The Silk Road Reborn: Tang Trade Routes to the Mongol Revival
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Flip to reveal answersWhat was the Tang dynasty's capital city, and why did it matter for the Silk Road?
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Question
What was the Tang dynasty's capital city, and why did it matter for the Silk Road?
Answer
Chang'an — a cosmopolitan hub filled with Persian, Sogdian, Turkic, and Arab traders, protected by Tang garrisons along the trade routes.
Question
Who were the Sogdians?
Answer
Central Asian merchants who dominated Silk Road trade during the Tang period, acting as go-betweens linking China and Persia.
Question
Who was Marco Polo and what did he do?
Answer
A Venetian merchant (c. 1254–1324) who travelled to Kublai Khan's Mongol court in China in the 1270s; his written account introduced Europeans to Mongol China.
Question
Who was Ibn Battuta and what did he do?
Answer
A Muslim scholar from Tangier, Morocco (1304–1369), who travelled across the Middle East, Central Asia, India, and China; his account, the Rihla, records the trade cities he saw.
Question
Name three types of traveller who used Silk Road routes besides merchants.
Answer
Missionaries (spreading Buddhism, Christianity, Islam), pilgrims (travelling to holy sites), and diplomats/explorers such as Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta.
Question
What was a caravanserai?
Answer
A roadside inn built along trade routes to house merchants, their animals, and goods overnight.
Question
What was the Pax Mongolica?
Answer
The period of relative peace and unified control across the Mongol Empire's territory, which made Silk Road trade safer and faster because one authority controlled most of the route.
Question
What was the Yam system?
Answer
A Mongol relay network of horse stations that let messengers, officials, and protected merchant traffic move quickly across the empire.
Question
What was a paiza?
Answer
A metal pass issued by Mongol authorities guaranteeing its holder safe passage and supplies — this is how Marco Polo travelled safely through Mongol territory.
Question
Who was Tamerlane (Timur) and what did he build?
Answer
A Central Asian conqueror (ruled 1370–1405) who built a new empire modelled on Chinggis Khan's, making Samarkand his capital and reviving Central Asian trade.
Question
Compare Chinggis Khan's empire and Tamerlane's empire as causes of increased trade.
Answer
Chinggis Khan unified almost the whole Silk Road with lasting infrastructure (Yam, paiza); Tamerlane later rebuilt trade across Central Asia through conquest, centred on Samarkand, after the original khanates weakened.
Question
What is the underlying cause-and-effect logic linking Tang protection, Mongol unification, and Tamerlane's conquests?
Answer
Political unification and strong central authority make trade routes safer, which increases trade; fragmentation of power has the opposite effect.
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Topic 20.1 hub
Trade and exchange: The Silk Road in the medieval world (750–1500)
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