The Chinese government sponsored the construction of the Grand Canal. The goal was to improve trade between the northern and southern regions of China since most of China’s rivers flowed from west to east. Thus, (A) is correct. The canal was built before European industrialization, which began around 1750, making (B) incorrect. (C) is incorrect because, although some land may have been confiscated to build the canal, the building work did not directly benefit leaders; instead, the building of the canal improved commerce throughout the country. (D) is incorrect because a canal is a manmade waterway, not a natural one.
Both the Grand Canal and Incan roads facilitated trade within the empires by connecting various regions. (B) is correct. (A) is incorrect because the Black Death hurt Europe’s economy rather than helped it. (C) is incorrect because ziggurats were places of worship, which means they would not have had a strong economic impact. (D) is incorrect because aqueducts carried water and did not necessarily improve trade.
Zhouzhang’s location on the Grand Canal enabled residents to import goods from other cities and regions; the Grand Canal even indirectly connected the city to the Silk Road. (D) is correct. (A) is incorrect because canals are not as prone to flooding as are natural waterways, such as rivers. Additionally, the picture is a modern image, which shows that the city was not abandoned. (B) is incorrect because, in this era, Europe was in the Dark Ages and had few technological advances. (C) is incorrect because nomadic invaders mainly attacked northern cities and would most likely have been stopped by the Chinese military from using the Grand Canal to mount attacks.
The Grand Canal connected Beijing in the north with the rice-growing regions in the south. This allowed for increased commerce and for taxes, in the form of rice, to be sent to the capital. Thus, (A) is correct and (B) is incorrect. (C) is incorrect because the canal strengthened China’s economy and led to urbanization and more manufacturing. The canal enabled merchants to sell their goods beyond their local area. Due to Confucian ideas, merchants were not viewed as elites; although they were wealthy, they were looked down upon, making (D) incorrect.
By the dawn of the thirteenth century, Japan was governed by a form of feudal military government known as the Kamakura shogunate. The emperor became a symbolic figurehead. The shogun, the supreme military general, controlled a centralized military government. Thus, (B) is correct. (A) is incorrect because it refers to the Meiji Restoration of 1868. While the Mongols twice attempted to invade Japan, both invasions were ultimately failures; (C) is incorrect. As explained in the passage, there is no singular point in time when Bushido was formally made into a clear code. Instead, it developed alongside the rise of the Kamakura shogunate; (D) is incorrect.
Nitobe’s idealized vision of Bushido differs most strongly from the Bushido advocated by Japanese soldiers and officers during World War II. The latter functioned as a militant philosophy that glorified war and death in service to the emperor. Thus, (B) is correct. (A) describes part of Japanese feudalism’s political structure. As the daimyo would be obeying the orders of their superior by spending every other year in the capital, this fits with the description of Bushido as “Precepts of Knighthood” first expressed by Japanese elites. Because it is consistent with the passage, (A) is incorrect. Likewise, the role of the zaibatsu after the Meiji Restoration was one of elites serving their nation, in this case industrializing Japan to ward off foreign imperialists. Thus, (C) is incorrect. (D) is factually incorrect; the Empire of Japan was, in fact, one of the League of Nation’s founding members. The only major power that never joined the League was the United States.
Typhoons destroying two Mongol invasion fleets, in 1274 and 1281, contributed to a perception that Japan could never be successfully invaded or conquered by foreigners. Thus, (B) is correct. (A) is incorrect because it describes hallmarks of chivalry in Europe, not of Bushido in Japan. (C) is incorrect because it references the Meiji Restoration, which took place in the nineteenth century. (D) is incorrect because it references the forced opening of Japan to wider foreign trade by Commodore Perry of the United States Navy in the mid-nineteenth century.
Image 1 showcases East Asian influence over Iranian art. Its place of origin and date of creation place it firmly amid the Pax Mongolica, when the Mongol conquests created a unified Eurasian trade system. This led to cross-cultural interactions that impacted cultural products like artwork. Thus, (C) is correct. While religious syncretism can spread through global trade networks, the Mongol Empire was notable for not imposing a religion on its subjects, instead generally respecting local belief systems; (A) is incorrect. The ceramic star-shaped tile with a raised Chinese dragon does not depict anything about gender hierarchies, so (B) is incorrect. While the artful ceramic tiles did require specialized labor, (D) is incorrect because it merely addresses the physical tile itself, not what the tile is displaying.
Islamic art is characterized by the absence of human figures due to prohibitions against idolatry. Instead, calligraphic and geometric patterns are prolific. Thus, (A) is correct. The Mongol Empire was notable for not imposing a religion and respecting local belief systems; (B) is incorrect. Iranian artwork featuring Qur’anic inscription during this time period would not be the product of a diasporic community but of a subject people in a conquered nation. (C) is incorrect. The use of calligraphic and geometric patterns, as well as the lack of East Asian influence that Image 1 showcases, makes (D) incorrect.
Despite their conquest by the Mongols, the Iranian people largely preserved their own culture even while being influenced by cross-cultural exchanges facilitated by increased Eurasian trade during the Pax Mongolica. This is shown by the tiles conforming to the traditional Islamic prohibition against depicting people. Thus, (C) is correct. While the destruction of the House of Wisdom during the Siege of Baghdad marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age, (A) is incorrect because it goes too far. Islam did not undergo a significant cultural, demographic, and economic downturn into a dark age. (B) is incorrect because it inverts history; the local Mongols adopted Islamic culture and religion over time. In the Ilkhanate, the conquered populations’ local rulers were permitted to continue ruling, as long as they delivered tax revenue and maintained order. (D) is incorrect.
Though the Mongols ruling China during the Yuan Dynasty were not directly involved in trade, they welcomed merchants and foreigners. Paper money—a Chinese innovation—was used in many parts of the Mongol Empire to facilitate easier trading. Thus, (D) is correct. (A) is incorrect because it refers to the context of the first paragraph, not the second, where the narrator describes how the Mongols once “desolated” Islamic states. (B) is incorrect because the use of paper money was authorized by the Yuan Dynasty authorities. The Mongols often adopted practices and innovations of the societies that they conquered. (C) is incorrect because bills of exchange were a Western European innovation, not a Chinese one.
Ibn Battuta’s Rihla is an example of the long-distance interaction that took place during this period, as the Mongol invasions sparked awareness of the Eastern world and interest in its peoples, especially as lucrative trade between East and West grew. Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, and Rabban Sauma are just the most famous examples of individuals who traveled across the Old World during this period. Thus, (D) is correct. (A) is incorrect because the Mongol Empire had collapsed and the Yuan Dynasty was near its end by 1355, when Rihla was published. While interregional trade and contact spread the plague to Europe, (B) is incorrect because there is no mention of disease in the passage. (C) is incorrect because, while Europeans did have a growing interest in the Eastern world during this period, Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan Muslim writing for his countrymen.
The high taxes and discriminatory practices of the Mongols inspired little love for them among their Chinese subjects. The Red Turban Rebellion would see the Chinese overthrow their Mongol conquerors and establish the Ming Dynasty; (B) is correct. (A) is incorrect because it is only half true. While foreigners were employed in most bureaucratic positions, the civil service exam was abolished. (C) is incorrect because the Chinese were subject to different laws than the Mongols, and integration was discouraged. (D) is incorrect because it describes the circumstances of the Goryeo Dynasty in Korea under Mongol rule.
The underlying motivation for the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 was religious tensions between the largely Roman Catholic crusaders and the Greek Orthodox inhabitants, as the former saw the latter as heretics. The East-West Schism in Christianity took place in 1054, and laid the groundwork for the events described in this excerpt. Thus, (D) is correct. The Fall of Constantinople did not take place until 1453; (A) is incorrect. Likewise, (B) is incorrect because Martin Luther did not nail his 95 Theses to that door until 1517. While the Crusades were the reason why this army of Roman Catholics was close enough to Constantinople to sack it, the underlying motivation for the sack was tension with the Eastern Orthodox Church, not a conflict with Muslims; (C) is incorrect.
The author describes the extent of the sack of Constantinople, emphasizing the blasphemous way that the crusaders handled and destroyed sacred objects, such as the altar and the patriarch’s seat. Furthermore, the patriarch’s seat is symbolic of the difference in the way the Eastern Orthodox Church was run versus the way the Roman Catholic Church operated. Thus, (A) is correct. This excerpt is an eye-witness account of the events that took place; the author is not espousing views that are critical of the Eastern Orthodox Church, or calling his readers to action, so (B), (C), and (D) are incorrect.
The Sack of Constantinople severely weakened the Byzantine Empire, leaving it vulnerable to the Seljuk Turks, who had already conquered most of what is modern-day Turkey by 1071. Thus, (B) is correct. The East-West Schism in Christianity took place in 1054, while the Sack of Constantinople took place in 1204; (A) is incorrect. The Ottomans did not arise until around the dawn of the fourteenth century, so (C) is incorrect. The Eastern Orthodox Church was never reincorporated back into Western Christendom, and both factions continue to exist into the present day. (D) is incorrect.
The passage explains the Mongols’ expert use of the bow, and the requirements to achieve such feats. The third paragraph describes how Genghis Khan encouraged hunting in the wilderness, mirroring the conditions of his people’s pastoral, nomadic origins to create a comparable form of training. The intention was that the Mongols would not lose the hardiness or training needed to wield their bows during wartime. Therefore, (D) is correct. (A) and (B) are incorrect because nothing in the passage touches upon diplomacy or the clan-based structure of their society. While (C) is tempting because the first paragraph discusses Mongol cavalry tactics, the primary focus throughout the whole passage is on the Mongols’ usage of bows, the skill required for it, and how the Mongols went about training for it.
Mongol attempts to maintain the fighting edge of nomadic steppe life were, in essence, attempts to ward off assimilation. Mongols lived apart from their subjects and were governed by different laws. Importing foreign advisers from elsewhere in their empire to serve as local administrators was another attempt to put distance between the Mongols and their subjects. Not only did it draw upon an existing pool of talent in their subjects, but it kept imperial officials from networking and sympathizing with the local residents in their administration area. This helped dampen the odds of a rebellion against Mongol rule. Thus, (D) is correct. Inflation primarily impacted the end of the Yuan Dynasty in China, by which point the Mongol Empire had already splintered into rival successor states; (A) is incorrect. While tempting in that succession issues were ultimately fatal to the Mongol Empire, (B) is incorrect because that was a political matter, not a military matter like the focus of the passage. Although (C) is tempting, it is incorrect because assimilation was what Genghis Khan was attempting to avoid.
A major concern for Temujin, and one that he impressed to varying degrees of success upon his successors, was that as the Mongol Empire grew, the Mongols would lose their nomadic fighting expertise as they assimilated into settled societies. To ward off this assimilation, several steps were taken, including the promotion of traditional hunting. Thus, (B) is correct. (A) is incorrect because it only applies to the first paragraph, not the third. (C) and (D) are incorrect because they do not touch on anything discussed in the passage.
Mansa Musa’s gifting of alms and constructing mosques along his pilgrimage route is best understood as a kind of missionary work, encouraging communities along the route to practice Islam, as well as to solidify the Islamic presence in those communities where it already existed. Thus, (C) is correct. While Mansa Musa did expand the Mali Empire, he did not do so anywhere near the whole length of his pilgrimage route to Mecca; (A) is incorrect. While the second paragraph alludes to a blending of different regional styles in new Mali buildings under his reign, that is not the same as blending two distinct religious faiths, which is what syncretism is. So (B) is incorrect. Neocolonialism is the indirect control of former colonies by their onetime imperial master through economic influence. This does not apply here, as Mali never had control over most of this pilgrimage route. (D) is incorrect.
The hall of audience described in the second paragraph was designed by a Spanish architect in the Egyptian style for a West African civilization ruled by a king made famously wealthy by the gold trade. Thus, (A) is correct. Mansa Musa ruled the Mali Empire, which was in West Africa. The region of East Africa includes states near or bordering the Indian Ocean or Red Sea. Therefore, (B) is incorrect. Neither Spain nor Egypt were ever part of the Ilkhanate, so the architecture attributed to them cannot also be attributed to the Ilkhanate; (C) is incorrect. The project in the second paragraph was a hall of audience for the king, not a mosque or other religious building; (D) is incorrect.
The passage describes Mansa Musa’s alms of gold in Egypt as somewhat paltry given the sheer size of Mali. For a king of his means, especially one enriched by Mali’s position in the sub-Saharan gold and salt trade, the gold coins alone were not thought to be a considerable gift. Thus, (A) is correct. (B) is incorrect because the expectation was greater for Mansa Musa because of Mali’s size and economy, not because of an established custom. (C) is tempting because he did depress the regional price of gold in this manner, but it is ultimately incorrect. The author referenced in the passage took issue with the relatively small size of the donation, not with its effect on the larger economy. Finally, (D) is incorrect because the passage notes that the mosques were an additional gift on top of the alms, with no precise indication of how much the mosques cost.
As can be discerned from the map, the Inca Empire covered a 3,000-mile stretch of land. A roadway running along that length of distance requires a centralized government to coordinate its construction. Thus, (C) is correct while (B) and (D) are incorrect. The Inca land was never a Portuguese colony, but it was later conquered by Spain; (A) is incorrect.
The Inca Empire had a mandatory public service system, called the mit’a, which required Incan citizens to participate in various projects, such as constructing the extensive Inca road system. Thus, (C) is correct. The encomienda was a Spanish system of land grants that allowed colonists in the Americas to exploit the land and indigenous labor; (A) is incorrect. Indentured servitude was a labor system practiced by American colonists and Western Europeans; (B) is incorrect. Chattel slavery is when a person is treated as the personal property of their owner, and slave status is imposed on the children born to slaves. (D) is incorrect.
As with many states throughout history, the Inca Empire’s transportation system served a dual purpose. It facilitated both internal trade and the movement of troops. Thus, (A) is correct. The common people were banned from using the road system for personal reasons without special permission; (B) is incorrect. The Inca road system was focused on internal trade within the empire, not with the neighbors of the Inca; (C) is incorrect. The Inca road system predated the European arrival in and colonization of the New World, which subsequently led to the extraction and export of natural resources; (D) is incorrect.