Unit 2: Networks of Exchange Review

DNA evidence suggests human populations in western, central, and southern Asia share many similar genes

Linguistic evidence shows that several small groups in central and southern Africa continue to speak non-Bantu languages

Archaeological evidence suggests that iron metallurgy spread across sub-Saharan Africa in several distinct waves, separated by hundreds of years.

Ethnocentric evidence shows that many West African societies share common themes in their cultural and religious traditions.

Monumental architecture

New agricultural techniques

Nomadism

Writing systems

The Pax Mongolica

The voyages of Vasco da Gama

The conquests of the Umayyad Dynasty

The development of the printing press

Polo traveled to areas that shared his language and religion while

Ibn Battuta traveled to areas that did not.

Polo traveled primarily to areas that were less prosperous than

where he grew up while Ibn Battuta traveled primarily to areas that

were more prosperous than where he grew up.

Polo traveled to regions very different from Europe while Ibn

Battuta traveled mostly within the Islamic world.

Polo traveled to regions that Europe was closely connected to while

Ibn Battuta traveled to regions that were not closely connected to

his home region.