Document 1:
Source: Marco Polo, adventurer and author, describing the city of Tabriz near Persia in The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian: Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, ca. 1300 CE.
The men of Tauris [Tabriz] get their living by trade and handicrafts, for they weave many kinds of beautiful and valuable stuffs of silk and gold. The city has such a good position that merchandize is brought thither from India, Baudas, Cremesor, and many other regions; and that attracts many Latin merchants, especially Genoese, to buy goods and transact other business there; the more as it is also a great market for precious stones. It is a city in fact where merchants make large profits.

Document 2:
Source: ‘Ala ad-Din Juvaini, Persian historian and governor of Baghdad for the Mongols, account about the influence of Sorqotani Beki in Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror, ca. 13th century CE.
After Ulugh-Noyan’s death, [the khan] commanded that as long as he lived affairs of state should be administered in accordance with the counsel of his wife Sorqotani Beki . . . and that [her] sons, the army and the people, great and small, should be under the control of her command and prohibition. . . .
. . . And her hand was ever open in munificence and benefaction, and although she was a follower and devotee of the religion of Jesus she would bestow alms and presents upon imams and shaikhs and strove also to revive the sacred observances of the faith of Mohammed. . . . And the token and proof of this statement is that she gave 1000 silver balish that a college (madrasa) might be built in Bokhara.

Document 3:
Source: Francis Balducci Pegolotti, Italian merchant and author, excerpt from “Notices of the Land Route to Cathay and of Asiatic Trade in the First Half of the Fourteenth Century,” ca. 1343 CE.
Whatever silver the merchants may carry with them as far as Cathay [China] the lord of Cathay will take from them and put into his treasury. And to merchants who thus bring silver they give that paper money of theirs in exchange. This is of yellow paper, stamped with the seal of the lord aforesaid. And this money is called balishi; and with this money you can readily buy silk and all other merchandize that you have a desire to buy. And all the people of the country are bound to receive it. And yet you shall not pay a higher price for your goods because your money is of paper.

Document 4:
Source: Friar John of Monte Corvino, letter to fellow Franciscan missionaries in the Black Sea area, and later forwarded to Rome, ca. 1305 CE.
I, Friar John of Monte Corvino, of the order of Minor Friars, departed . . . in the year of the Lord 1291, and proceeded to India. And I remained in the country of India, wherein stands the church of St. Thomas the Apostle, for thirteen months, and in that region baptized in different places about one hundred persons. . . .
I proceeded on my further journey and made my way to Cathay [China], the realm of the Emperor of the Tartars [Mongols] who is called the Great [Khan]. To him I presented the letter of our lord the Pope, and invited him to adopt the Catholic Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he had grown too old in idolatry.
However he bestows many kindnesses upon the Christians, and these two years past I am abiding with him. . . .
As for the road hither I may tell you that the way through the land of the Goths, subject to the Emperor of the Northern Tartars, is the shortest and safest. . . .
As far as I ever saw or heard tell, I do not believe that any king or prince in the world can be compared to his majesty the [Khan] in respect of the extent of his dominions, the vastness of their population, or the
amount of his wealth.

For each document write:
The intended audience and purpose
The historical situation
What the historical context of how the Mongol Empire’s expansion influenced culture
How the document’s time of writing affects the point of view, or what is being said
The author’s point of view, do any of the other documents have the same point of view

Write a thesis in response to the following prompt: Evaluate the extent to which the expansion of the Mongol Empire resulted in social and cultural changes in Afro-Eurasia between 1200 and 1350 CE.