AP World History Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (1200-1450)

Overview

• Focus on how states and empires from Unit 1 were connected through networks of exchange.
• Networks facilitated not only economic interaction but also cultural diffusion and transfers.
• Major networks: Silk Roads, Indian Ocean Network, and Trans-Saharan Trade.

General Developments

• Geographic Expansion: All networks expanded in geographic scale, creating further connections among states.
• Innovations: Expansion due to innovations in commercial practices and technology.
• Wealth and Power: Increased connectivity led to wealth and power for participating states.
• Rise and Fall of States: Some states and cities rose while others fell due to increased interconnectivity.

Silk Roads

• Goods Traded: Mainly luxury goods like Chinese silk and porcelain.
• Innovations:
  • Caravanserai: Inns and guesthouses providing safety and cultural exchanges.
  • Commercial Innovations:
    • Money economies (paper money, flying money system).
    • New forms of credit (bills of exchange).
• Rise of Trading Cities: Example - Kashgar, grew due to its strategic location.

Indian Ocean Network

• Trade: Included more common goods due to larger ship cargo holds.
• Technological Innovations:
  • Magnetic compass, improved astrolabe, and Chinese junk ships.
• Commercial Innovations: Similar to those on the Silk Roads.
• Growth of States: Example - Swahili city-states, grew by brokering African interior goods.
• Cultural Diffusion: Arab and Persian communities in East Africa, spread of Islam, emergence of Swahili language.
• Zheng He: Ming Dynasty voyages spreading Chinese maritime technology and culture.

Trans-Saharan Trade Network

• Innovations: Camel saddles for larger cargo.
• Rise of States: Example - Mali Empire, grew rich through gold trade and taxing merchants.
• Influence of Islam: Mansa Musa's reign, monopolization of trade.

Effects of Increased Connectivity

Cultural Consequences

• Spread of Religions: Example - Buddhism spread via Silk Roads.
• Literary and Artistic Transfers: Islamic scholars in Baghdad, Renaissance influence.
• Scientific and Technological Transfers: Spread of gunpowder, altering global power balance.
• Rise and Fall of Cities: Example rise - Hangzhou, fall - Baghdad (destroyed by Mongols).
• Travel Writers: Ibn Battuta's travels and writings.

Environmental Consequences

• Crops: Champa rice in China, led to population growth.
• Diseases: Bubonic plague spread along trade routes, devastating populations.

The Mongol Empire

• Empire Building: Largest land-based empire, replacing powerful empires.
• Networks of Exchange: Silk Roads flourished under Mongol control (Pax Mongolica).
• Cultural and Technological Transfer: Greek and Islamic medical knowledge, adoption of Uighur script.

These notes summarize the key points of the AP World History Unit 2 lecture on networks of exchange, highlighting the main ideas and details that are crucial for understanding the period and its global interactions.