Ten Worlds Together Worlds Apart

6. Describe how the Song dynasty reacted to the military strength of its nomadic pastoral neighbors. How did these relationships foster a distinct Chinese identity?

The Song dynasty was not able to fully unite all of China because they met resistance from northern nomadic tribes. The effort to deter the tribes from resisting the unification of China proved unsuccessful which led to the Song dynasty to lose control of Northern China in 1127 to the Jurchen. This allowed the focus to shift to the more economically prosperous southern portion of China to which the Song dynasty enjoyed another century and a half of rule. With the more contact with outsiders talking to insiders, it developed a stronger identity of being authentic Chinese, so they started to refer to themselves as Han. Further understanding of communication and education further strengthened these views as authentic Chinese as well as being one of the more advanced cultures in the printing industry.

9. Analyze the extent to which peoples in the Americas established closer contact with each other. How extensive were these contacts compared with those in the Afro-Eurasian world?

In the South, the trade routes were primarily coming from intricate trade routes laid out through the city of Tula extend outward and inward. They also heavily used the Gulf of Mexico to travel to neighboring isles and connections to the Pacific Ocean. In the North, Cahokia was a major trade center, rivaling London in size at the time of it's peak in the trading industry. They used various trade routes to access other trading cities and benefited from the Mississippi River to use for trading to go up and down it, this brought in different goods they may have not otherwise have access too. The Americas had a much more extensive trading system than that of Afro-Eurasia, for the fact that they were closer to each other and not as spread out as the Afro-Eurasian trading cities. They had better trading routes, access to waterways, which provided quicker transportation to and from, and the ability to transport a larger quantity of goods.

10. Describe the empire that the Mongols created in the thirteenth century. How did their policies promote greater contact among the various regions of Afro-Eurasia?

The Mongols were conquers, not rulers. This being said how far they conquered in the world at that time was amazing. They conquered southern China, Koryo, Tibet, the Middle East, parts of Ukraine and Russia. They were the most formidable army in the world, with better skills and weapons than that of their adversaries. By conquering all of this land they brought influences from each culture and religion to other parts of the world. Setting up trade routes and trade cities, these different people had ways to communicate to one another. They would set up city-states that the already present nobles, government and royalty would rule,