Homework 51

Reading: The Silk Road

The Silk Road was 4,000 miles long and began in the 2nd Century BC. It was a network of trade routes that went from Eastern Europe to China. The Silk Road was important because it allowed people to trade items between the east and the west. The Silk Road got its name from the silk that was sold from China. People throughout Europe and Asia considered silk a luxury and valued it as a fabric for its softness.

Besides silk, the Chinese exported salt (important for curing meat since there was no refrigeration), sugar, tea, porcelain, and spices. European traders sold goods like ivory, wool, cotton, gold, and silver. Merchants from Europe often traveled on camels in large groups called a caravan.

Theft was common on this dangerous route, so merchants usually traveled with armed guards to protect themselves from bandits. 

The Silk Road allowed the east and the west to trade other things besides tangible items. Ideas, inventions, culture, and unfortunately illness (like the bubonic plague) were sometimes shared. For example, Chinese traders introduced durable paper money to Europe. Traders were from many different countries, so they spoke a variety of languages. As they interacted, languages were shared. Religious ideas and customs were also spread naturally as people from different cultures met.

The Silk Road was active for hundreds of years but declined in 1453, when Constantinople, a major trade center in the Mediterranean, was taken over by the Turks. This disrupted trade throughout Europe. Once the city was blocked, European traders focused on sea travel to the East, rather than land travel.

Summarize the passage in 3-5 sentences.

Drag the correct definition to the matching word.

Century - (a)  

Luxury - (b)  

• Century

• Luxury

• One hundred years
• expensive item
• Ten Years
• One thousand years
• A necessity
• A practical Item

Drag the correct definition to the matching word.

Porcelain- ​ (a)  

Merchants-​ (b)  

• Sellers
• Ceramic or china
• Made from plastic
• Made of wood
• Buyers
• Quality Controllers

Iraq is labeled on this map. The other countries show little picture clues if you need help knowing where an other country is.

Use it to answer the questions below.

Iraq is ​ (a)   of Australia. If you were going to travel to Mexico from Iraq, you would go ​ (b)   . If you wanted to travel from Iraq to Italy, you would go ​ (c)   . Iraq is a part of ​ (d)  

• northwest
• northeast
• southwest
• southeast
• west
• north
• east
• Asia
• Europe
• Africa

Math:

Jared had 5/7 of a pound of almonds. He wanted to divide it into servings that were 1/14 of a pound each. How many servings would there be? Show your work, and answer it in the next question.

There would be ___ servings.

Answer explanation

Don't forget to Copy.Dot.Flip-In other words, multiply by its reciprocal.

Math:

There was 9/12 of a cake left. If they wanted to divide it into 1/4 slice pieces, how many pieces would there be? Show your work here and answer on the next question.

There were __ pieces.

Math:

The Raeburn family had 8/9 of a pound of cheese. If they wanted to divide this into 4/45 for sandwiches, how many sandwiches could they make with this cheese?  Show your work here and answer on the next question.

They can make __ sandwhiches.

Answer explanation

Cross canceling makes things so much easier!