• Improved commercial practices → Increased the reach and volume of trade → Created new trading cities

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• Specialized in luxury goods such as silk, porcelain, and textiles

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• Mongols conquered many different cultures & were religiously tolerant → Facilitated exchange of many different cultures & religions

• Improved commercial practices increased the volume of trade → Led to creation of new trading cities

  • Use of credit system, caravanserai (inns), horses/camels, etc. 

  • New trading cities emerged on Silk Road such as Samarkand and Merv

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• Silk Road specialized in luxury goods​

  • Goods like silk & porcelain were traded as they were expensive enough to be worth transporting on a difficult overland route (compared to a maritime route)

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• Mongols were religiously tolerant of all the cultures they conquered → Facilitated exchange of lots of goods, ideas, and cultures

  • Mongols ruled Central Asia and had control over parts of India, China, Persia, Southeast Asia, and Europe → Connected most of Eurasia through their empire

    • Pax Mongolica: Because the Mongols ruled the entire land from Europe to China, merchants could safely travel the entire Silk Road without risk

  • Buddhism spread as Buddhist merchants openly practiced their religion in trading cities

  • Gunpowder, paper, and bubonic plague spread

Buddhism

Bubonic Plague

Gunpowder

Silk

Porcelain

Paper