → Africa

Citrus Fruits

From Mediterranean/Middle East → Europe

Black Death (Bubonic Plague)

Originated likely in East Asia → spread via Silk Roads & Mongol trade

🧠 Comparison Cards

Silk Roads vs IOTN Goods

Silk Roads = luxury goods; IOTN = bulk + luxury

IOTN vs Saharan Movement

IOTN = ships, bulk cargo; Sahara = camels, gold-salt trade

All 3 Networks Shared

Spread religion, tech, crops, cities & merchant elites grew