Unit 20: Paper 3 (HL) — History of Asia & Oceania
Topic 20.1: Trade and exchange: The Silk Road in the medieval world (750–1500) Questions
Practice 20 exam-style questions for IB History Topic 20.1. Review the question stems below, then unlock the full Question Bank to access markschemes, model answers, and AI grading.
1Choose1 mark
2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.1 - Q11
Choose the correct dates for the Tang dynasty.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.1 - Q12
Choose the term for the metal pass issued by Mongol authorities that guaranteed merchants safe passage and supplies.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.1 - Q14
Choose the city that Tamerlane made his capital and invested with mosques, palaces, and markets.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q11
Which system of relay stations, spaced roughly 30-40 km apart, supplied fresh horses and guarded stops for messengers and merchants under Mongol rule?
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q14
Which factor is identified as the long-term shift that, alongside political fragmentation, contributed to the decline of Silk Road trade in the fifteenth century?
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q12
Which city served as Tamerlane's capital, which he built into a centre of trade, art and learning using craftsmen forcibly relocated from conquered cities?
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.1 - Q15
Choose the traveller whose account, the Rihla, describes trade cities, rulers, and Islamic communities across the Silk Road.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.1 - Q13
Choose the ruler who unified the Mongol tribes from 1206 and began the conquests that led to the Pax Mongolica.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q6
Analyse the contribution of Tamerlane (Timur) to Silk Road trade in the late fourteenth century.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q1
Examine the reasons for the growth of trade along the Silk Road under Mongol rule in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q2
Evaluate the impact of the Pax Mongolica on cultural and religious exchange across Asia.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q3
Discuss the role of the yam system and paiza tablets in supporting Silk Road trade under Mongol rule.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q4
To what extent was the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire into rival khanates responsible for the eventual decline of Silk Road trade?
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q5
Compare and contrast the roles played by Khanbaliq and Tabriz as political centres of Silk Road trade under Mongol rule.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q7
Evaluate the extent to which political unification, rather than economic factors, explains the intensification of trade and cultural exchange along the Silk Road under the Mongols.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q15
Which Persian city served as the Ilkhanate's political centre, linking Central Asian trade to the Middle East and Mediterranean ports?
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q8
Discuss the reasons for, and consequences of, religious tolerance under Mongol rule.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q9
Examine the reasons for the shift from overland to seaborne trade routes in Asia during the fifteenth century.
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q10
To what extent did Mongol rule transform relations between previously isolated societies in Asia and Europe?
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2026• Aimnova original vault - 20.1.2 - Q13
In what year did Mongke's death trigger the split of the Mongol Empire into four khanates?
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