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Unit 10: Global Trade Networks and Post-Classical Empires

The Silk Roads, Indian Ocean, and trans-Saharan networks linking the post-classical world, the Mongols who briefly united it, and the plague that followed.

9 topics · 37 questions

Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.

The Silk Roads Connect Eurasia

  1. How it worksShow me goods, religions, and diseases all flowing along the same Silk Road network in both directions.
  2. How it worksHow does a chain of oasis towns and caravanserai make it possible to cross deserts no single traveler could cross alone?
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to Silk Road traffic once a single empire controls the whole route at once?
Your turn1 of 2
Archaeologists have found Chinese silk in graves in Roman Britain, even though no Roman ever traveled to China and no Chinese merchant ever reached Britain. How did the silk get there?

The Indian Ocean Trade Network

  1. How it worksShow me monsoon winds reversing direction each season and carrying ships between Africa, Arabia, India, and China.
  2. How it worksHow does knowing the monsoon's seasonal switch let a captain plan a round trip that would otherwise be impossible?
  3. Going furtherWhat goods and ideas move along the Indian Ocean network besides the spices most people think of first?
Your turn1 of 2
Sailors were crossing the open Indian Ocean, out of sight of any coastline, centuries before European sailors dared to. How were they able to navigate that open water so early?

Trans-Saharan Trade and West African Kingdoms

  1. How it worksShow me camel caravans crossing the Sahara linking West African gold fields to North African and Mediterranean markets.
  2. How it worksHow does controlling the trade routes, not just the gold mines, make Ghana and then Mali into wealthy empires?
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to a West African kingdom's power once a rival empire seizes control of the same trade routes?
Your turn1 of 2
West African gold and Saharan salt sometimes traded for close to their weight in each other, even though gold is far rarer worldwide. Why did salt command a price that high?

Mansa Musa's Pilgrimage

  1. How it worksShow me Mansa Musa's 1324 pilgrimage route from Mali across the Sahara to Cairo and on to Mecca.
  2. Worked exampleTrace how much gold Mansa Musa is said to have given away in Cairo and how long it took gold prices there to recover.
  3. Common mistakeWhy doesn't Mansa Musa's famous wealth mean Mali's gold supply was unlimited?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to European maps of Africa once word of Mansa Musa's wealth reaches the Mediterranean world?
Your turn1 of 2
In 1324, Mali's king Mansa Musa passed through Cairo on his pilgrimage to Mecca and gave away so much gold that its value in the city's markets stayed depressed for years afterward. Why did one king's spending crash regional gold prices that badly?

The Swahili Coast City-States

  1. How it worksShow me Swahili city-states like Kilwa and Mombasa trading gold, ivory, and enslaved people for cloth, porcelain, and glass.
  2. How it worksHow does Swahili's Bantu grammar absorbing Arabic vocabulary trace the coast's centuries of Indian Ocean contact?
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the Swahili coast accurately described as an Arab colony rather than an African civilization with outside connections?
  4. Worked exampleFind how many centuries of Indian Ocean trade contact pass before Arabic vocabulary fully blends into Swahili's Bantu grammar.
  5. Ties togetherHow does Swahili blending African grammar with Arabic vocabulary mirror the same mixing Islam's trade-driven spread produces in West Africa?
Your turn1 of 2
Cities along East Africa's coast, from Mogadishu to Kilwa to Mombasa, developed their own shared language, Swahili, blending African and Arabic roots. Why did a string of otherwise independent trading cities end up sharing one language?

Tang and Song China's Economic Revolution

  1. How it worksHow does the Tang and Song civil service exam recruit officials from across the empire based on merit rather than birth?
  2. Worked exampleShow me Song China adopting fast-ripening Champa rice and watching its population climb toward 120 million.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't Song China's paper money the same thing as money with no real backing at all?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to trade and cities across China once the Grand Canal links the rice-rich south to the political north?
Your turn1 of 2
The Tang dynasty had commanded a powerful military, but the Song dynasty that followed it was militarily weaker, even losing territory to northern rivals. Yet Song China's economy boomed. Why did the economy thrive even without Tang's military strength?

Feudal Japan and the Samurai

  1. How it worksShow me power in feudal Japan splitting between the emperor, the shogun, and local daimyo lords with samurai serving each one.
  2. How it worksHow does the samurai code of bushido bind a warrior's loyalty to his lord above his own life?
  3. Worked exampleFind how many centuries the shogun holds real power in Japan, from the first shogunate in 1192 to the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't feudal Japan's samurai system identical to European feudalism just because both involve lords and warriors?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens to Japan's isolated development once Mongol invasion fleets twice try and fail to cross from Korea?
Your turn1 of 2
Japan's emperor kept his throne and religious authority for centuries, yet real political and military power shifted to a shogun, a military ruler who governed in the emperor's name. Why did power shift that way instead of the emperor simply losing his throne outright?

The Mongol Conquests and the Pax Mongolica

  1. How it worksShow me the Mongol Empire's territory exploding across Eurasia from Genghis Khan's unification to its peak size.
  2. How it worksHow does a Mongol horse archer's mobility and discipline defeat armies many times the size of his own force?
  3. Common mistakeWhy doesn't the Mongols' reputation for destruction capture the whole story of what the Pax Mongolica made possible?
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't it true that Genghis Khan's armies were an undisciplined horde rather than one of history's most organized fighting forces?
  5. Going furtherWhat changes about trade and travel across Eurasia once one empire controls the entire length of the Silk Road?
Your turn1 of 2
The Mongol population numbered only a few million people, yet Mongol armies conquered the largest connected land empire in world history. How could such a small population manage that?

The Black Death Spreads Along Trade Routes

  1. How it worksShow me the Black Death spreading year by year from Central Asia along trade routes into the Middle East and Europe between 1347 and 1351.
  2. How it worksHow do fleas carrying plague bacteria hitch a ride on the same trade ships and caravans moving goods across Eurasia?
  3. Worked exampleTrace Europe's population before 1347 and after 1351 and find roughly what share of it the plague killed.
  4. Common mistakeWhy isn't it true that the Black Death was caused only by poor hygiene rather than a bacterium carried by fleas?
  5. Going furtherWhat happens to the value of peasant labor across Europe once the plague leaves so many fields without workers?
Your turn1 of 2
The Black Death began with fleas carrying plague bacteria on rodents in Central Asia, thousands of miles from Europe. Within a few years, it had killed roughly a third of Europe's population. How did a regional outbreak turn into a continent-wide catastrophe?