Social Sciences and History / Unit 5 SSH 0438 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Comparing Two Trade Networks: Silk Roads and Indian Ocean
The idea
The exam compares the Silk Roads with the Indian Ocean network, and the anchor supplies the axes. Origin: the Silk Roads began in the Han dynasty's trade with steppe nomads and grew across central Asia to link China with the West; the Indian Ocean network joined East Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and China by sea, with Arab traders from the seventh century joining Aksum's trade to it. Carriers: overland, Sogdian city-states like Samarkand ran the markets and caravansaries housed travelers; by sea, Swahili city-states from Mogadishu to Sofala exchanged gold and ivory for Chinese goods. What moved besides goods: Buddhism traveled the Silk Roads from India to China; Hinduism and Islam spread by sea into Southeast Asia. Control: after seven fifty-one at the Talas River the Tang and the Abbasids each stopped expanding, leaving the overland route divided; the ocean route had no single master.
In practice
Given "the route that carried Buddhism into China", the Silk Roads. Given "the route the monsoon winds scheduled", the Indian Ocean, a detail Berger supplies. Given "the network whose eastern protection depended on the Tang", the Silk Roads. Given "the network that linked Great Zimbabwe's gold to China", the Indian Ocean.
Where people slip
The trap is treating them as rivals; the anchor joins them at Sogdiana and the Red Sea, with China at the end of both.
Your place on the trail
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