WHAP -- Personal Progress Check #2

Which of the following demonstrates the assimilation of nomadic conquerors into conquered societies during the period circa 1250–1450 ?

• The rulers of the Mali Empire converting to Islam through the influence of North African merchants and missionaries

• The rulers of the Yuan dynasty adopting Chinese court culture and methods of rule

• Trading states in Southeast Asia such as the Khmer and Srivijaya empires adopting syncretic Hindu-Buddhist practices

• Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans expanding their output because of a rising demand for luxury

  goods in Afro-Eurasia

Answer explanation

The Mongol conquerors of China established the Yuan dynasty and slowly adopted Chinese court rituals and bureaucratic methods of governance necessary to control their Chinese territories.

Which of the following developments in the period circa 1250–1450 represents a situation that did not lead to conquerors assimilating into the cultures of the conquered societies?

• Invading armies establishing and maintaining a separate community, as illustrated by the European crusader kingdoms in the Middle East

• Merchants establishing diasporic communities and introducing their own traditions into the indigenous cultures, as illustrated by South Asian Muslim merchants spreading Islam to the islands of Southeast Asia

• Settled societies successfully resisting nomadic encroachments, as illustrated by the Mamluks of Egypt defeating the Mongols or Muscovy expelling the Golden Horde from Russia

• Conquering states fragmenting into several units because of political and social friction, as illustrated by the breakup of the Mongol Empire into individual khanates

Answer explanation

In the tenth and eleventh centuries, Turkic peoples began converting en masse to Islam and migrating to South Asia and the Middle East. Turkic peoples such as the Seljuqs integrated into Islamic societies and established their own states.

The Mongol conquests resulted in all of the following developments EXCEPT

• a revival of trade on the overland Silk Roads

• transfers of scientific and technological knowledge

• the initial diffusion of Buddhism and Christianity to East Asia

• the spread of pathogens across Eurasia, including the bubonic plague

Answer explanation

Buddhism and Christianity had spread into East Asia well before the Mongol conquests. While the Mongols expanded cultural exchanges across Eurasia, the particular religious transfers mentioned in the answer choice do not represent a result of the Mongol conquests.

The “long stays in harbors” mentioned in the description of the sea journeys in the first paragraph were most likely necessary because Indian Ocean maritime trade in the period circa 1200–1450

• increased significantly in volume, creating bottlenecks in key ports

• required the approval of Muslim religious authorities to make sure it was carried out in accordance with Islamic principles

• had to take into account environmental factors such as the timing and direction of the monsoons

• could only be carried out if ships stayed close to shore through the entire journey from Egypt to India

Answer explanation

The passage mentions that the merchants had to stay in the harbors to wait for the winds to shift. Because the monsoon winds were seasonal and tended to flow only in one direction, merchants would often have to wait in harbors for long periods of time, depending on the direction in which they were intending to travel.

Based on the pattern of trade described in the third paragraph, the Egyptian karim merchants were most likely directly involved in which of the following broader developments in the Indian Ocean in the period circa 1200–1450 ?

• The establishment of diasporic merchant communities

• The transfer of European scientific knowledge to South Asia

• The creation of new monotheistic religions

• The introduction of new financial innovations such as paper money

Answer explanation

The pattern of trade described in the passage most directly illustrates that the karim merchants

held property across the Indian Ocean trading networks, which likely indicates the establishment of

diasporic merchant communities. Indeed, the karim merchants often maintained branches in both Egypt

and along the coast of India, where members of the firm settled in local ports to organize business

transactions, acquire products to be shipped to Egypt, and ensure that the goods brought from Egypt

would be sold in India.

The pattern of trade described in the passage was most characteristic of which of the following types of goods in the period 1200–1450 ?

• Daily food staples such as bread or milk

• Bulk commodities such as grain or coal

• Luxury goods such as spices or porcelain

• Livestock such as pigs or cattle

Answer explanation

The karim merchants were primarily involved in the trade in luxury goods. Indeed, the use of convoys to protect merchant ships and the establishment of large firms in multiple places along the Indian Ocean trade networks were expensive endeavors for states and merchants that would only be profitable if the goods traded could be sold at high prices. Only the trade in luxury goods such as silks, spices, cottons, and aromatic woods would bring in high enough returns to be worth such large investments.

The integration of West African states into wider regional and transregional economic networks in the period circa 1200–1450 was carried out mostly via the

• Swahili coast trade routes

• Silk Road trade networks

• trans-Saharan trade routes

• Indian Ocean trade routes

Answer explanation

The trans-Saharan trade routes extended from the coast of the Mediterranean across the Sahara Desert and connected West African states such as the Hausa Sultanate, the Ghana Empire, and the Mali Empire to wider regional and transregional economic networks.

The spread of Islam into sub-Saharan West Africa in the period circa 1200–1450 was mostly a result of the conversion of the rulers of which of the following states?

• Mamluk Egypt

• The Mongol khanates

• The Ming dynasty

• The Mali Empire

Answer explanation

The rulers of the Mali Empire converted to Islam under the influence of Berber traders from North Africa in the early thirteenth century. Other African political leaders, such as those of the sultanate of Kano in the grasslands regions that bordered the Sahara, soon followed suit.

In the period circa 1200–1450, which of the following most directly enabled merchants to bring salt and other bulk products to markets in sub-Saharan Africa?

• The diffusion of new maritime technologies such as the lateen sail

• The adoption of innovative practices in overland trading, such as the use of camel caravans and saddles

• The transfer of East Asian technologies to western Afro-Eurasia during the period of Pax Mongolica

• The shared use of the Arabic language and common practice of Islam by both North African and sub-Saharan merchant communities

Answer explanation

The Muslim conquest of North Africa in the eighth century encouraged an increase in trans-Saharan trade, largely carried by camel caravans, some with thousands of camels. Such large caravans made possible an expansion of trade in bulk items such as salt.

Which of the following best describes the author’s purpose in the passage?

• To provide detailed descriptions of the instruments used at the Maragha and Tabriz observatories

• To evaluate the importance of the astronomical discoveries made by Ilkhanid scientists

• To portray his patron as a generous supporter of the sciences and a man of unusual intelligence

• To criticize Ghazan for his vanity and remind him to focus on religious and spiritual pursuits

Answer explanation

Rashid al-Din claims that Ghazan Khan ordered the construction of a dome at the Maragha observatory and the construction of an observatory at Tabriz, that he understood the complex astronomical instruments that he studied at Maragha, that he explained how to construct a complex observatory at Tabriz to local wise men, and that those wise men marveled at Ghazan Khan’s

intelligence.