Part A
Short-Answer Questions
Directions: Analyze the documents and answer the short-answer questions that follow each document in the
space provided.
Document 1
…In the period from 1180–1220, Mongolia experienced a drop in the mean annual temperature,
which meant that the growing season for grass was cut short. Less grass meant a real danger
to the Mongols’ animals, and, since the animals were truly the basis of the Mongols’
pastoral-nomadic life, this ecological threat may have prompted them to move out of Mongolia.
A second reason often mentioned is the attempt by Mongolia’s neighbors in north and
northwest China to reduce the amount of trade with the Mongols. Since the Mongols depended
on trade for goods that they desperately needed—such as grain, craft, and manufactured
articles—cessation [halting] of trade, or at least the diminution [reduction] of trade, could have
been catastrophic for them. The attempts by the Jin dynasty, which controlled North China, and
the Xia dynasty, which controlled Northwest China, to reduce the level of trade that the Mongols
could expect, created a crisis for the Mongols. Unable to obtain goods that they so desperately
needed, the Mongols’ response was to initiate raids, attacks, and finally invasions against these
two dynasties.…
Source: “The Mongols in World History,” Asian Topics in World History online, Columbia University (adapted)
According to this excerpt from “The Mongols in World History,” what are two reasons the Mongols began
conquering new lands?
