Unit 2 - Silk, Sand, and Sea: How Four Ancient Networks (and the Mongols) Built A Global Economy

If you could travel back to the world of 1200–1450, you’d see societies beginning to reach across distances in ways that would change the course of history. Caravans loaded with silk, spices, and porcelain wound their way along dusty roads. Dhows with billowing sails crossed the Indian Ocean, timed to the rhythm of the monsoon winds. Camel caravans stretched across the Sahara, connecting North Africa to the wealth of West Africa. And as these networks expanded, so did the movement of people, ideas, and even diseases. In this unit, we'll explore how merchants, rulers, and travelers helped stitch together an increasingly connected Afro-Eurasian world. You’ll investigate the Mongols’ unexpected role as both conquerors and facilitators of trade. You’ll analyze how diasporic merchant communities spread religions and cultures, and how cities flourished (and sometimes declined) as hubs of exchange. You’ll also grapple with the unintended consequences of this growing connectivity, from soil exhaustion to the Black Death.