to learn more about earning college credits with study hall courses visit gostudyhall.com or click the link in the description think back to when you used to eat lunch at the school cafeteria there were probably times you weren't thrilled with what was on the menu like say on Meatloaf day so on Meatloaf day you and your friend Marco would swap lunches that way you could have the delicious PB and J and he could Chow Down on his favorite questionable lunchroom meal but the path between you and Marco is filled with danger in the lunchroom like you have to walk by Jake who's known to smack the lunch tray right out of your hands and he's sitting right next to Felicia who definitely has a cold and no tissues and it looks like Kyrie accidentally spilled spaghetti all over the floor again making it a huge slippery dangerous mess but you're hungry enough to take on these obstacles that glorious PB J is worth the risk so you weave your way to Marco expertly deflecting the swats from Jake and slipping past the spaghetti and you successfully make the lunch swap so now you and Marco can relax and enjoy your preferred tasty meal by swapping one meal for another you and your friend executed a trade but like we saw trade can be risky while there are no Elementary School lunchrooms uh medieval trade routes were often plagued by Raiders disease and other hazards and sometimes the benefits didn't outweigh the risks that is until the Mongol Empire transformed trade networks throughout afro-eurasia and kicked off a new age of global trade I'm Rob Fuller and this is study hall modern world history [Music] we participate in trade all the time as individuals we trade money for goods and services and as citizens of countries that trade for resources they wouldn't otherwise have access to it's one of the fundamental forces that ties the world together in shared history when countries trade regularly they can come to rely on one another for important resources and the more people trade with each other it creates a vast Network for not only the spread of goods but also breakthroughs in technology and new ideas so as trade becomes easier and expands the people in those trade networks will come to influence each other more and more large shifts in one country will be felt elsewhere today trading can be as easy as simply putting items in your shopping cart then exchanging money with the cashier so you can take those tasty treats home but trading was much more complicated before the Mongol Empire where they didn't have things like cargo planes or semi trucks or shopping carts or meatloaf in the Ancient World Trade happens slowly using a network of routes and the most famous series of routes was known as The Silk Road or silk routes since this vast network was so much more than a single Road it was first established by the Han Dynasty in China between the 2nd Century BCE and 200 CE and at its peak spanned 4 000 miles across Eurasia that's like if you drove from June of Alaska to New York City the Silk Road was initially set up by the Chinese emperor to trade fine silks for horses which were in short supply in China some of the silks made it to Lebanon where they would be dyed purple using slime from sea snails also known as serious strip eventually some of that Silk would even make it to Rome and the Roman Elites loved purple silk so much that they reserved it for themselves hence our association with purple and royalty the flat grassy Plains or steps of the Silk Road made it easier for people to transport Goods over longer distances mostly by Camelback but easier was still tough the terrain was dangerous and travelers on the Silk Road faced weather like the heat of the desert and the brutal cold of high mountain passes Raiders also patrolled the road and could Rob merchants and Traders also had to be on the lookout for a deadly hitchhiker disease trade routes became a new way for bacteria and viruses to travel from place to place even the black plague hits to ride on the Silk Road but the bad weather terrible terrain and deadly diseases weren't enough to completely dissuade Traders from traveling along the Silk Road so let's take a look at how they moved Goods along these trade routes meet Aja a Trader who specializes in selling beautiful Chinese silk cloth the only problem is atcha's best customers don't live in China they live in Rome and the Roman Empire is at the westernmost end of the trade route which means that Aja has a long way to go if he wants to sell his silk but the farther a good travels the more its price goes up and that means more money for Aja so Aja sets off for Rome stopping at small trading posts along the way and there they give Merchants like Aja a safe place to rest and they also let local people trade for goods that aren't usually available nearby you know like luxurious silks but the price of goods like Silk fluctuates on trade routes depending on things like local taxes and the riskiness of a Merchant's Journey Aja knows that he'll have to be on the lookout for dangers like horse riding Raiders who would swoop in and steal his Meatloaf I mean silks along with Raiders Aja deals with difficult terrain and keeps an eye out for other potential roadblocks like bad weather or getting sick but Aja knows that his trip on the Silk Road will be worth it at least financially when he gets to Rome Aja will fetch a premium for his beautiful silk fabric but often Traders didn't participate in that kind of long-distance travel even on the Silk Road often they would buy things at one Trading Post and then travel along the route to sell it at another for a markup and many Goods pass through the hands of traders that way slowly making it farther and farther from where they were originally produced Traders like Aja benefited even more from the Silk Road after it became a part of the Mongol Empire for over a thousand years the Silk Road was treacherous and expensive just like your lunchroom cafeteria but much of that changed during the Pax mongolica during the Pax mongolica or period of Mongol peace from the 13th to 14th centuries the Mongols work to unify the vast Trade Network and managed how it was operated their goal was to make the long distance trade of goods services and even ideas along the Silk Road safer and cheaper to do this the Mongols created a code of laws known as the yasa that applied to everyone living under Mongol rule these laws were created by their ruler Changas Khan and enforced by his generals and successors along with dictating things like military service and tax policies the yasa heavily penalized rating and theft if you were caught stealing you'd have to pay back nine times the amount you stole or potentially face death by increasing the penalty the Mongols made rating much riskier that translated to fewer raids in general which meant people didn't have to pay a danger tax to Merchants for risking their lives to transport those goods and safer trade routes meant more Merchants getting in on the action more Merchants meant more goods and competition which in turn lowered the prices but the Mongols knew that rating was just one trade issue that needed to be solved trading across long distances was super expensive because travel was expensive every Trader had to fund their own journey by themselves which meant paying for everything from horses to lodging and it also meant that Merchants had to assume a lot of Financial Risk so if their goods were stolen or lost Merchants would lose a lot of money to make trading easier and more lucrative the Mongols created a system where Merchants could pool their resources so instead of each Merchant paying for their own trading party lots of merchants could invest in a single Caravan that would trade goods for everyone these Caravans were made up of large numbers of traders who traveled along the Silk Road together they even had security to keep them safe these Merchant associations were known as or toys which comes from the Turkish word for partner since they were professional and financial Partnerships between Traders and Merchants and participating in an oratory helped offset the financial risks that Merchants took on every time they traded as a member Traders shared the profits their Caravan made from Trading but they also shared losses too so if a disaster like bad weather sickness or one of those pesky raiding parties caused problems every member of the oratory lost money just much less money than if they'd been trading alone and there were other benefits to being in an oratory too they often had silent Partnerships with the Mongol Imperial Clan who fed these or toys funds and protections behind the scene since they were also benefiting from the trade boom so as far as Mongol Innovations go ore toys were definitely a game changer they expanded trade throughout the Empire by incentivizing Merchants to participate and giving Rich Mongolian leaders a safer way to invest and successful trade helped the Mongol Empire grow both political and economic power which was all good for the Mongols by making trade easier they helped trade grow throughout their empire and Beyond creating an interconnected Trade Network over land and sea for instance the Mongols created sea trade routes between the Yuan Dynasty and China and the ilkanate in Persia these new oversea trade routes let the Mongols enter new markets and trade for goods like porcelain spices copper pearls and silver but as the Empire and trade group so did another problem in order for the Mongol government to govern such a large empire they needed a way to communicate with people from Poland to the Pacific but without telephones or the internet or even electricity for that matter the Mongols had to get creative so they created yam stations along the Silk Road every 20 to 30 miles or about a day's ride apart these stations served as a post office supply Depot and hostel all rolled into one imperial Messengers would travel from yarm to yam stopping to deliver news rest overnight and then trade out their tired horse for a fresh one the yam system also made it much safer for Traders to travel throughout the Mongol Empire along with giving them a safe place to rest and recharge the yam came with security the Mongol military patrolled these rest stops to discourage raiding and protect the Traders as they transported their valuable goods and the Yom not only allowed Mongols to trade and communicate over a vast Empire it also inspired other communication systems like the Pony Express and the the United States hundreds of years later together the yasa or toy and yam systems created a network that encouraged trade and economic growth both by land and sea it also brought humans in closer contact with one another for the first time in history people could travel in relative safety from Italy to China thanks to new systems like the yasa and the yam trade routes like the Silk Road also allowed people to buy Goods they had never seen before like muslin and damask silk and pay for them with gold mined in Africa or silver mined in Europe which pulled afro-urasia into one big Trade Network and the financial success of Mongolian trade encouraged other countries like Portugal and Spain to establish their own trade routes in pursuit of expansion and profit and yes there was large-scale trade before the Mongols but the systems they created were a massive Catalyst for economic growth the increasing trade led to more manufacturing and since producing more goods made them cheaper to buy they became accessible to more people Goods that were once scarce became more available and in turn more in demand and as profits increased from Trading the success of the Silk Road spread Beyond its reach as more people wanted to get on the action Beyond just the Mongol Empire countries would set off exploring the world to establish more trade routes the shifts in trade across the Mongol Empire tugged on the rest of the world and for the most part the world chose to follow them if you're enjoying study hall modern world history and are interested in taking an online course and earning college credit visit gostudyhall.com or click the button to learn more thanks for watching see you next time