Weekly Module overview

This week we return to South and East Asia. As we move further into the Common Era and away from the ancient period, we'll explore continuities and changes overtime. This week we'll be discussing the spread of cultural ideas and traditions throughout Asia. The major facilitator for the movement of ideas and religious beliefs was the tangible movement of goods along the Silk Road.

While the Silk Road had existed for millennia (a continuity between the ancient and medieval periods) the apex of travel and trade along this route is usually consider by historians to have occurred under the Tang dynasty in the 8th century. Under the Song dynasty, commercialization accelerated in China and reached new heights. The ultimate benefactors of the increase in commodities, trade, and taxes were the Mongols who conquered the Song dynasty in the late 13th century.

The primary source comes from the explorations of Chinese society by Marco Polo under the Khan dynasty (late 13th century).

Weekly To Do List

Complete before class on Tuesday.

Read these Course Documents:
- Primary Source: Excerpts, The Travels of Marco Polo, or, A Description of the World.
(Links to an external site.)Watch the required lecture videos below
Click NEXT to reach the assigned textbook pages.

Come to class on Tuesday.

Take quiz by Friday.
Optional: begin next week's reading/watching when new module opens on Saturday.

Watch These Required Lecture Videos