6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 8 of 10
Trade Networks
Silk Road, barter and coins
What your child practices
Specialization, barter and the first coins, the Silk Road and sea routes (with a reading passage and goods table), and how trade led to both cooperation and conflict.
California Content Standards learning standard: 6.2.6; 6.6.7 · Egyptian trade and the silk roads
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which animal carried goods across the deserts of the Silk Road?
🐫- the reindeer
- the camel
- the llama
- the elephant
the camel
Hint: Bactrian camels, with two humps, could travel far with little water through cold and hot deserts.
Question 2
In a barter market, 4 sacks of barley trade for 1 copper pot. How many sacks of barley are needed for 3 pots?
4 sacks of barley = 1 copper pot
answer box
12
Hint: Each pot costs 4 sacks, so multiply 3 × 4.
Question 3
Why did coins make trade easier than barter?
🪙- Coins could be eaten in an emergency
- Coins made goods free
- Coins could only be used once
- Coins had an agreed value and were easy to carry and count
Coins had an agreed value and were easy to carry and count
Hint: With barter, you need someone who wants exactly what you have. Coins solve that problem.
Question 4
Use the table. A merchant wants to buy silk. Which region should they trade with?
Goods traded along the Silk Road and connected sea routes Region Famous goods the Roman Empire glassware, gold coins, wool India pepper and other spices, cotton cloth, gems Central Asia strong, fast horses China silk, bronze mirrors, lacquerware - the Roman Empire
- Central Asia
- India
- China
China
Hint: Find the good in the 'Famous goods' column, then read across to the region.
Question 5
Did trade lead to cooperation or conflict? Sort each example.
Sort into: 🤝 cooperation · 🛡️ conflict
- 🏪merchants from many lands sharing a market
- 🚢Rome and Carthage competing for Mediterranean trade
- 💰disputes over high tolls and taxes on goods
- 🗺️rival cities going to war over a trade route
- ⚓a kingdom blocking rivals from its ports
- 🪙using shared coins and weights
- 📜kingdoms agreeing on trade rules
- 🌱learning new crops and inventions from neighbors
🤝 cooperation: merchants from many lands sharing a market, using shared coins and weights, kingdoms agreeing on trade rules, learning new crops and inventions from neighbors · 🛡️ conflict: Rome and Carthage competing for Mediterranean trade, disputes over high tolls and taxes on goods, rival cities going to war over a trade route, a kingdom blocking rivals from its ports
Hint: Cooperation is when societies work together and both gain. Conflict is when they compete or fight over routes, resources or profits.
Question 6
Why did China keep the method of making silk a secret for centuries?
🧵- Silk was used only in temples
- It kept silk rare, valuable and profitable to trade
- No one outside China wanted silk
- Silk was against the law to wear
It kept silk rare, valuable and profitable to trade
Hint: If only China could make silk, buyers far away had to pay high prices for it.