Unit I: The World Before the U.S. - Interactions and the Silk Road
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Vocabulary practice flashcards covering inter-civilizational contact, the Silk Road, the Mongol Empire, Pax Mongolica, cultural and technological exchanges, and the Black Death.
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The Silk Road
A network of trade routes connecting China (Asia) with the Middle East (Africa) and Europe, complete with strategically located trading posts, markets, and thoroughfares to streamline the movement of goods.
Goods Traded
Physical commodities exchanged along the Silk Road, which included gems, gold, ivory, plants, animals, spices, and furs.
Non-Goods Traded
Intangible elements spread across trade routes through human interaction, specifically religions, ideas and inventions, and disease.
Culture
The customs, arts, and social institutions of a particular group of people.
Genghis Khan
The first emperor of the Mongol Empire who unified the Mongols and conquered territory stretching from China to Eastern Europe.
Mongol Empire
The largest contiguous (touching) land empire in history, extending from China across Eurasia to Eastern Europe, which secured and revitalized the Silk Road.
Pax Mongolica
A peaceful time period during the 13th and 14th centuries with little fighting across Eurasia under Mongol rule, which provided stability that made Silk Road trade safer and more common.
Technological Advancements
Key innovations that originated in China/Asia and the Middle East—specifically the magnetic compass, paper, and gunpowder—which spread westward and helped Europe "catch up."
Pandemic
An outbreak that occurs when a disease spreads over an entire nation or the entire world.
The Black Death
A global pandemic in the 1300s caused by the Bubonic Plague that traveled along the Silk Road from Asia to Europe and Africa, killing between 75 and 200 million people.
"New World"
North and South America, reached after European merchants explored the Atlantic Ocean seeking a faster and safer sea route to Asia following the shutdown of Silk Road routes due to the plague.