Did the Mongol Empire’s control of the Silk Road ultimately stabilize or destabilize the economies of the major trading cities along its route?

The assignment:  

• Write a complete rough draft of your paper, a minimum of 1500-2000 words. (The final draft should be 2000-2500 words.)
• Cite your sources in the body of the paper as you go, using the author’s last name (or the first element in the Works Cited citation) & page #. Compile a Works Cited page.
• Use at least 3 sources, including 1 primary source and 2 peer-reviewed academic journal articles.

• Primary sources can be texts, artifacts, maps, images, or other objects from the time of your topic. You can use them as evidence for a part of your argument or counterargument. Engage fully with the primary sources.
• At least one of the scholarly sources needs to provide evidence both for the counterargument and the rebuttal. Such evidence, for instance, could include references to actual sources making the counterargument, to sources that frame the issue differently, or to sources that provide different evidence, among other possibilities. (

  For example, there may be arguments that the Silk Road thrived due to geography, technology or other factors that were not directly related to the Mongol Empire’s rule.)