Directions: Which of the following thesis statements would have received credit for
responding fully and accurately to the prompt given below? If the thesis statement attempt
did not receive credit, note the reason(s) why. For this essay, only one change and one
continuity was required to receive credit for the thesis.
2009 CCOT Prompt:
Analyze continuities and changes in patterns of interactions along the Silk Roads from 200 BCE to
1450 CE.
1. ____ During the period of 200 BCE to 1450 CE, patterns of interaction both changed and remained
the same due to the rise and fall of different societies.
2. ____ Over the centuries from 200 BCE to 1450 CE, the Silk Road grew from a local network to a
massively extensive system of commerce spanning thousands of miles and incorporating many
nations and commodities.
3. _____ Between 200 BCE and 1450 CE, travelers along the Great Silk Road transferred diseases or
plagues throughout Eurasia. However, some merchants on the Great Silk Road diffused religions
while others diffused technological ideas from Asia to the Mediterranean trade network.
4. _____ From 200 BCE to 1450 CE, there has always been a continuity in patterns of interactions along
the Silk Roads, but the change in this is the arrival of new empires that participated in Great Silk
Road trade.
5. _____ In the years of 200 BCE-1450 CE, there were many changes in patterns of Silk Road trade such
as religion and empires, but there were also continuities in Silk Road trade such as technology.
6. _____ Between the years 200 BCE to 1450 CE, the entirety of the Silk Road became united and
stabilized for the first and only time under the Mongol Empire in the 1200s.
7. _____ From 220 BCE to 1450 CE, Buddhism consistently diffused from India in South Asia to East
Asia, in particular China. For the entire time period, China also held a favorable balance of
international trade with the rest of Eurasia due to its export of fine luxury goods. For the majority
of the time period after the 600s CE, Muslim merchants dominated trade along the Silk Roads.
8. _____ A key continuity was the diffusion of plagues and other diseases throughout Eurasia in this
time period. Judaism was a new religion introduced to the Middle East from East Asia in this time
period of 200 BCE to 1450 CE.
9. _____ Between 200 BCE and 1450 CE, merchants and sometimes monastics consistently diffused
religions into areas of Eurasia connected by the Great Silk Road. However, Islam became a new
religion that was diffused in this period along the Silk Roads from its origin in the Middle East. The
empires that participated in Silk Road trade changed over time, too, such as a shift from the Roman
Empire to the Byzantine Empire or the Song dynasty to the Mongol Empire.