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Trade Routes and What Moved Along Them
Trade routes carried far more than cargo, and the cargo was rarely the most important part.
About this topic
A trade route is a channel for anything that travels: goods, obviously, but also religions, technologies, writing systems and epidemics. The Silk Road moved Buddhism into China as surely as it moved silk out of it, and the same routes later carried plague. These questions cover the major networks and what actually travelled along them. The recurring lesson is that the goods historians name the route after were often not the most consequential thing moving on it.
Questions & answers
Trade Routes and What Moved Along Them: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1The Silk Road connected China principally with what?
- A Southern Africa
- B Australia
- C Scandinavia only
- D The Mediterranean world Correct
Answer: D. The Mediterranean world
Why: It was a network of routes rather than a single road, and few traders travelled its whole length. Goods changed hands many times.
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2Which spice was so valuable it was traded by weight against precious metals?
- A Paprika
- B Cinnamon bark only
- C Black pepper Correct
- D Salt
Answer: C. Black pepper
Why: Pepper drove European interest in sea routes to India. Roman writers already complained about the drain of silver eastward to pay for it.
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3The Hanseatic League was an alliance of what?
- A Portuguese colonies
- B Merchant towns around the Baltic and North Sea Correct
- C Italian banking families
- D Ottoman ports
Answer: B. Merchant towns around the Baltic and North Sea
Why: At its height it controlled trade across northern Europe and could impose blockades on states that crossed it.
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4Trans-Saharan trade carried which two goods in greatest volume?
- A Gold and salt Correct
- B Silk and tea
- C Timber and iron
- D Wine and olive oil
Answer: A. Gold and salt
Why: Salt came south from Saharan mines and gold went north from West African fields. Mali grew enormously wealthy on the exchange.
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5The Incense Route ran principally through which region?
- A Central Asia
- B The Baltic
- C The Andes
- D The Arabian peninsula Correct
Answer: D. The Arabian peninsula
Why: Frankincense and myrrh moved north to the Mediterranean. The cities along it grew rich enough to be worth conquering.
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6What travelled along the Silk Road besides goods?
- A Only precious metals
- B Nothing else of significance
- C Religions, technologies and disease Correct
- D Only textiles
Answer: C. Religions, technologies and disease
Why: Buddhism reached China this way, paper-making moved west, and the Black Death is thought to have followed the same corridors.
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7The Age of Exploration was driven substantially by a desire to do what?
- A Locate freshwater sources
- B Reach Asian spice sources without intermediaries Correct
- C Find new farmland
- D Map the poles
Answer: B. Reach Asian spice sources without intermediaries
Why: Ottoman control of overland routes made a sea passage commercially attractive, which is what sent Portuguese ships around Africa.
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8The triangular Atlantic trade moved enslaved people from where?
- A West Africa to the Americas Correct
- B The Americas to Europe
- C Europe to Asia
- D Asia to Africa
Answer: A. West Africa to the Americas
Why: Manufactured goods went south to Africa, enslaved people west across the Atlantic, and plantation produce back to Europe.
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9Amber from the Baltic was traded south to the Mediterranean along a route known as what?
- A The Salt Way
- B The Northern Passage
- C The Baltic Chain
- D The Amber Road Correct
Answer: D. The Amber Road
Why: Baltic amber has been found in Egyptian and Mycenaean tombs, evidence of exchange long before written records of the route.
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10The Grand Trunk Road runs across which region?
- A Western Europe
- B Southeast Asia
- C South Asia Correct
- D Central Africa
Answer: C. South Asia
Why: It has connected the eastern and western reaches of the subcontinent for over two thousand years, rebuilt by successive empires.
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