AP World History Unit 2 Overview

Time Period: 1200-1450

• Focus on the connection of states and empires through networks of exchange.
• Networks facilitated not just economic interactions but also cultural diffusion.

Major Networks of Exchange

1. Silk Roads

• Mainly traded luxury goods like Chinese silk and porcelain.
• Expansion due to increased demand for luxury items.
• Innovations:
  • Transportation: Caravanserai provided safety and cultural exchanges.
  • Commercial Practices:
    • Money economies and the flying money system.
    • New forms of credit (bills of exchange).
• Rise of powerful trading cities like Kashgar.

2. Indian Ocean Network

• Maritime trade; expanded significantly during this period.
• Dependent on understanding of monsoon winds.
• Traded both common goods (textiles, spices) and luxury goods.
• Innovations:
  • Technological: Magnetic compass, improved astrolabe, Chinese junk ship designs.
  • Commercial Practices: Similar to Silk Roads, facilitated trade.
• Rise of states like the Swahili city-state, influenced by Muslim merchants.
• Effects: Establishment of diaspora communities, e.g., Arab and Persian in East Africa.

3. Trans-Saharan Trade Network

• Expanded due to innovations like improved camel saddles.
• Led to wealth and power of states such as the Mali Empire.
• Mali grew rich from gold trade and taxation under leaders like Mansa Musa.

Effects of Increased Connectivity

1. Cultural Consequences

• Religion: Spread of belief systems like Buddhism into China via Silk Roads.
• Literary and Artistic Transfers:
  • Translations and commentaries in Baghdad’s House of Wisdom.
  • Basis for the European Renaissance.
• Scientific and Technological Transfers: Spread of gunpowder.
• Rise and Fall of Cities:
  • Rise: Hangzhou, due to its location on the Grand Canal.
  • Fall: Baghdad, due to Mongol invasions.
• Travel Writings: Ibn Battuta’s accounts of travels across Dar al-Islam.

2. Environmental Consequences

• Crop Transfers: Example of Champa rice leading to increased food production and population growth in China.
• Disease Transfers: Bubonic plague spread following trade routes, significantly impacting populations.

The Mongol Empire

• Established the largest land-based empire, replacing states like the Song Dynasty and Abbasid Empire.
• Increased Networks of Exchange: Provided safety and encouraged international trade, known as Pax Mongolica.
• Technological and Cultural Transfers:
  • Medical knowledge exchanges to Western Europe.
  • Adoption of the Uighur script as the language of policy and diplomacy.

Resources

• Consider using the AP World History Heimler Review Guide for further study.

These notes provide a comprehensive overview of the main themes and details from AP World History Unit 2, focusing on the significance of networks of exchange during the period 1200-1450.