Praxis II Citizenship

Answer: B - Trade along the Silk Road did not decline because of increasing political barriers or mounting tolls; it declined because sea-faring technology made shipping a more cost-effective and expedient way to conduct trade. The bubonic plague started in China and was transmitted to Europe by the fleas that lived on the black rats and other ground rodents that infested the Silk Road’s wagons, carts, and ships. The profit that Italian merchants earned from the sale of goods acquired on the Silk Road made them incredibly wealthy, and they invested a lot of that money in the arts, science and innovation, education, and banking, which was one of the leading reasons the Renaissance began. Marco Polo wrote about his travels along the Silk Road and in the Far East. A couple of generations later, those writings inspired many of the men who were ultimately responsible for launching the Age of Discovery; Christopher Columbus is known to have possessed a copy of Marco Polo’s accounts.