The Han Dynasty’s management of the Silk Road helped link together smaller regional networks and support trade across Asia. But when the Han Dynasty fell, the Silk Road did not collapse. Many of the traders at the time came from Central Asia and operated in smaller circuits, and other empires stepped in to provide stability until the Tang Dynasty, when Chinese imperial power recovered and a golden age was launched.

In watching this video, you will explore how the fall of empires may (or may not) have greatly impacted the vast networks linking different routes on the Silk Road. This video will provide you with regional evidence to evaluate the economic systems theme. It will also help you answer the question posed in Unit 2: “What were the similarities and differences among networks of exchange in various regions of the world from c. 1200 to 1450 CE?” Remember to look for how the collapse of political communities affected or did not affect trade networks.

Think about the following question as you watch the video: To what extent does this video describe the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200? You will be asked to respond to this question again at the end of the video.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. The term Silk Road is commonly used. Why does this video argue that the name is somewhat misleading?
2. What were some of the commonly traded items on the Silk Road?
3. How did the Han Dynasty “manage” the Silk Road? What were the economic impacts of this management?
4. What was the impact of the fall of the Han Dynasty on the Silk Road?
5. What is the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and how does it relate to the Tang “golden age”?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. To what extent does this video describe the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200?
2. The video says that the Tang Dynasty created a golden age across the Silk Road, starting in 626 CE. But the Tang Dynasty gained power in 618 CE. What’s going on here? What does this suggest about the effects of collapse and recovery on large networks?
3. This video focuses on how the collapse and rise of political states can affect networks and cultural interactions. What are some ways that the expansion or contraction of networks might affect economic systems? Think about the ancient Silk Road as well as modern China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

After 1206, the Mongol Empire launched a series of invasions that saw their empire expand across Eurasia, from Korea to Hungary. But how did they manage to conquer and then rule such a vast empire? This article explores the tools and strategies the Mongols had at their disposal. It concludes that innovative and tolerant administration was as critical to Mongol success as were swords, horses, and the great Genghis Khan.

The central question of Unit 2 asks you about the similarities and differences between networks of exchange in this era. Few groups connected the world more than the Mongol Empire. Their conquests—and the 150 years of rule that followed—connected much of Afro-Eurasia under one state. Even areas that escaped Mongol conquest nonetheless found themselves drawn closer into a web of trade networks that expanded under Mongol rule.

Think about the following question as you read the article: How does the Mongol Empire represent a significant change from other empires you’ve learned about thus far in the course? What were some of the continuities you noticed between the Mongol Empire and other empires? Write this question at the top of the Three Close Reads worksheet. You will be asked to respond to this question again after the third read in the Evaluating and Corroborating section of the worksheet.

Read 1—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Read 2—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Why was the Mongol Empire important?
2. This article approaches the question of why the Mongol conquests succeeded as a murder mystery. What factors contributed to the Mongol Empire’s success?
3. How did Mongol rule help increase trade in Afro-Eurasia?
4. What role did scholars and technology play in the Mongol Empire?
5. Does this article conclude that the Mongols were good or bad?

Read 3—Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. How does the Mongol Empire represent a significant change from other empires you’ve learned about thus far in the course? What were some of the continuities you noticed between the Mongol Empire and other empires?
2. You’ve encountered a diverse tapestry of communities across Afro-Eurasia in this unit. How does the story of the Mongol Empire support, extend, or challenge the narratives you’ve encountered so far?
3. The author of this article concludes with a “both sides” view of the legacy of the Mongol Empire. What do you think? Can you take a side? Do you think the Mongols were a positive or negative force for the societies they encountered? What evidence from this article supports your opinion? What challenges it?

There are many different stories people tell about the Mongols. These stories are partially true, but also incomplete. While the Mongols were brutal at times and were tough, mobile warriors, they were also incredibly adaptive, tolerant, egalitarian, and creative. With some clever political organization and some quick adaptations along the way, the Mongols were able to build a massive empire. While it didn’t last very long as a unified empire, it certainly had long-lasting effects.

In Unit 2, we look at networks of exchange that change dramatically between 1200 to 1450. In the first half of this period, at least for Afro-Eurasia, these networks were centered on the empire created by the Mongols, who are introduced through this video. The video will provide you with evidence to assess the extent of these networks, and how they changed over time, with a particular emphasis on the collapse of the Mongol system around 1350.

Think about the following question as you watch the video: Describe the extent to which this video explains how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time. You will be asked to respond to this question again at the end of the video.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. How did Mongol migratory patterns affect their production and distribution?
2. Why, according to John Green were Mongols generally more egalitarian than many other societies?
3. Which policies did Genghis Khan use to unite the Mongol confederation?
4. How did adaptability help the Mongols build their empire? Please give at least two examples.
5. How did the Mongol Empire affect trade and exchange across Eurasia (and even parts of Africa)?
6. What was the Yam System?
7. How did the Mongols recruit people to work for them? What world-historical effect did this have?
8. What did the Mongols have to do with the Black Death?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Describe the extent to which this video explains how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time.
2. How would you describe the role the Mongols played in Afro-Eurasian trade between about 1200 and 1350?
3. How does evidence from this video contest, support, or extend the governance theme narrative you have been given?

When we think of the Mongol Empire, we often think of men—soldiers on horseback and mighty emperors. Yet, women played an important political role in the creation, preservation, and eventually, the division of the empire. Many royal women used their extensive family ties to exert influence over the empire. Sorqoqtani Beki was one such Mongol woman who used her family relationships and a network of sister-princesses to seize power for her son. In the process, she made an agreement with her nephew that started the division of the empire.

The Mongol Empire reshaped Eurasia, and understanding its organization gives us insight into how trade and politics worked across this vast region. Two conflicting narratives of the Mongols see them as either great administrators or vicious warriors. Both narratives are usually built on evidence surrounding the work of male leaders. However, royal women played a vital role in building alliances, connecting families, and competing for power. The story of Sorqoqtani Beki provides you with evidence to challenge some of these narratives about Mongol history.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Who was Sorqoqtani Beki and what was her relationship to the Mongol royal family?
2. What was the cause of Sorqoqtani’s conflict with Oghul-Qaimish?
3. How and why did Sorqoqtani win this conflict?
4. Sorqoqtani’s nephew Batu agreed to support her. What did he get in return, and what was the eventual result?
5. How does the artist use art and design to demonstrate the ways in which competition between women, and their support for each other, helped determine Mongol politics?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. To what extent does this article explain the significance of the Mongol Empire in larger patterns of continuity and change?
2. How does this biography of Sorqoqtani Beki support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about the Mongols?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

3x5 note cards or cut up paper

This sourcing collection, along with the Quick-Sourcing Tool, gives you an opportunity to practice a quicker kind of sourcing than you do in the sourcing practice progression. The tool and the process for using it—specifically designed for unpacking document collections—will help you be successful on both the SAQ and DBQ portions of the AP^® World History: Modern exam.

If you are unfamiliar with the Quick-Sourcing Tool or the process for using it, we recommend reviewing the Quick-Sourcing Introduction activity in Lesson 1.4.

The Quick-Sourcing Tool can be used any time you encounter a set of sources and are trying to respond to a prompt or question, as opposed to the deeper analysis you do when using the HAPPY tool that is part of the sourcing progression.

First, take out or download the sourcing collection and review the guiding question that appears on the first page. Then, take out or download the Quick-Sourcing Tool and review the directions. For Part 1, you’ll write a quick summary of each source in terms of how it relates to the guiding question (we recommend using one note card or scrap of paper for each source).

For Part 2, which uses the first four letters of the acronym from the HAPPY tool, you only have to respond to one of these four questions. This will get you a partial point on the AP^® World History: Modern exam. You should always include the historical significance or “why” (the “Y” in “HAPPY”) for any of the four questions you choose to respond to.

In Part 3, you’ll gather the evidence you found in each document and add it to your note cards so you can include it in a response later. Once each document is analyzed, look at your note cards and try to categorize the cards. There might be a group of documents that support the claim you want to make in your response, and another group that will help you consider counterclaims, for example.

To wrap up, try to respond to the guiding question.

Across these sources, we hear about the mysterious Mongols—or the Tatars/Tartars, as they are often called. Both Muslim and Christian sources speak of the Mongols in terms of a calamity or punishment in the earliest sources, while later sources are often more sympathetic—either because they are written from the heart of the empire or because of other political reasons. Some are full of hyperbole (exaggeration), while others present a more measured approach to the early history of the Mongols. Additionally, later sources talk of the recovery of urban areas after the Mongols establish a more permanent presence, describing robust trade networks and tight-knit communities. Because this collection focuses on the establishment of the empire, most of the sources are from the thirteenth century, with a few from later periods. This allows readers to track continuities and shifts not only in the history of the Mongol Empire but in changing attitudes about the Mongols across Eurasia.

The AP^® World History: Modern CED suggests that you make connections by “identifying patterns among or connections between historical developments and processes” and develop your sourcing skills in line with certain topics. For Unit 2, we’ve compiled a number of primary source excerpts to help you develop these skills in relation to the “Mongol Empire and the Making of the Modern World”. This should help prepare you to be successful on the AP exam.

We recommend using the accompanying Quick Sourcing activity (above) to help you analyze these sources.

One of the most powerful advisers of the Ilkhan Ghazan (r.1295–1304), Rashid al-Din wrote one of the first histories of the world in order to establish the power of his patron. The history aimed to justify and support the rule of the Ilkhan over a diverse empire. This book, the Jami’ al-Tawarikh, is viewed as a monumental intellectual work.

What are the consequences of a connected world? Afro-Eurasia was crisscrossed by networks in the period c.1200-1450, and never more so than when the Mongols ruled the central region. These connections led to a great cultural flowering as ideas and art moved back and forth. Rashid al-Din was an advisor of the Mongol Ilkhan Ghazan. In the late thirteenth century, he was asked to produce a history of the world. That history tells us a lot about the power of the Ilkhan, but also the way in which his state brought together culture from across a vast region.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Who was Rashid al-Din?
2. According to the author, what was the difficulty of ruling the Ilkhanate?
3. What does the quote from Rashid al-Din’s book, shown in the top panel, tell us?
4. How does the artwork in the Jami’i al-Tawarikh demonstrate this diversity?
5. How did the artist of this biography try to demonstrate the connections of the Ilkhanate to other regions in the top panel?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. To what extent does this article explain the significance of the Mongol Empire in larger patterns of continuity and change?
2. How does this biography of Rashid al-Din support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about connections and networks in Mongol society and in this era?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!