Chapter 9

  • 1214

    Mongol Artillery Unit Created

  • Period: 1253 to 1324

    Marco Polo

  • Period: 1287 to 1288

    Rabban Sauma's Embassy to Europe

  • Period: 1289 to 1328

    John of Montecorvino's Mission to China

  • Period: 1298 to 1369

    Ibn Battuta

    Born at Tangier
    1325- left Morocco on hajj to Mecca
    then visited Mesopotamia, Persia, Red Sea, East African coast
    1330- Back to Mecca, then India after Muslim sultan of Delhi offers rewards for foreign legal scholars
    1341- started traveling again
    1349- back to Morocco
    1355- back to Morocco
    44 countries, 73,000 miles
    Large nomadic empires, like the Mongols, allowed for safe roads and stability for trading. Advancements in maritime technology also contributed to his freedom to travel so far.
  • Period: 1304 to 1374

    Francesco Petrarca

  • 1330

    First Outbreaks of Bubonic Plague in China

    1330s
  • Period: 1337 to 1453

    Hundred Years' War

  • 1347

    Arrival of Bubonic Plague in the Mediterranean Basin

  • Period: 1368 to

    Ming Dynasty

  • Period: 1402 to 1433

    Zheng He's Expeditions in the Indian Ocean

  • Period: 1466 to 1536

    Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam

  • 1488

    Bartolomeo Dias's Voyage around Africa

  • 1492

    Christopher Columbus's first Voyage to the Western Hemisphere

  • Period: 1497 to 1498

    Vasco da Gama's Voyage to India