Transcript The End Of Asian Silk Road

The End Of The Silk
Roads
The Mongol Empire
• A truly massive empire during the 13th and
14th centuries.
• The largest land empire in the history of the
world.
– 12.7 million square miles.
– 22% of the total land area of the Earth.
– 100,000,000 subjects.
How Did The Mongols Conquer So
Much?
• Extraordinarily strong, brutal leadership.
• Genghis Khan is one of history’s most
remarkable figures.
The Ming Dynasty Restores China
Zheng He’s Huge Fleet Explores The
Oceans
Zheng He’s Fleet Dwarfs Columbus
Zheng He Makes 7 Trips, But In 1435 . . .
• he dies and China pulls back from exploration.
• How might history have been different if China
had decided to expand?
Age of Isolation
Ming China Builds The Forbidden City
The End Of The Silk Roads
• Why did the Silk Roads shut or slow down?
• Invaders/raiders made them too dangerous
– Genghis Khan dies and the Mongol Empire breaks
up, leading to dangerous roads.
• Powerful states began to compete for their
control
– The Crusades
• Internal divisions arose within states
Break Up Of The Mongol Empire
Age Of Isolation
The Muslim Sunni / Shia Split Deepens
The Abbasid Empire Splits And Is
Conquered
Cooperation To Isolation
Cooperation / Unity
Division / Isolation
Far East
(Japan &
China)
Tang/Song Dynasty
Marco Polo
Zheng He
Ming Dynasty
Japanese Feudalism
Middle East
Islamic Caliphate
Arabic Culture
Sunni & Shia Division
Seljuk Conquest
Europe?
Christendom
Crusades?
Feudalism