APWH - Unit 2

Networks of Exchange (1200–1450): Trade, Technology, and Cross-Cultural Interaction

How did the Mongol Empire foster increased trade across Eurasia?

The Mongols’ vast, connected empire boosted trade, communication, and cultural diffusion in ways not seen since Rome or Han China.
Pax Mongolica: Secured Silk Road routes, enabling goods (silk, spices, porcelain) and ideas (Islamic science, Buddhism) to travel safely.
Merchant Protection: Mongols issued passports and protected caravans across their unified territories from China to Persia.

What were environmental effects of increased Indian Ocean trade?

Trade didn't just move goods—it reshaped landscapes through urban growth, crop diffusion, and environmental strain.

Deforestation in Swahili city-states (e.g., Kilwa) for shipbuilding and expanding ports.

Agricultural diffusion: Crops like bananas and sugarcane spread between East Africa and Asia, transforming ecosystems and diets.

How did cultural diffusion happen through these trade networks?

Trade routes spread religion, science, and technology, weaving together distant societies into a shared intellectual and spiritual network

Islam: Spread to Southeast Asia via Muslim merchants and Sufi missionaries in places like Malacca.

Technology Transfer: Gunpowder and papermaking from China reached the Middle East and Europe via the Silk Road.

What was a significant effect of travelers like Marco Polo or Ibn Battuta?

Travelers served as bridges between cultures and preserved rich detail about societies otherwise disconnected from European records.

Marco Polo: His descriptions of Yuan China’s wealth (e.g., paper money, postal systems) inspired European curiosity.

Ibn Battuta: Wrote about the Islamic world from Mali to India, giving insight into religious variation and local customs.