By the Middle Ages, paper currencywatermillstrade routestechnologySilk RoadSelect your answer set the stage for progress and change in Europe. New plows, better tools, windmills, and Silk RoadEuropeanstrade routeswatermillsinfluencedSelect your answer produced more crops and left more time for leisure. New trade routesEuropeansSilk RoadinfluencedKublai KhanSelect your answer caused cities and towns like Italy's "big three" --Genoa, Florence, and Venice--to become important harbors and spurred growth in the Netherlands, Germany, and France.

A well-traveled merchant named Kublai Khantrade routesMarco PolowatermillstechnologySelect your answer so charmed the emperor of China, Europeanspaper currencyKublai Khantrade routeswatermillsSelect your answer, that for years Polo traveled around China on the emperor's behalf. On his return to trade routestechnologyVeniceKublai KhanEuropeansSelect your answer, Polo was captured in battle. In prison, he befriended a writer who penned Polo's adventures, describing China and mapping trade routes. The book greatly Silk RoadinfluencedEuropeanswatermillstrade routesSelect your answer all of Europe.

Word of Polo's travels intrigued many watermillstrade routesKublai KhanEuropeansinfluencedSelect your answer. By the end of the 13th century, European explorers and merchants set out to find the Silk RoadMarco PolowatermillsinfluencedtechnologySelect your answer trade routes they had heard about. People were curious about Marco PoloinfluencedVeniceSilk Roadpaper currencySelect your answer used in China rather than gold, China's use of coal for heating rather than wood, and China's postal system.