12 Cultural Exchange in Central And Southern Asia 300–1400

> How did Mongol conquests and maritime trade facilitate cultural exchange in central and southern Asia? Chapter 12 examines the forces that contributed to cultural exchange and transformation in Asia between 300 and 1400. From the fifth century on, groups of nomadic Turks appeared along the fringes of the settled societies of Eurasia. Much more dramatic was the rise of the Mongols in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Under the leadership of Chinggis Khan, the Mongols subdued one society after another. For a century Mongol hegemony fostered unprecedented East-West trade and contact. Over the course of several centuries, Arab and Turkish armies brought Islam to India. India continued to be the center of a very active seaborne trade, and this trade helped carry Indian ideas and practices to Southeast Asia.