#homework;

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Economics help?

Hey guys, I need to choose a country and write an economics-based essay on it (not a commentary) but since I have to former experience with this, I would really appreciate it if anyone could help out by reading through/editing it a bit!

[anthonyramienski]

MWH HW3 The Silk Road Due 300812

Modern World History Honors and Merit Homework Mr. Ramienski Student First and Last Names: ______________________ Seat Number: _________ Period: ____________________________ Date Turned In: ____________________ Fill out heading completely or lose 5 points Unit 1 and 2 , Trade, Travel, Renaissance and Reformation Day 2, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 Lesson 0, Unit Introduction, The Silk Road Due date: Thursday, 30 August 2012 If turned in Friday, 31 August 2012: -10% If turned in Tuesday, 4 September 2012: -20% If not turned in by Tuesday, 4 September 2012: NO CREDIT “0”. Homework 3 General Reading: a. Penn Museum Reading on the Silk road-see my web site Unit 1 b. POI-Legacy of the Islamic World: Chapter 2, The Muslim World Expands, sections 1 and 2, pages 70 through 81 c. POI-Trade and Exploration: Chapter 3, An Age of Explorations and Isolation, 1400-1800, sections 1, and 3, pages 92 through 115 d. POI-Trade and Exploration: Chapter 4, The Atlantic World, 1492-1800, sections 1, 2, 3 and 4, pages 116 through 143 Directions: Go to my web page and read the article “The Silk Road” (it’s in the Unit 1 section) and answer the questions. Use a separate sheet of paper to answer the questions. Be sure to attach this question sheet to your response. Typing is preferred. Value: 30 points, homework grade 1. Provide a general description of “the Silk Road.” (2 points) 2. Why is the Silk Road important to the evolution of World Culture? (2 points) 3. Although the Silk Road was ancient, the name Silk Road is not. How did the road get its name? (2 points) 4. What were the two main parts of the Silk Road? (2 points) 5. Where did the northern route (road) approximately end in the “west”? (2 points) 6. What types of goods were exchanged on the road? (2 points) 7. The article states the southern route ended in “Anatolia” and “Mesopotamia.” What modern countries have these areas? (2 points) 8. Where is “the Levant?” (2 points) 9. Which ancient empire dominated the Silk Road during the 13th and 14th centuries? (2 points) 10. Who was one of the first “westerners” to explore and write about the Silk Road? (2 points) 11. Why was Marco Polo not really the first westerner to explore the Silk Road? (2 points) 12. Why was transportation interrupted along the Silk Road during the mid 14th century? 13. What technological advances were transferred during the high Middle Ages? (2 points) 14. How did the “closing” of the Silk Road stimulate ocean borne European expolration? (2 points) 15. Which maritime- sea- powers wished to expand trade with China? (2 points) ATTACH THIS QUESTION SHEET TO YOUR ANSWERS or lose 5 points Do not attach reading The Silk Road The Silk Road extends from Southern Europe through Arabia, Somalia, Egypt, Persia, India and Java till it reaches China. A General Description of “the Silk Road.” 1. The “Silk Road,” or Silk Route, refers to a trade route through regions of the Asian continent connecting East and West Asia. Geographically, the “Silk Road” connected the ancient trade routes between Chang'an (today's Xi'an) in China to Europe and the Near East. The Silk Road linked traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea for thousands of years, allowing much cultural exchange. 2. The route enabled people to transport trade goods, especially luxuries such as silk, satins, musk, rubies, diamonds, pearls and rhubarb from different parts of the world in China, India, and Asia Minor to the Mediterranean, extending over 8,000 km (5,000 miles). Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, Egypt, Persia, Arabia, India, Rome, and Byzantium and helped to lay the foundations for the modern world in several respects. 3. Although the term “the Silk Road” implies a continuous journey, very few travelers traveled the route from end to end. For the most part, goods were transported by a series of agents on varying routes and trade took place in the bustling mercantile markets of the oasis towns. 4. The Central Asian part of the trade route was initiated around 114 BC by the Han Dynasty in China largely through the missions and explorations of Zhang Qian; although earlier trade across the continents had already existed. In the late Middle Ages, use of the Silk Road declined as sea trade increased. Who named the route the “Silk Road”? 5. The first person to express the term to the western world as "Seidenstraße" and "Seidenstraßen" namely, "Silk Road(s)" and "Silk Route(s)", was the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877. Major Divisions of the Silk Road 6. As it extends westwards from the commercial centers of North China, the continental Silk Road divides into north and south routes to avoid the great Central Asian deserts, the Taklamakan Desert, the Gobi Desert and Lop Nur. The Northern Route 7. The northern route travels northwest through the Chinese province of Gansu, and splits into three further routes, two of them passing north and south of the Taklamakan Desert (through modern day Kyrgyzstan) to rejoin at Kashgar; and the other going north of the Tien Shan mountains through Turfan, Talgar and Almaty (in what is now southeast Kazakhstan). 8. All routes join up at Kokand in the Fergana Valley, and the roads continue west across the Karakum Desert towards Merv, joining the southern route briefly. 9. One of these routes turns northwest along the Amu Darya river to Bukhara and Samarkand, the center of Silk Road trade, to the Aral Sea then through ancient civilizations under the present site of Astrakhan, and on to the Crimean peninsula. From there it crosses the Black Sea, the Marmara Sea and the Balkans to Venice; another route crosses the Caspian Sea and proceeds across the Caucasus to the Black Sea in Georgia, and then to Constantinople. The Southern Route 10. The southern route starts at Xi'an, passes through the Western corridor beyond the Yellow Rivers, Xinjiang, Fergana (in present-day eastern Uzbekistan), Persia (Iran), Kurdistan , and Tajik (Iraq), before joining the western boundary of the Roman Empire. A route for caravans, the northern Silk Road brought to China many goods such as "dates, saffron powder and pistachio nuts from Persia; frankincense, aloes and myrrh from Somalia; sandalwood from India; glass bottles from Egypt, and other expensive and desirable goods from other parts of the world." In exchange, the caravans sent back bolts of silk brocade, lacquer ware and porcelain. 11. The southern route was mainly a single route running through northern India, then the Turkestan–Khorasan region into Mesopotamia (Present day Iraq) and Anatolia (Present day Turkey); having southward spurs enabling the journey to be completed by sea from various points. It runs south through the Sichuan Basin in China and crosses the high mountains into northeast India, probably via the Ancient tea route. It then travels west along the Brahmaputra and Ganges river plains, possibly joining the Grand Trunk Road west of Varanasi. It runs through northern Pakistan and over the Hindu Kush mountains, into Afghanistan, to rejoin the northern route briefly near Merv. 12. It then follows a nearly straight line west through mountainous northern Iran (Kurdistan) and the northern tip of the Syrian Desert to the Levant- Present day Lebanon. From there, Mediterranean trading ships plied regular routes to Italy-(Venice). The Silk Road During The Mongol Era (circa 1215 to 1360) 13. The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 1215 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-establish the Silk Road (via Karakorum). The Chinese Mongol diplomat Rabban Bar Sauma visited the courts of Europe in 1287-1288 and provided a detailed written report back to the Mongols. Around the same time, the Venetian explorer Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China, and his tales, documented in Ptolemaic dynasty, opened Western eyes to some of the customs of the Far East. He was not the first to bring back stories, but he was one of the widest-read. He had been preceded by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck, Benedykt Polak, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, and Andrew of Longjumeau. Later envoys included Odoric of Pordenone, Giovanni de' Marignolli, John of Montecorvino, Niccolò Da Conti, or Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan Muslim traveller, who passed through the present-day Middle East and across the Silk Road from Tabriz, between 1325-1354. Disintegration of the Route 14. However, with the disintegration of the Mongol Empire also came discontinuation of the Silk Road's political, cultural and economic unity. Turkmeni lords seized the western part of the Silk Road — the decaying Byzantine Empire. After the Mongol Empire ended, the great political powers along the Silk Road became economically and culturally separated. The growth of separate regional states meant the decline of nomad power, partly due to the devastation of the Black Death and partly due to the encroachment of civilizations equipped with gunpowder. 15. The effect of gunpowder on Europe meant the rise of the “nation state” – Spain and France for example- and increasing mercantilism or trade to benefit the mother country. On the Silk Road however, gunpowder had the opposite impact: strong centralized states ceased to exist. Trade declined because it was no longer easy to use the land routes. This decline increased European maritime exploration and trading. 16. The Silk Road stopped serving as a shipping route for silk around 1400. Technological Transfer 17. The period of the High Middle Ages in Europe and East Asia saw major technological advances, including the spread through the Silk Road of printing, gunpowder, the astrolabe, and the compass. The Great Explorers: Europe Reaching for Asia 18. The disappearance of the Silk Road following the end of the Mongols was one of the main factors that stimulated the Europeans to reach the prosperous Chinese empire through another route, especially by sea. Tremendous profits were to be obtained for anyone who could achieve a direct trade connection with Asia. 19. The desire to trade directly with China was the main driving force behind the expansion of the Portuguese beyond Africa after 1480, followed by the Netherlands and Great Britain from the 17th century. Gottfried Leibniz, the great late 17th Century mathematician and pliosopher echoed the prevailing perception in Europe until the Industrial Revolution, that: “Everything exquisite and admirable comes from the East Indies... Learned people have remarked that in the whole world there is no commerce comparable to that of China.” 20. When he went West in 1492, Christopher Columbus reportedly wished to create yet another Silk Route to China. It was initially a great disappointment to have found a continent "in-between" before recognizing the potential of a "New World." 21. The spirit of the Silk Road and the will to foster exchange between the East and West, as well as the lure of huge profits attached to doing so has affected much of the history of the world during these last three millennia. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road