Changes

Prior to the Black Death, Europe had been facing a social and economic recovery. The population was growing rapidly, having gone from 38 to 74 million people in about 300 years. Learning and economies were beginning to thrive, with the diminished threat of Viking and other raids making commerce active across the continent. In Asia, the Mongols had invaded but trade was beginning to thrive under the <i>Pax-Mongolica</i>. This revived caravan routes and economies from China to the Near East, where the khanates, or Mongol successor states, thrived. <ref>For more on the pre-Black Death World, see: Campbell, Bruce M. S., ed. n.d. <i>Before the Black Death: Studies in the Crisis of the Early Fourteenth Century.</i> Reprinted in paperback.</ref> In effect, the Old World was becoming more integrated as it had recovered and began to thrive to the changes initiated by the Mongol invasions. Connections again spanned the whole Old World and the Silk Road achieve a peak level of trade activity. Populations were increasing in many parts of the Old World.