# data[].attributes.body
At last! We have arrived at our destination! Words can not describe the amount of excitment and joy I feel as I step into this wonderous city after traveling for what seemed like forever. I look to my asocciates and smile, we have accomplished a feat that many other men haven't even dared to try. Most other travelers will travel to and from neighbooring cities, but never across the entirety of the Silk Road. There were many days were we had to hunt for our own food, or just go hungry. The various smells coming from various places causes and ache in my stomach as I can't wait to try everything this city has to offer. The men and I plan to stay here for another month before returning home. I look down at my journal and read over the various transactions we have made along the journey. It seems that we have enough silk for some more gold as well as iron. We can sell both for more food and possible Roman souviners to take back home. The entire trip went almost as smoothly as I thought. The passing through the deserts was terribly tiring and challenging, but thank Buddah we have survived. It was probably one of the most terrifying moments of our journey, next to of course the incredibly tall mountains we had to cross as well. But looking out onto the beautiful city and how far we've come, it's definitly a journey worth sharing to my son. I pray he is in good health and that when I return home, he will be able to run into my arms. The thought of having to go through this entire journey once again pains me, but it will be all worth it in the end, to tell my grandchildren how I crossed the Silk road and back.

# data[].attributes.body
I am definitly extremly sore and exhausted from these countless days of traveling. Not only did we have to trudge through two endless deserts, but we also had to climb over the treterous Pamir mountains. Our suffering never seemed to end but once we got past those terrible high cliffs, we had finally arrived at this beautiful bustling city. As we stop at a well to allow our caravan to replunish their thirst, I take a look around at all of the buisiness around us. Before entering the city, our eyes were blessed with the sights of lucsious greenery surrounding the lands. Tall thick trees take root in this land and provided us with much needed shade from the pounding sun. I saw men with magnificent horses that would be strong and risilient in battle. Many languages mix into the conversation that happen around me and I can't help but smile at the amount of excitment this city brings. From passing merchants, I can smell the spices that come from India, and the tea that comes from home. A few of the shops nearby seem to sell amazing husks from a giant animal. As I look more closely, I notice that they must be the ivory that everyone speaks about from the southern continent of Africa. My associates buy a couple of items from other merchants to bring back home as gifts to their wives and children. I make sure to stock up on plenty of food and water, for our last part of our journey is sure to be the longest. There will be more many more mountains that we will have to cross, so I hope our caravan's feet won't tire as we make our way through those treterous terrains. When the three of us gather together once more, we decide to stay another night within the city to recuperate before our difficult journey ahead.

# data[].attributes.body
We have been traveling for ten days now as I'm writing in my journal tirelessly to keep awake. The many horriendus stories play through my mind of travelers passing out and falling off their caravan, being left to die in the heat. Some have told stories of travelers hearing singing or wailing, causing them to investigate and get themselves lost withing the deserts. I must be weary of the sounds I may hear so that I don't get swayed by the desert spirits. During the day we aren;t able to use the stars to guide us, so we attempt to follow the many carcasses of caravan and even sometimes men to find our way out. Our water supplies are slowly dwindeling as are mouths hang fry as the desert around us. Soon we will have to go a few days without water, just until we make it to our next stop. As I look up from my journal, I take in the bland and barren terrian that lies for miles and miles ahead of us. Nothing other than the sand, bones, and blistering sun. I pray we make it out quickly for I do not not how much longer I will be able to stay awake.

# data[].attributes.body
After about 15 days of traveling with few stops, I am glad to finally make it to a campsite with other travelers. Most of them seem to be merchants, the other's are lone travelers, seeking a place to call home. The journey here was a rough one as there wasn't enough vegetation for the caravan to stop in eat so I went through my food supplies quite quickly. It's amazing to be in this oasis in the middle of sand dunes. The campfire cracks and sparks in the night evening as I tune into the nearby merchants tales. Quietly listening to their stories, they describe the harshness of the Great Gobi desert that lies ahead in my journey. I take note as the mention to travel at night, since the harshness of the day can be overbearing. It will be difficult, but I will have to manage. The conversation later changes to the various faiths people follow. Taking a sip of water out of my carrier, I listen in as the people discuss the similarites and differences between the religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism. Images of various Buddhist shrines and temples play in my head as I listen to one man speak on his experience living in a temple for most of his life. Before the creation of this Silk road, I had never even heard of Hinduism or had known what it was. I do not know much of the Hinduism faith but I learn much more tonight as the merchants speak on their experinces within India. These people come from many places and what connects them all is this Silk Road. This Silk road allows them to learn various religions and bring it back home or to other towns and villages where they might take interest in the religion as well. For the rest of the night my two assiociates and I listen to the conversations and stories that the other travelers talk about.

# data[].attributes.body
I have long awaited for this jounrey to finally begin, packing for days with help from my wife, as well as some financial aid from the governor himself. He wanted to make sure that I would have enough food for my trip and provided enough money to buy food for this first part of my trip to Dunhuang. My first stop is approximately 1,000 miles northwest, about a 15 day trip. We will be taking the northern route instead of the southern route. I will be posing as a merchant as to not create any suspicion when crossing the borders of the Parthian Empire or the borders of the Roman Empire, our final destination. Thankfully I have been taught how to read the stars on my own so I won't be needing a guide but traveling alone, posing as a merchant would seem suspecting, so I am bringing a trusted associate with me to pose as a guide. A third person will be joining our company in traveling to the Roman Empire who is another Han official as well to add to our ranks in case of any bandit attacks that I do worry about. The three of us have had some training in battle as most men were taught in their later years.  The Great Gobi deserts that lie ahead cause great worry to me in my journey but I hope they won't cause too many problems. We will bring along some silk clothing to further pose as merchant who were mearly traveling the road to bring them to the outskirts of the nation into the Roman empire. I've heard of the vast riches that the Romans have such as wine, strange fruits called olives, and even gorgoues glassware that would make great decor. I hope to also hear the different types of music that they have there in the Roman Empire. Surely it won't be nearly as good as our music but I guess that is something I will have to find out.  Preperations have all been completed for today, and so we're off to our first stop in Dunhuang.

# data[].attributes.body
My name is Pi Lin and I am a Han offical. I will soon be departing on my journey across the Silk Road. A little about myself: I am 28 years old and I'm currently married to my beautiful wife Qi Na who is staying home with our precious baby boy named Yul. The village governor has asked me to deliever classified information to a secret client of his in another nation that does not approve of the Han, so I must travel incognito to be able to get into said nation. I pray to Buddah that I will have safe travels so that I may return to my beloved family.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1258, Hulegu led the Mongols into the Abbasid territories, where they destroyed the city of Baghdad and killed the caliph, along with perhaps 200,000 residents of the city. Hulegu and his army tried to push farther east, but in 1260, they were defeated because of a temporary alliance between the Muslim Mamluks, under their military leader Baibars, and Christian Crusaders in Palestine. The Mongols ruled over thi skingdom, but Persians served as ministers and provincial and local officials as the Mongols found that this system would result in maximum tax collection. Eventually they converted to Islam there, but before this conversion, they were tolerant of most religions except for after the conversion they supported the massacre of Jews and Christians. The Il-khans would come to rule the empire all the way up to 1335.  Their greatest achievment was finally reuniting the region as a political and territorial entity after several centuries of broken rule by petty dynasties.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1236, Batu, the son of Khan's oldest son, led a Mongolian army of 100,000 soldiers into Russia, which at the time was only loose network of city-states and principalities. His army would come to be known as the Golden Horde would march west and conquer small Russian kingdoms and forced them to pay tribute.
In 1240, the capital city of Kiev was looted and destroyed. Batu and the Golden Horde's rule lasted from the mid-13th century to the end of the 14th century.

# data[].attributes.body
The poorist khanate out of the four, Chagatai Khan reigned from 1308 until 1324. He was the one Mongol khanate that remained true to its nomadic roots but this also meant that it developed less in economic and cultural terms than the others. Constantly at war with its neighbours, the khanate rarely achieved any stability and was overtaken by the Mongol leader Qaidu II for three decades from 1272 to 1301 CE. Being the least richest Khanate, Chagatai didn't have many achievements except for the administrative capital Samarkand, which was a hub for the camel caravans which crossed across through Asia.

# data[].attributes.headline
Empire of the Great Kublai Khan (Yuan dynasty)

# data[].attributes.subject
Empire of the Great Kublai Khan (Yuan dynasty)

# data[].attributes.body
In the eastern part of the Mongolian Empire, a grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, decided he wanted to take over China which was then ruled by the Song Dynasty. China was a tougher opponent than those faced by the other khans, and Kublai's armies attempted to conquer China from 1235 all the way to 1271. The greatest achievement of Kublai Khan and the Mongols in China was the amount of prosperity they gained from continuing to tolerant the economic policies of the Song dynasty and expanded trade as well as tolerating various religions. Kubali Khan would reign up unil 1294.

# data[].attributes.body
(conquered)

# data[].attributes.body
(conquered)

# data[].attributes.body
(conquered)

# data[].attributes.body
Before the uprising of Mongolia's greatest conqueror, Genghis Khan, the Mongols were pastoral nomads that lived in the moutainous region of Mongolia. They needed better land for resources and so with a new leader that many people viewed as amazing, the Mongols would start a generation of conquering that would last for over a hundred years. Under Genghis Khan's rule, he created many new laws such as no kidnapping of women or livestock, and he even put his native language into writing. Along with creating peace between many of the fighting Mongol tribes, for politics he created a supreme officer of the law, who was to collect and preserve all judicial decisions, to oversee the trials of all those charged with wrongdoing and to have the power to issue death sentences. He also created a highly advanced communication system across his empire that would allow for a faster way of communication during battles and to send out and recieve information from his various regions. When conquering new empires, the Mongols never had a centralized religion as they were very tolerant of most religions except for Daoism since it was in conflict with Buddhism. The Mongols were also very interested in trade as they imporoved travel on the Silk roads such as putting more security onto the routes so that merchants couldn't be attacked by various bandits. They traded goods such as valuable spices, tea, Asian artworks and silk which headed west to waiting merchants in the Middle East and Europe. Gold, medical manuscripts, astronomical tomes and porcelain headed east to Asia.

# data[].attributes.body
In the tenth century, the powerful dukes of Saxons became kings of the eastern Frankish kingdom, or now known as Germany. The best of the Saxon kings was Otto I who interviened in Italian politics and for his efforts was crowned emperor of the Romans by the pop in 962. In the eleventh century, the Germna kings created a strong monarchy and a powerful empire by leading armies into Italy. To strength their grasp of Italy, they relied on their ability to control the church and select bishops, whom they could then use as royal administrators. Unlike France and England however, neither Germnay nor Italy had a centralized national monarchy in the Middle Ages. Both regions consisted of regions with many small states, a situation that barely changed until the nineteenth century. As for culture, the Holy Roman Empire architecture was influenced by pre-Romanesque, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles, often times adding  original features of its own to them. Regarding trade, the holy Roman Empire traded goods such as sweat wine, food, jewels, spices, clothing, and coal and sailed across the Black Sea in order to trade with China  until the Romans made the Silk Road which made it easier to trade with the closer countries.

# data[].attributes.body
The Carolingian Empire had been divided into three major section in 843. Towards the west the Frankish lands formed the core of the eventual kingdom of France. In 987, the western Frankish nobels chose Hugh Capet as the new king, from then on establishing the dynasty of French Kings. They were only able to control the lands around Paris, with the Dukes having more power over this Capetian kings. Eventually, it would take around hundreds of years for the kings to establsih a truly centralized monarchial authority in France. King Philip II ruled from 1180 to 1223 and was the first to create a real bureaucracy but it wasn't until Philip IV that the first Estates-General met. The Eastates-General was a body to advice the king that included representitives form each of the three legal classes/estates in France: the clergy, nobility, and commoners. France became one of the riches empires in Europe, only thanks to the huge amounts of taxation that they imposed on the citizens which would further cause problems such as the French Revolution. Many commoners became furious that the nobility and clergy weren't as heavily taxed as them so they created a revolution that would dispose of France's nobility and high class citizens. After the aftermath of the French Revolution, Catholicism became the offical religion of the French state. But at the same time, during the French Revolution, an attempt to reorganize the Roman Catholic Church in France on a national basis caused many devout followers of Catholicism turn against the Revolution. Before the collapse of its economy in the 14th century, France gained new crops and experienced improvements in the climate, and the introduction of new agricultural technologies created a large agricultural surplus. Regarding trade, after the collapse of the Roman Empire French became unlinked with the economy in Europe. The limitied amount of international trade during the ruling time of the Frankish Kings was  primarily carried out by foreign merchants selling  luxury goods such as silk, papyrus, and silver.

# data[].attributes.body
England was originally taken over by an army of heavily armored knights under the rule of William Normandy and later goes through many political and cultural changes. One of its greatest political achievements was the creation of the Magna Carta that was issued by King John of England. It would later be the cornerstone of British constitution today as well as many other constitutional documents around the world. It is many times acknolodged as the foundation of democracy in England. The Parliment is also an important part of England's politics. During the regin of Edwards I, he created the English Parliment, which the word parliment originally was applied to meetings of the King's Great Council. Eventually, the Parliment would be made up of two knights from every county, two burgussess from every borough, and barons and church lords with their jobs being: approving taxes, disscussing politics, passing laws, and handling judicial buisness. Parliment is still in place today as England's main political group although of course altered a bit. Starting in 1337, England soon began a hundred year war with France after tensions arised in 1328 when Charles IV of France died, and a dispute over the rightful heir brewed. England had many victories over France, but it proved to be impossible to fully take over France. The war lasted up untill the late 1450s. England at the time was mainly Catholic but it had many problems within the Church that would later cause it to split and two popes would arise amits the chaos, only adding fuel to the fire. England set out many religous crusades across the map, bringing back many luxieries, foods, and ideas from the places they went to. As for trade, England would conduct in lots of trade with France, Germany, and even farther away places such as Sweden. Even during the dark ages, England was able to build and create great universities such as Cambridge and Oxford along with the inventions of the spinning wheel and eyeglasses.

# data[].attributes.body
The Hausa city-states rose to prominence in northern Nigeria in around the 13th century. Those who ruled in the early Hausa states had been based on ancestry. With the introduction of Islam, many Hausa rulers adopted this new religion while at the same time honoring traditional ways. Most of the commoners in the Hausa kingdoms stuck to their traditional pagan ritualism only until the 1800s did most people convert as Islam had become more prominent. Hausa traders came in contact with Muslim traders from northern Africa as early as the 11th century which is when Islam quickly began to spread and people began to convert. The region was wealthy mainly because of agriculture, cultivation of cotton and indigo, and trade with other states in northern and western Africa. The Hausa were also known for fishing, hunting, agriculture, salt-mining, and blacksmithing.

# data[].attributes.body
Axum was essentially a federation, held together by the prestige and authority of its negusa nagast (king of kings).

In the 4th century the Axumite rulers adopted Christianity called Coptic Christianity and the spread of Islam made the region more diverse religiously. Axum was deeply involved in the trade network between India and the Mediterranean with their exports of ivory, frankincense, myrrh and slaves, imported textiles, metal goods, wine, and olive oil. The Axum empire created their own alphabet called the the Ge'ez alphabet.

# data[].attributes.body
Zimbabwe was the most powerful of all the East African kingdoms between the 1300 and 1450 C.E. e. Zimbabwe grew in riches on a mixture of agriculture grazing, trade in ivory, and above all, gold. They traded lots of their gold  with the East African coastal Swahili city states as well as with Persia, India, and China. With their increasing wealth, they were able to build many new architectures with stone such as a massive wall of stone, 30 feet tall by 15 feet thick, that surrounded the capital city, which became known as the Great Zimbabwe and was built towards the end of the thirteenth century. Great Zimbabwe was ruled by a bloodline monarchy of Shona elite who reached the peak of their power and influence in the mid-fifteenth century. Its ruler governed with the help of a court comprising of family members along with military and religious advisors, while distant regions were ruled by governors appointed by the king.

# data[].attributes.body
The spread of Islam brought great changes to the area such as the presence of Islamic merchants on the Indian Ocean coast influencing the developing language of Swahili, a Bantu language melded with Arabic vocabulary. The cities along the coast had all mainly become Islamic. The citities on the Swahili coast were city-states which meant that there was no Swahili empire or any other overarching political structure on the coast. Each city was self-governing and controlled its own region, but the political reach of the city leaders rarely extended far beyond the gates of the city. The wealthy merchants within many of these cities allowed for great stone houses to be built that were very big and decorative. Inside the
houses were carved plaster niches, called zidaka, where imported Chinese porcelain and other signs of wealth could be displayed. Around 1000, the coast had become more firmly embedded in Indian Ocean trade networks and culture. Many rich and succesful Arab merchants resided within the cities . By 1500 C.E. the Swahili cities were thriving commercial centers.

# data[].attributes.body
Mali was founded by a man named Sundiata who overthrew the Soso Kingdom and Gahna, shortly after, the Mali kingdom was overtaken and he was exiled. In 1235, he came back and reclaimed the throne. During Mansa Musas rule, the law and order came from the power of the army and the authority of the king. The Empire was also built upon everyone being equal and basing their rules of off the Muslim text, the Quran. Herding animals, farming, trading, and mining gold strengthened the economy. Trade is very important to Mali. Some of the trade is in slaves, but gold is the most important commodity. The Djinguereber Mosque was a great learning center built in 1327 in the city of Mali by Abu Es Haq es Saheli and was built for educating everyone.

# data[].attributes.body
In Egypt, Mamluks seized control of the government establishing the Mamlik Sultanate form 1250 to 1517. Before that they were many times enslaved people who were frequently ethnic Turks form Central Asia and served as soldiers and later as bureaucrats. They propered by faciliting trade in cotton and sugar between the Islamic world and Europe. An achiement they earned was when they were able to destroy the Mongol army at Ayn Jalut – and again at the second battle of Homs in 1281 – by a series of attacks. The Mamluks had also effectively become the leaders of the Muslim World for a short while.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Srivijaya Empire The Srivijaya Empire was a Buddhist Indonesian Empire based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It was believed to have been established in 650 and fell in 1377. The Srivijaya government divided their empire into three zones.

# data[].attributes.body
The Abbasid tried to break down the distinctions between Arabs and non-Muslims. All Muslims could now hold both civil and military offices and intermarry. There was a lot of fighting over succesion within the Abbasid dynasty. Each Caliph ended up setting up their own dynasties. Baghdad, the capital, became the center of an enormous trade empire that extended into Europe, Asia, and Africa by trading goods such as silk, glass, tiles, and paper. They had many cultural achievements such as Islamic scholars creating Algebra and a man by the name of Ibn Sina wrote a medical encyclopedia that stressed the concerns with contagious diseases.

# data[].attributes.body
Another challange to the Abbasids came form the Central Asain Seljuk Turks, who were also Muslim. The Seljuk leader called himself sultan. thereby reducing the role of the highest-ranking Abbasid form caliph to cheif Sunni religious authority. The Seljuk was apart of Sunni Islam and were tolerant of race, religion, and gender. An achievemnt of theirs would be that they played a major role in medieval history by creating a barrier to Europe against the Mongol invaders form the East, defending the Islamic world against Crusadaers from the West. The Seljuks had become an export nation, exporting goods such as alum and refined sugar. They established commercial activites with Venice, Florence, and France as well as the Venetians, the Genoese, and the Latin Kingdom of Cyprus.

# data[].attributes.body
In 960, Song Taizu founds the Song Dynasty with the capitaloriginally in Kaifeng, untill it is later moved in 1127 till 1279 in Hangzhou. Despite its political and millitary weakenes, the Song Dynasty became what is known as the Golden Age. They way they ruled was by building an effective centralized bureaucracy staffed with civilian scholar officals.  The Song desitiny was somewhat friendly towards Buddhism, but mainly emphazied China;s native traditions such as Confucianism. The Song dynasty produced many new great inventions such as creating the first true paper money. The Song dynasty produced steel, porcelain, and silk which they traded on various trade routes, especially by sea.