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Products such as pepper, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices now were introduced to Europe at much greater rates. Prices for products dropped as fewer authorities competed for taxes collected along the Silk Road. Additionally, with increased trade activity once again becoming common, and new knowledge spread to Europe, as well as developed within, there was a greater impetus to now circumvent the revitalized Silk Road in the 15th century. Traders saw the potential to benefit more if parts of the trade network were avoided and if distance and travel time could be cut to the major product regions of India and China could be reached. Improved navigation and ship building now meant ships were better able to traverse more distance and along open oceans. In effect, the motive for Christopher Columbus was to reach the riches of the east, including India, as he set sail from Spain in 1492. The discovery of the New World was, in some ways, then influenced by the Mongol conquests since it reengaged Europe in trade with the East and led to explorers wanting to find new routes to circumvent middlemen along the way to the major markets.
==How Invasions Affected Long--Term Demographics and Global Power==
Over time, much of the influence of the Mongols has become more of a background to other historical developments. Important trades shifted away from the Silk Road, and the New World gained a greater significance in the global economy. However, one areas that the Mongol invasions have continued to affect is in demographics. Central Asia has experienced some of the greatest changes, where the decline of Indo-Aryan or Indo-European languages, such as those based for Persian, reflect a shift more to Turkic type languages. This also likely reflects greater presence of Turkic populations as they moved across Central Asia during the period of conquests. Many regions remained relatively depopulated for centuries, such as Iran and Iraq, where those regions had once support far larger populations and those levels of populations did not fully recover until perhaps the 20th century. In general, Central Asia and the Middle East became more depopulated. As they also lost their ability to control trade routes after navigation improved to circumvent the Silk Road routes, this created new opportunities for populations from the eastern parts of Central Asia to move into other regions of Central Asia and the Middle East. Eventually, this led to the rise of Turkic based dynasties and, eventually, the Ottoman Empire in Turkey.
In China, the impacts did also lead to new political developments. The Yuan dynasty became a successor Chinese state from a Mongol khanate. However, in China, the invasion may have not been as destructive to the population, as they seemed to recover by the 14th and 15th centuries. Nevertheless, the experience of China with the Mongol invasions may have contributed to its isolationist policies that started in the 15th century. The outside began to look like an uncivilized place, leading to a greater internally. This had long-term consequences for China, as it led to its economic and eventually political decline in the later half of the 2nd millennium and leading up to the early 20th century.
==Conclusion==
==References==
