United States History Student Edition

TRADE ROUTES TO ASIA, 300 B.C.E.–1500 C.E. At the shores of the Mediterranean and Black seas, goods from Asia were loaded onto ships and transported to Europe.

100°E

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20°E

40°E

60°E

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EUROPE Venice

MONGOLIA

Genoa

Turfen Ansi

Aral Sea

Tana

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a s

Black Sea

Constantinople

Kashgar

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Tashkent

Trebizond

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M

Samarkand

CHINA

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Peshawar

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PERSIA

Alexandria

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O P I C O

Cairo

Basta

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F C A N C E R

ARABIAN PENINSULA

Red Sea

INDIA

Makkah (Mecca)

Silk Road Spice Routes

Arabian Sea

AFRICA

Bay of Bengal

Calicut

Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection 0 1,000 km 1,000 miles 0

E Q U A T O R

INDIAN OCEAN

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GEOGRAPHY CONNECTION 1. Patterns and Movement Describe a route merchants might take to send goods from Tashkent to Venice. 2. Global Interconnections Based on the information on this map, why do you think European traders charged high prices for silk and spices?

After seeing the palace of Kublai Khan, the Mongolian emperor of China, Polo wrote in his book, Travels , “The palace . . . is the greatest that ever was seen. . . . The walls of the chambers and stairs are all covered with gold and silver . . .” Whether Polo’s descriptions were entirely accurate is open to debate. However, the stories in Polo’s book led European readers to realize that many spectacular sights lay beyond their immediate world. Marco Polo’s writings would, in time, inspire European explorers to search for sea routes to the faraway places he described. The Renaissance and the Rise of Nations By the 1300s, several Italian city-states had become economic and cultural centers. With the accurate correct; precise classical related to the culture of ancient Greece and Rome

expansion of trade and the exchange of new ideas came a growing interest in learning. People studied classical works—those of ancient Greece and Rome. Authors wrote about the individual’s place in the universe. Artists studied classical sculpture and architecture. They admired the harmony and balance in Greek art. Science also enjoyed a reawakened interest. Many scholars tested new and old theories of science. They performed experiments and evaluated the results. This period of intellectual and artistic creativity is known as the Renaissance (reh•nuh•SAHNS). The word renaissance means “rebirth” in French. As the Renaissance spread across Europe over the next two centuries, it changed the way Europeans thought about evaluated carefully studied and appraised Renaissance a reawaking of culture and intellectual curiosity in Europe from the 1300s to the 1600s

Murray, Hugh. 1854. The Travels of Marco Polo. New York: Harper & Brothers.

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