Chapter 22: Reaching Out:
Cross-Cultural Interactions Questions
Objective 1: Students can analyze the causes and effects of the increased
cross-cultural interactions between 1000 and 1500.
1. Page 575-578: Explain how Marco Polo represents the increased cross-cultural interaction
between 1000 and 1500.
The silk roads continue to play a role in this time period, as do the Indian Ocean trade routes. The
roads extended all across Eurasia, and connected with the trans-Saharan routes. This brought almost the
entire eastern hemisphere into connection. Trading cities grew and those who had a good location and
could provide a safe trading environment especially prospered. As we read about in Ch 18, the Mongols
caused economic destruction in the areas they conquered, but in unifying most of Asia, they provided the
groundwork for interconnected trade between these regions.
Marco Polo, who lived around 1300, traveled to China during the Yuan dynasty. He met Khubilai
Khan who especially liked him, and he allowed Marco to do business in China, and sent him on
diplomatic missions. The tales of Marco’s travels may exaggerate at times, but they provided information
on the lucrative trade possible with China, encouraging Europeans to pursue it. Marco Polo is a
representation because he was a European who gained favor with the Mongols and he traveled
everywhere. He also ushered in the time when Europeans started to pursue increased international trade,
which is a big feature of this time period.
2. Page 599-581: Explain how Ibn Battuta represents the increased political interaction and
syncretism, as well as the spread of Islam, from 1000 to 1500.
As Islam expanded in the eastern hemisphere, the new lands needed scholars and judges to help set up
Islamic society and culture, based on the sharia and the Quran. The best known of those was Ibn Battuta,
who lived in the 1300s. He visited India (under the Delhi sultanate), the Swahili coast city-states, and
Mali, and obtained government positions in those regions. Some of his duties were judging law cases,
supervising mosques, promoted Islamic values like the 5 Pillars, etc. He was very strict and gave out
harsh punishments for not following Islamic laws. But at the same time, he could not prevent certain
practices like the “immodest” dress of Mali women. He represents increased political interaction because
it is the Islamic form of government influencing other forms of government. This is syncretic because all
over the dar al-Islam there is the mixing of Islamic culture with native cultures. Ibn Battuta was one of
the ones who brought Islamic culture there. And of course, it’s the spread of Islam because he’s
spreading Islamic culture and law into faraway lands. This means that Islam didn’t just conquer lands and
let them be however they wanted, but they spread Islamic politically, socially, and culturally.
3. Page 581-582: Explain how John of Montecorvino represents the increased missionary
activity from 1000 to 1500.
Not only did Islam send out missionaries, so did the Christians. They accompanied the Crusaders to
the Holy Land (Israel) around 1000. In lands where Europeans had a long-term presence, many people
converted. In the eastern Mediterranean lands, Christianity didn’t take off as much, because it was farther
from Europe. The first Christian missionaries to go all the way to China and Mongol lands were during
this period. The most active of these was John of Montecorvino, from Italy. He went to China around
1300. He actually went there to serve a community of Europeans who lived there, but he sought Chinese
converts. He translated the New Testament and built churches. He was very respected, but gained few
Asian converts. This was because Asia was so remote from Europe and it already had strong religions set
up.
4. Page 582-585: create 3 Cause and Effect charts with at least 3 items for the section titled
“Long-Distance Travel and Cross-Cultural exchanges”. Explain why!!! (They must be
about three separate things)
Do this. Make sure they are acceptable to me 
Example: Long distance travel
travelers move around
exchanged songs
5. Page 585: Why was the spread of agricultural and technological techniques more
pronounced in this time period? What were some effects of this?
Of course, as we’ve been studying agricultural and technological techniques have been spreading ever
since the first society found out another one existed. But because the people of this age started traveling
and trading so much more and across farther distances, the agriculture and technology spread so much
more and farther too. And the more they spread the better people can travel and trade, which makes more
spreading, which means more travel and trade, making more spreading, and so on.
Some effects were that more food crops = more people, and more industrial food crops like cotton
= more commerce. Like it says above, better tools like the compass meant more travel. New weapons
technology like gunpowder changed warfare forever.
Objective 2: Students can compare and contrast different responses to and
recoveries from the problems of 1000-1500 such as the bubonic plague.
1. Page 586-588: Trace the course of the bubonic plague (aka Black Death) including the
source, spread, manifestation, and effects.
The bubonic plague spread from the Yunnan region in SW China. It had probably existed there for
centuries, but the people had acquired immunity to it. The plague is a bacteria that spreads through fleas
on rats. The Mongol military helped to spread it throughout China, in some places killing 90% of the
population. Also trade helped its spread as merchants travelled to distant lands. The plague thrived in the
trade routes’ oasis cities. It spread across Asia and into Europe. But it did not really affect northern
Europe, because the rats would not spread there: it’s too cold. It also didn’t spread to India or SubSaharan Africa; no one knows why.
Victims of the plague got inflammations that created black bumps that stuck out from their
bodies, and that is why it’s called the Black Death. If you got it, you had about a 70% chance of dying. It
frequently wiped out whole towns.
The effects were of course, depopulation, but also slowed down economies, created labor
shortages, social unrest, peasant rebellions. By the 17th century, the plague died down. (By the way, an
antibiotic was invented in the 1940s, but it still exists in the rodent world today!)
2. Page 588-591: Compare/contrast the Ming Dynasty’s and Western Europe’s responses to
the disasters of this time period.
Ming
Western Europe
Europe was in the Middle Ages from about 500Prior Situation The Yuan dynasty was experiencing many problems like
economic problems and political conflicts. It collapsed in
1368 and the Mongols departed to the steppes, while
China was left in shambles. But increasing population
helped it recover.
Leadership
Administration
The Chinese regained control. A new emperor
eliminated Mongol influences and created a traditional
Chinese dynasty. He restored the Confucian education
and examination system to provide the government with
talented officials. The emperors started to rule directly,
watching closely governmental affairs.
The rulers were strict rulers with a tightly centralized
government. They used mandarins, who were officials
1500. The Catholic Church and small regional states
(like Italy, Spain, and France) were the ones in
control. They were having problems like the plague,
confusion over leadership, and conflict between
England and France over land. This conflict resulted
in the 100 Years’ War, where England had part of
France and France wanted it back. France won.
The regional states established powerful monarchs,
putting new taxes on the people and setting up
large standing armies with better weapons, who
were financed with state funds.
In Italy, small areas were controlled by city-states
which gradually increased their power. In England,
sent out to make sure the local officials were doing what
the emperor told them. In the palace, the emperors
used eunuchs who were castrated males. They used
them because they could not have any families, so they
could not take over and start ruling (they couldn’t have
any male heirs)
Economics
Culture
The rulers hired laborers to rebuild irrigation, to increase
agriculture. The promoted the production of porcelain,
silk, and cotton textiles, so trade increased both inside
and outside China.
The rulers discouraged any remnants of the Mongol rule,
including their names, dress, language, etc. They
promoted Chinese culture, especially Confucianism and
neo-Confucianism. One ruler organized a huge
encyclopedia of Chinese history, philosophy, and
literature.
France, and Spain, the whole country was
controlled by a monarch who gradually increased
his power.
Spain re-conquered the lower portion from the
Muslims, which is called the reconquista
The European countries frequently fought each
other, which led to better military and naval
technologies (this later will help the Europeans as
they explore the world and start conquering other
lands—remember this!)
Trade increased wealth, especially in the Italian citystates, due to their location in the middle of the
Mediterranean
Taxes increased the power of the rulers
The Renaissance, see below
3. Page 591-593: Analyze how the Renaissance represents a rebirth of ancient Greece and
Rome, as well as humanism.
Renaissance literally means “rebirth”. This was a cultural flowering between 1400-1600 that started
in Italy and spread throughout Europe. They “rebirthed” the ancient Greek and Roman cultures, imitating
and improving upon its art, philosophies, literature, sculpture, architecture, etc. They admired a very
natural style—trying to recreate as much as possible the real thing, like human bodies, landscapes, etc.
They built massive domes, just like the ancient Romans (see the picture of the Cathedral in Florence).
Scholars read books from ancient Greece and Rome, and these ideas started springing up in their work.
Humanism, focusing on the humanities—literature, history, and moral philosophy, thrived. They
remained deeply Christian, but instead of encouraging monasticism, like in the Middle Ages, they
encouraged living a normal live in a Christian way, like as a businessman, married person, artisan, etc. It
was an attempt to reconcile more traditional Christian values with an increasingly urban and commercial
world.
Objective 3: Students can relate the early explorations of this time period with
the upcoming age of global interaction.
1. Page 593-594: Explain how Zheng He represents the increased Chinese exploration from
1000 to 1500.
The Ming dynasty created a huge naval fleet and sent them out to travel throughout the Indian Ocean
from 1405 to 1433. This was in order to try to control foreign trade with China and to impress other lands
with the Ming’s power and wealth. They might have also wanted to expand the tributary system like
China had with Korea. Zheng He led these voyages, so he is the main figure of this Chinese exploration.
His ships were the largest the world had ever seen, and were loaded with plenty of troops, so they could
easily overcome any potential problems. He traveled to SE Asia and India, then into the Persian Gulf and
Arabia, and then down the east African coast. He gave out many gifts, and received exotic gifts in return
like African zebras and giraffes. They also paid respects to local gods and deities like Buddha, Allah, or
Vishnu. Zheng He mostly used diplomacy but also used force if necessary. The explorations succeeded
in their goals—people the world over admired China, but the Mind emperors abruptly stopped them.
They didn’t trust Zheng He, the voyages were expensive, and the Mongols were invading again. They
destroyed the maps he had created and let his ships rot away. Yet his voyages were proof that China
could control that region if they wanted to.
2. Page 595-598: Explain the extent of increased naval expeditions of the Portuguese.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore, and they did it for two reasons: expanding
Roman Catholic Christianity, and to profit from the increased commerce. They seized a city in Morocco
which controlled the entrance into the Mediterranean (see map!) They discovered several island groups
in the Atlantic, and started cultivating sugar cane there, which fetched a hefty profit in Europe. Later,
they continued down the west coast of Africa, each voyage going a little further than the one before. In
Africa, they encountered an already-established trade in slaves, but they changed it by greatly increasing
the number of slaves traded. They exported thousands of slaves to the sugar-growing islands. This set
the scene for the huge slave trade that would erupt between Europe, Africa, and the Americas in the Early
Modern Era.
3. Page 598-599: Explain how Christopher Columbus represents a foreshadowing of the age to
come –where the world is connected.
Columbus set out in 1492 to find a way around the world to Asia. He landed in the Bahamas and
thought it was Asia. This of course was the initial step in a huge amount of exploration, trade, migration,
and conquest that would occur in the Early Modern Era.