Use the historical document(s) and the short readings in the left panel to answer the associated questions.
Use the historical document(s) and the short readings in the left panel to answer the associated questions.
Historical Document (Indian Ocean Trade)
A merchant receipt from about 1200 CE records goods shipped between ports on the Indian Ocean. Lists of pepper, cotton textiles, and porcelain show long-distance exchange linking South Asia, Arabia, and East Africa. Compare what this document suggests to trade on the Silk Roads or Trans-Saharan routes.
Which Afro-Eurasian trade network is MOST directly represented by this merchant receipt?
Which environmental factor MOST helped merchants conduct trade on the network shown in this document?
Using evidence from the document and the reading, compare this Indian Ocean trade record to what you would expect in a Silk Roads caravan record.
Include at least one similarity and one difference (goods, routes, or transportation).
Explain how the network shown could spread more than products.
Identify one example of an idea, technology, person/group, or disease that could travel along this route and compare it to one example that could travel along either the Silk Roads or the Trans-Saharan routes.
Which inference BEST compares the goods listed in the receipt to goods commonly traded across the Trans-Saharan routes?
Historical Document (Mongol Eurasia)
A 13th-century Mongol decree grants a merchant official protection and access to relay stations across imperial territory. By placing long stretches of Eurasia under one rule, Mongol authorities could make travel more predictable and connect distant regions. Compare this evidence to exchanges before Mongol conquest.
Using evidence from the document and the reading, compare exchanges during Mongol rule to exchanges in Eurasia before the Mongol conquests.
Include at least one similarity and one difference (security, speed of travel, or who controlled routes).
Which comparison BEST explains how Mongol rule changed the context of Silk Roads travel?
Which example BEST supports the claim that the Mongols were agents of cultural diffusion in Eurasia?
What is the MOST likely purpose of this Mongol decree?
Explain one way Mongol policies or conquest acted as an agent of change across Eurasia and compare it to one change caused by another trade network or empire.
Use at least one specific example in each case (idea, technology, product, or disease).
Historical Document
(Crossing Challenging Landscapes)
A traveler’s sketch from about 1350 CE shows a camel caravan crossing the Sahara with bundles of goods and a marked route to a desert well. This evidence suggests how merchants adapted transportation to move products across harsh terrain. Compare this strategy to travel on the Silk Roads or Indian Ocean.
Using evidence from the document and the reading, compare how merchants crossed the Sahara to how merchants traveled on the Silk Roads.
Include at least one similarity and one difference (transportation, route planning, or geographic obstacles).
Explain how transportation technologies helped trade networks connect regions.
Identify one transportation adaptation in the document and compare it to one transportation adaptation used on either the Indian Ocean or the Silk Roads.
Which inference BEST connects the desert well shown to the success of long-distance trade?
Which comparison BEST explains how desert caravan travel differed from Indian Ocean trade travel?
Which transportation adaptation is MOST directly represented by the historical document?