Medieval Worlds Beyond Europe · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Medieval Worlds Beyond Europe

History · Medieval Times · ages 9-11
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Mansa Musa ruled which empire?

    • The Song Dynasty
    • The Mali Empire
    • The Byzantine Empire

  2. What did Muslim scholars in the Islamic Golden Age develop to help solve math problems?

    • Algebra
    • Gunpowder
    • The printing press

  3. The Silk Road was a single road built to connect China and Europe.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. Mali sat right on the routes where traders carried gold and salt across West Africa. How did that help its ruler, Mansa Musa?

    • Controlling the trade in gold and salt brought his kingdom huge wealth
    • It let him ban all travel across West Africa
    • It meant his kingdom never had to trade at all

  5. A merchant in the Islamic Golden Age falls ill in Baghdad, but he has no money. What would most likely happen to him?

    • He would have to sail to Europe to find a doctor
    • No one anywhere studied medicine yet
    • A hospital in the city would treat him for free

  6. Paper money was invented in Song Dynasty China. Some years later, people far to the west had heard about it. How did ideas like this travel?

    • Birds carried them across the desert
    • Traders carried them along routes like the Silk Road
    • They did not travel at all, since every place stayed cut off

  7. Mansa Musa gave away huge amounts of gold on his journey to Mecca. What most likely happened to gold's value in the cities he passed through?

    • It rose sharply
    • It had no effect at all
    • It dropped, because there was suddenly so much gold around

  8. A student says, "Nothing important happened outside Europe during the Middle Ages." What's wrong with this idea?

    • The Islamic world, Mali, and China all had major achievements and trade during this time
    • It's correct, Europe was the only advanced region
    • China had no cities until modern times
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Medieval Worlds Beyond Europe W1-mt_eosO26KE-Z-s1

  1. The Mali Empire · Mansa Musa ruled the Mali Empire in West Africa.
  2. Algebra · Muslim scholars developed algebra, a way of solving problems using letters and numbers.
  3. False · The Silk Road was actually a network of many trade routes, not one road.
  4. Controlling the trade in gold and salt brought his kingdom huge wealth · Mansa Musa's kingdom controlled the gold and salt routes, and that control made him one of the richest people who has ever lived.
  5. A hospital in the city would treat him for free · Cities like Baghdad had hospitals that treated patients for free, so the merchant could get care even with no money.
  6. Traders carried them along routes like the Silk Road · Trade routes like the Silk Road carried ideas as well as goods, so news of paper money could spread from China towards the west.
  7. It dropped, because there was suddenly so much gold around · When Mansa Musa gave away so much gold, there was too much of it around, so its value fell in those cities.
  8. The Islamic world, Mali, and China all had major achievements and trade during this time · The Islamic Golden Age, the Mali Empire, and Song Dynasty China all thrived at the same time as medieval Europe.
Worksheet · LightMySky