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The Silk Roads

Driving Question: Why did trade networks expand in Afro-Eurasia during this period?

Covering over half of the Earth, the Afro-Eurasian landmass contained many different trade networks at the beginning of this period. The largest of these networks—the Silk Road—moved people, goods, ideas, and diseases back and forth across Afro-Eurasia, reshaping life in every region.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand how trade moved across different regions of Afro-Eurasia during this period.
  2. Identify the major trade routes linking Afro-Eurasia.
  3. Use claim-making skills to analyze how and why networks expanded during this era.

Vocab Terms:

  • Confucianism
  • culture
  • dynasty
  • maritime
  • society
  • trade
  • trade network
STEP 2

Trade Routes

Teaching Tools

Check out this topic page to learn even more about trade routes.

Merchants moved trade goods across vast stretches of overland and sea routes. These networks of exchange connected far-flung societies. Explore the articles and video below, and then create claims about these networks.

Guilds, Wool, and Trade: Medieval England in a Global Economy External link

Around 1250 to 1350 CE, an archipelago of trade stretched across Afro-Eurasia. Historians Nick Dennis and Trevor Getz explore the role of the wool trade in this system and its impact on England.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 3

Simulating Trade

Teaching Tools

Want to see how other teachers have modified this simulation in their class? Take a look at this conversation External link .

STEP 4

Closer: The Silk Road

Teaching Tools

Want to learn even more about the Silk Roads? Check out this topic page.

Extension Materials
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The Silk Road and Indian Ocean trade weren’t the only trade systems in Afro-Eurasia. Explore some of the other regional systems.
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Caravans Across the Sahara Desert

The hot and dusty trail of trans-Saharan routes stretched over 1,500 miles and brought together the wealthy players of West Africa and Eurasia.