Unit 2.1-2 (The Silk Roads/The Mongols)

Question 1

The Silk Roads

Answer 1

A system of land-based trade routes that connected Europe and Asia utilizing a relay system (passed through many hands) which traded luxury items like silk and spices

Question 2

Causes of the Silk Roads

Answer 2

Geography (differences between inner/outer Asia), Technological Innovations (Canvarsai/Travel Inns, Compass, Camel Saddle), and Banking (paper money used instead of coins and bills of exchange/checks)

Question 3

Inner Asia

Answer 3

Harsh, cold, dry climate so traded hides, furs, livestock, wool, and amber

Question 4

Outer Asia

Answer 4

Warm, well watered climate so traded agriculture and manufactured goods

Question 5

Effects of the Silk Road

Answer 5

Growth of trade cities (Kashgar/Samarkand), expanded the production of art and steel, and Mahayana Buddhism spread along the Silk Road

Question 6

Kashgar

Answer 6

Trade city located between two route intersections where travelers traded goods and could resupply

Question 7

Samarkand

Answer 7

A center of cultural exchange between Christianity, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism

Question 8

Genghis Khan

Answer 8

Leader of Mongols who united all the smaller tribes (connected by family) together using courage, reward, and friendship. Also used warfare and brutality to spread the empire.

Question 9

Mongol’s Impact on China (Yuan Dynasty)

Answer 9

Improved roads and canals and protected Silk Road trade. Lowered taxes and relied on foreigners in the gov. instead of using the Confucian exam however the Ming Dynasty tried to wipe out any memory of them.

Question 10

Mongol’s Impact on Russia (The Golden Horde)

Answer 10

Khan chose Russian princes and forced them to pay tributes, Orthodox Church exempted from taxes, Moscow becomes an important trade city and Russia adopts Mongol weapons, court practices, and church significance

Question 11

Mongol’s Impact on Persia

Answer 11

Gained control through conquest, ending Abbasid Dynasty. Destroyed soil/farmland, established high taxes, pushed peasants off land, but treated women more fairly. Mongols were influenced by Islam and their culture.

Question 12

Long Term Impacts of the Mongols

Answer 12

Pax Mongolica/Mongol Peace (Mongols reestablished interregional trade between Asia, the Mid. East, and Europe), spread paper making/gunpowder from Europe to China, promoted the exchange of cultures through protecting the Silk Road and moving scholars across the regions for gov. work, ended feudal practices of knights and cannons but also spread the bubonic plague

Question 13

What caused the Mongols to decline?

Answer 13

Plagues and diseases caused a drop in human population and labor accessibility, leading to peasants revolting, women temporarily having more job options, but trade weakens

Question 14

What caused Europeans to search for a trade route overseas to Asia?

Answer 14

A disruption of Mongol trade routes and desire to avoid Muslim controlled land