Western Civilization I / Unit 12 WC1 1123 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Reading a Map of the Plague's Spread and the Mongol Khanates
The idea
The exam's map shows either the khanates or the plague's spread by year, and asks a direction or date question. The method for the khanates is four blocks by compass: the Golden Horde over Russia in the northwest, the Il-Khanate over Persia in the southwest, the Chagatai in the center, Kublai's China in the east. The method for the plague is a clock: south in thirteen forty-eight, central Europe and England in forty-nine, the north and east in fifty.
In practice
Four questions. Which khanate collected tribute from Russian princes: the Golden Horde, the northwest block. Which khanate the Mamluks stopped in twelve sixty: the Il-Khanate, moving west from Persia. A map with Italy and southern France shaded for plague and England not: thirteen forty-eight. A map with Scandinavia shaded: thirteen fifty. A fifth: the arrow the plague followed into Europe runs from the Black Sea ports to Italy, the Genoese route, which is why the south fell first.
Where people slip
The khanates were never one state after twelve sixty, so a map shading them one color is dated before the split. And the plague's clock runs by trade routes, not distance, so a port fell before an inland town nearer the source.
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