Empires, Trade and Global Connections
MYP Unit Framework
Key Concept: GLOBAL INTERACTIONS Related Concepts: Trade. Empire. Interdependence. Global Context: Orientation in Space and Time (How have connections between peoples shaped the world we live in?) Statement of Inquiry: The EXCHANGE of goods, ideas, and people across regions — through trade, empire, and migration — has INTERCONNECTED the world, producing BOTH extraordinary cultural achievement and profound INEQUALITY.
Inquiry Questions
| Type | Question |
|---|---|
| Factual | What was the Silk Road? Who were the Mongols? What was the Columbian Exchange? |
| Conceptual | Why do empires RISE and FALL? How does trade CHANGE societies — both those who trade and those who are traded WITH? |
| Debatable | Did the Columbian Exchange do MORE HARM than GOOD? Is 'globalisation' a RECENT phenomenon — or has the world been 'globalising' for centuries? Were the Mongols DESTROYERS — or CONNECTORS? |
1. The Silk Road — The First Global Network (c. 200 BCE – 1400 CE)
What Was It?
A NETWORK of trade routes (NOT a single road!) connecting China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Named after CHINESE SILK — but MUCH MORE than silk travelled along it.
What Travelled?
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Goods | Silk (China → West). Spices (India, SE Asia). Gold, glass, pottery |
| Ideas and Beliefs | Buddhism (India → China). Islam (Arabia → Central Asia, China). Christianity (Middle East → China) |
| Technology | Paper-making (China → West). Gunpowder. The magnetic COMPASS |
| Disease | The BLACK DEATH (bubonic plague, 1347–1351) — travelled from Asia to Europe along trade routes. Killed ~1/3 of Europe's population. 'Global connection meant global VULNERABILITY — diseases travelled as freely as goods.' |
The Lesson of the Silk Road
'No civilisation developed in ISOLATION. China was connected to Rome. India was connected to Persia. The world was already INTERCONNECTED over a thousand years before the internet — by camels, ships, and the human desire to trade and explore.'
2. The Mongol Empire (1206–1368) — Destroyers or Connectors?
Genghis Khan and the Largest Contiguous Land Empire
Born as TEMÜJIN (~1162). United the Mongol tribes. By his death (1227), the Mongols controlled an empire stretching from Korea to Persia. His successors extended it to Russia, Iraq, and all of China. 'The Mongols created the LARGEST contiguous land empire in history.'
The Two Faces of the Mongols
| The DESTROYER View | The CONNECTOR View |
|---|---|
| Killed MILLIONS. RAZED cities (Baghdad, 1258 — end of the Abbasid Caliphate). Destroyed irrigation systems in Persia (agricultural collapse). | Created PAX MONGOLICA (Mongol Peace) — for ~100 years, the Silk Road was SAFE. Traders, scholars, and travellers could cross Eurasia without fear. Marco Polo travelled from Venice to China. |
| 'A force of pure destruction' | 'The Mongols united Eurasia — and the world became MORE connected because of them' |
The Historian's Verdict
'Genghis Khan was neither pure hero nor pure villain. The Mongols killed millions — and they created the conditions for the first truly TRANSCONTINENTAL exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies. History rarely gives us simple stories.'
3. The Age of Exploration and the Columbian Exchange (c. 1400–1700 CE)
Why Did Europeans Explore?
- GOLD (wealth, spices, trade routes to Asia). GOD (spread Christianity). GLORY (fame, empire).
- Technology: the COMPASS (from China, via Arabs). Improved SHIPS (caravel). Better MAPS.
Key Explorers
| Explorer | Voyage |
|---|---|
| Vasco da Gama (Portugal) | 1498 — reached INDIA by sailing around Africa |
| Christopher Columbus (Spain) | 1492 — reached the AMERICAS (thinking it was Asia) |
| Ferdinand Magellan (Spain) | 1519–1522 — first CIRCUMNAVIGATION of the globe |
The Columbian Exchange — The Two Worlds Collide
'The Columbian Exchange was the TRANSFER of plants, animals, people, culture, and diseases between the "Old World" (Europe, Asia, Africa) and the "New World" (Americas). It was the most profound BIOLOGICAL event since the extinction of the dinosaurs.'
| FROM Americas → Old World | FROM Old World → Americas |
|---|---|
| Foods: Potato, maize, tomato, chilli, chocolate, tobacco, vanilla | Foods: Wheat, rice, sugarcane, coffee, bananas |
| Animals: Horses, cattle, pigs, sheep | |
| Disease: Syphilis (possibly) | Disease: Smallpox, measles, influenza — to which Native Americans had NO immunity. 'Up to 90% of the Indigenous population died within a century of contact — the GREATEST DEMOGRAPHIC CATASTROPHE in recorded history.' |
4. The Transatlantic Slave Trade — The Dark Side of Connection
'Between the 16th and 19th centuries, an estimated 12-15 MILLION Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic as enslaved labour — to work on sugar, cotton, and tobacco plantations in the Americas. This was the TRIANGULAR TRADE: European goods → Africa. Enslaved Africans → Americas. American sugar, cotton, tobacco → Europe.'
'The slave trade was NOT an "anomaly." It was CENTRAL to the development of the modern global economy. The wealth of European empires — and the Industrial Revolution itself — was built, in significant part, on enslaved African labour.'
The Legacy
'Abolition of slavery (19th century) did NOT end racial inequality. The effects of the slave trade — systemic racism, economic disparity between the "Global North" and "Global South" — persist to this day.'
Your Summative Assessment
Task: 'The Debate — The Mongols: Destroyers or Connectors?' Research and prepare a DEBATE. One side argues: 'The Mongols were primarily a FORCE OF DESTRUCTION.' The other argues: 'The Mongols were primarily a FORCE OF CONNECTION.' Use SPECIFIC historical evidence.
ATL Skills
| Skill | Focus |
|---|---|
| Critical Thinking | Evaluating historical evidence. Forming and defending arguments. |
| Research | Using primary and secondary sources. |
| Communication | Structured debate. Persuasive speaking. |
