2.1 The Silk Roads

Improved commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes—including the Silk Roads—promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities.
The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the caravanserai, forms of credit, and the development of money economies.
Demand for luxury goods increased in Afro-Eurasia. Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expanded their production of textiles and porcelains for export; manufacture of iron and steel expanded in China.

2.2 The Mongol Empire and the Modern World

Empires collapsed in different regions of the world and in some areas were replaced by new imperial states, including the Mongol khanates.
The expansion of empires—including the Mongols—facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into their conquerors’ economies and trade networks.
Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires, including the Mongols, encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers.

Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes, including the Indian Ocean, promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities.
The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by significant innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the use of the compass, the astrolabe, and larger ship designs.
The Indian Ocean trading network fostered the growth of states.
In key places along important trade routes, merchants set up diasporic communities where they introduced their own cultural traditions into the indigenous cultures and, in turn, indigenous cultures influenced merchant cultures.
Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers, including during Chinese maritime activity led by Ming Admiral Zheng He.
The expansion and intensification of long distance trade routes often depended on environmental knowledge, including advanced knowledge of the monsoon winds.

The growth of interregional trade was encouraged by innovations in existing transportation technologies.
Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes, including the trans- Saharan trade network.
The expansion of empires—including Mali in West Africa– facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into the economies and trade networks.

Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions, as well as scientific and technological innovations.
The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significant decline and periods of increased urbanization, buoyed by rising productivity and expanding trade networks.
As exchange networks intensified, an increasing number of travelers within Afro-Eurasia wrote about their travels.

There was continued diffusion of crops and pathogens, with epidemic diseases, including the bubonic plague, along trade routes.

Improved commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes—including the Silk Roads—promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities.
The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the caravanserai, forms of credit, and the development of money economies.
Demand for luxury goods increased in Afro-Eurasia. Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expanded their production of textiles and porcelains for export; manufacture of iron and steel expanded in China.

Empires collapsed in different regions of the world and in some areas were replaced by new imperial states, including the Mongol khanates.
The expansion of empires—including the Mongols—facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into their conquerors’ economies and trade networks.
Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires, including the Mongols, encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers.

Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes, including the Indian Ocean, promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities.
The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by significant innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the use of the compass, the astrolabe, and larger ship designs.
The Indian Ocean trading network fostered the growth of states.
In key places along important trade routes, merchants set up diasporic communities where they introduced their own cultural traditions into the indigenous cultures and, in turn, indigenous cultures influenced merchant cultures.
Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers, including during Chinese maritime activity led by Ming Admiral Zheng He.
The expansion and intensification of long distance trade routes often depended on environmental knowledge, including advanced knowledge of the monsoon winds.

The growth of interregional trade was encouraged by innovations in existing transportation technologies.
Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes, including the trans- Saharan trade network.
The expansion of empires—including Mali in West Africa– facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into the economies and trade networks.

Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions, as well as scientific and technological innovations.
The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significant decline and periods of increased urbanization, buoyed by rising productivity and expanding trade networks.
As exchange networks intensified, an increasing number of travelers within Afro-Eurasia wrote about their travels.

There was continued diffusion of crops and pathogens, with epidemic diseases, including the bubonic plague, along trade routes.