Feed your head. (Jefferson Airplane, White Rabbit)

[Sweeney]

48. It took a long time for any in the West to reach China.

And after the travels of Marco Polo, as he lay in bed dying, the priests urged him to recant all of his lies about the East. He told them: You haven't heard the half of it. Consider what was happening in this world in that period of time. The Russ, the Scandinavians in Russia had been pulverized by the Turks, and turkic tribes under Muslims first and then the Iron limper, Tamerlane the Great.

The Mongols had been driven from the gates of Egypt by the possessed ones, The Mukluks, and up into Central Asia. By that time all the Mongols in the former Muslim regions had converted to Islam, and this was common because the Mongols had no common Deity, and allowed religious liberty. So, even while the areas were heavily invested by Mongol tribes, they had for the most part established themselves, and taken on civilization. This was very true of Kubaiai Khan. Their last Chinese victories were for the most part bloodless. The far flung empire of the khans was held together by tribute and post roads, and these were followed right into China.

Trade in silks and spices, exactly that which broke the Roman Empire was also the point of Marco Polo. And it was an eye opener for the West. You forgot paper money, as many people do, but this was the Wests first experience with mechanical printing.
Gun powder was of great value as an invention, and mostly because in Europe people were already using blow guns to take out small birds and were looking for a better source of power. Again; it is the mixing of cultures at work that made the West what it became.

I will say again that the Mongols and their empire had little direct effect on us until very late. They could have swept through Europe and did not. They held on for a time in some places, but their area of control quickly receded. It made room for the Otheman Empire. And Tamerlane Beat the Golden Ordu, (horde) out of Russia, which the Russian Autocrats soon owned. Same in China, where a popular revolt soon pushed them out.

The influence of Muslim Spain is very far reaching, but again, rhymed verse and singing were well established by the time there was significant communication. Feudalism as practiced in Europe did not have more than limited exchange of goods or even information. Mark Bloch in his volumes on Feudalism noted how long after the fact one king learned of the conversion of the Swedish King to Christianity. Consider the remarkable sea journeys of the vikings, down the rivers of Russia, through the Mediterranean, and in the Atlantic. Try to understand how remarkable these were to a people who had nearly lost the art of ship building. The trip from France to England after the Romans and before the Norse was incredibly perilous. Land transportation was even worse. The old Roman roads that led, naturally to Rome were the conduit of culture, and in that sense, Christian rhymed music was well established before there was significant trade and communication with Spain. Now; Correct me if I am wrong, but we did get the guitar from them and perhaps the troubadours. We may have gotten the idea of courtly love from them. What we most wanted and took from them waited nearly on the fall of the country into Christian hands, and that was their math and astronomy. Free free to prove me wrong.