@congusbongus Marco Polo learned a lot from that nomad called Kublai Khan. Romans learned also from barbarians that raveged his empire. Only because a human group was nomadic doesn't imply that you can't learn anything from them.

Despite the fact that certainly China had contact with India, and India with the Middle East, this relations were not frecuent neither constant as in the mediterranean coast. Gobi desert and the Himalayas acted as natural barrier between China and the rest of the world. This situation was only reinforced with the chinese wall, and explains what little was known of those civilization until the times of Marco Polo.

@Tom Au The spanish inquisition was founded in 1478 by the catholic kings, Cervantes and St. Therese were formed UNDER the inquisition. Also, the inquisition was present ALSO in America, thus, the emigration had other causes.

I don't think the spanish inquisition have had the effects commonly atributed by the black legend. Cervantes and St. Terese of Avila lived under the inquisition. The true cause for the economic shrink of Spain is the massive emigration to America. To have ultramar posessions was not profitable enough.