Cultural Consequences of Connectivity

whether by caravan through the Sahara or Gobi deserts or by junk

or dhow on the China Sea or Indian Ocean, goods, people, and ideas traveled with relative freedom through the networks of exchange in Afro- Eurasia in the years between c. 1200 and c. 1450. One reason for this free exchange was the stability of the Mongol Empire and the protection it offered merchants and travelers. The empire reached well past former boundaries, incorporating new people, goods, and ideas within its authority. Technological developments, such as gunpowder and paper from China, were diffused by trade. Literary and artistic interactions and cultural exchanges were documented by travelers such as Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta, who told of the wonders they saw and the extraordinary people they met. The known world became a larger place.