ABSTRACT
Fitting the Mongol conquest into the history of globalization raises some interesting challenges. On the one hand, the Mongol period unquestionably accelerated exchange, particularly in creating relatively safe conditions for land travel from Persia to China. Fitting the Mongol conquest into the history of globalization raises some interesting challenges. On the one hand, the Mongol period unquestionably accelerated exchange, particularly in creating relatively safe conditions for land travel from Persia to China. Most important was the technology transfer that began to accelerate during the Mongol period itself, at a point when West Europe leaders were more eager and better able to take advantage of borrowed innovations than ever before. The Mongol period of exchange also enabled Europeans to learn about printing (a Korean-Chinese innovation), adding adaptations by the middle of the 15th century. The Mongol period had clearly ended by the later 14th century, though Russia regained independence only a few decades later.
