World History, Grades 9-12

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TEST PRACTICE

Document 2: The Mongol Empire

What route connected the Mongol Empire to Europe?

What was the major purpose of this route?

The Silk Road; it was the major trade route between Asia and Europe.

Document 3: The Great Khan’s Wealth

Let me tell you further that several times a year a [command] goes

forth through the towns that all those who have gems and pearls

and gold and silver must bring them to the Great Khan’s mint. This

they do, and in such abundance that it is past all reckoning; and

they are all paid in paper money. By this means the Great Khan

acquires all the gold and silver and pearls and precious stones of all

his territories.

—Marco Polo,The Travels of Marco Polo(c. 1300)

How did Marco Polo’s descriptions of his travels

encourage European interest in East Asia?

Europeans were attracted by his descriptions of the great wealth.

Part 2:Essay

Using information from the documents, your answers to the

questions in Part 1, and your knowledge of world history, write

an essay discussing how the Mongols conquered Central and East

Asia and what effects their rule had on Europeans.

Carefully read the essay

question. Then write an

outline for your essay.

Write your essay. Be sure

that it has an introductory

paragraph that introduces

your argument, main body

paragraphs that explain it,

and a concluding

paragraph that restates

your position. In your

essay, include quotations

or details from specific

documents to support

your ideas. Add other

supporting facts or details

that you know from your

study of world history.

Sample Response The best

essays will link the Mongols’

tactics, fierce will, and strong

military organization to their

successful conquest of vast

areas in Central and East Asia

(Documents 1 and 2). They

will also note that rule over

these vast lands brought a

period of peace and united

regions that had before then

been separate. Essays should

point out that this peace

revived trade along the Silk

Road (Document 2) and

brought new inventions and

ideas to Europe. Further,

accounts of the immense

wealth in Mongol lands

(Document 3) spurred

Europeans’ interest in

tapping into that wealth.

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OF DELHI

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Moscow

Beijing

Kiev

Vienna Krakow

SamarkandTashkent

Karakorum

Baghdad

Chengdu

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Guangzhou

Chongqing

Constantinople

SilkRoad

HIM

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MTS.

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TAKLIMAKAN

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0

0 500 1,000 kilometers

500 1,000 miles

Two-Point Equidistant Projection

N

S

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Conquest by Genghis Khan

Added by Successors

Silk Road

City

S31

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