WHAP Heimler's History Unit 2 Review

What areas were connected by the Silk Roads?

China, Europe, Central Asia, and Southwest Asia

What areas were connected by the Indian Ocean Trade Routes?

East Asia, East Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Southwest Asia

What areas were connected by the Trans-Saharan Trade Routes?

North Africa, Mediterranean Basin, and Sub-Saharan Africa

How were the trade routes similar?

(1) All dependent on the establishment of large states. Best example: Mongol Control of the Silk Road which increased safety. (2) All led to new innovations in navigational technology and helped spread it. Examples: the magnetic compass, lateen sail, the sternpost rudder, and saddles for camels and horses. (3) All led to shared culture. Examples: religions like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism spread by missionaries and monks who also traveled the routes. (4) All led to the spread of agricultural products. Example: Champa rice from Vietnam to China. Bananas from Southeast Asia to Africa. (5) All led to the growth of trade cities. Examples: Chang'an in China (Silk Roads), Calicut in India and Srivijaya in Southeast Asia (Indian Ocean Trade Routes), Timbuktu in Mali (Trans-Saharan Routes).

How were the trade routes different?

FOR GOODS - Silk Road: Luxury goods like silk and porcelain, gunpowder, horses, textiles. Indian Ocean - Common goods and luxury goods like gold, ivory, fruit, textiles, pepper, rice. Trans-Saharan: horses, salt, gold, enslaved people. FOR TECHNOLOGY - Silk Road: Saddles Caravanserai (rest stops). Indian Ocean: Maritime technology like the astrolabe, magnetic compass, sternpost, rudder, lateen sail. Trans-Saharan: saddles. FOR RELIGION - Silk Road: Buddhism from South Asia to East and Southeast Asia. Neo-Confucianism from China to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Islam from Southwest Asia to South Asia. Indian Ocean: Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, and Islam here too, but also Christianity from Mediterranean Basin. Trans-Saharan: Islam from Southwest Asia to North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

How did culture change due to connections on trade routes?

Zen Buddhism (a new form of Buddhism) started in China and spread to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. The creation of Swahili from Arabic and Bantu languages mixing in East Africa as Islam took root.

How were the writings of travelers on these trade routes influential?

Ibn Battuta traveled Dar-al Islam and kept notes about the people he met. Marco Polo was a European who lived in China during the Yuan Dynasty. His book inspired many people to want to go to China to trade.

What were the environmental consequences of trade?

Other than agricultural exchange, disease also spread. The Black Death (Bubonic Plague) started in China and spread along trade routes to the rest of Afro-Eurasia. It was especially deadly, sometimes killing up to 75 percent of populations. In Europe, due to worker shortages, survivors gained more power and the ability to demand wages.

Why is the Mongol Empire significant in World History?

Pastorialists created the largest land based empire in world history!

Who united the Mongolian tribes and started their conquests?

Genghis (Chinggis) Khan

What epidemic was spread most likely by the Mongols on the Silk Road?

The Black Plague

How did the Mongols impact new states after the demise of the Mongol Empire?

New states had learned from their centralizing policies, and used many of the same techniques that the Mongols used to consolidate power.