By far one of the most important effects of the increasing connectivity among states during the period 1200 to 1450 was the exchange of ideas and cultural traits, which is what we call cultural diffusion. Every one of these states was connected into a larger network of exchange, and in that way what one did affected the rest. And that's what this unit is all about, baby! Connections! So if you're ready to get them brain cows milked...
Let's get to it. So as merchants spread throughout the world hawking their wares, they also brought their culture and technology with them which had an influence on the places where they arrived. And on the other side, the culture and technology of the places where the merchants traveled also had an effect on them.
And you're going to need to know three categories of these kinds of transfers. Oh, and by the way, if you want note guides to follow along with this video, check the link below. Okay, first, there were significant cultural transfers along trading routes, and perhaps nothing is more important under this heading than the spread of belief systems.
For example, Buddhism spread from India to East Asia via the Silk Roads around the 2nd century CE. And as it took root among the Chinese, for example, Buddhism also changed over time. What I mean is, in order to make Buddhist teachings intelligible to the Chinese population, merchants and monks explained them in terms of Chinese Daoism, which was a belief system indigenous to China. And the result was a new blending of ideas, which is what we call syncretism, that resulted in a distinctly Chinese form of Buddhism known as Chan Buddhism, which became popular among Chinese people of lower classes.
And then later Buddhism was exported to Japan where it was was changed again and became known as Zen Buddhism. And if you've been with me through Unit 2, you'll know that the spread of Islam was a massive deal as well. Don't forget that Islam was exceedingly supportive of merchant activity, and that the spatial arrangement of Dar al-Islam meant that Muslim merchants had plenty of places they could go to sell their goods.
And it was the possibility of inclusion into that giant Islamic network of exchange that encouraged leaders in various states across Africa and Southeast Asia to convert. For example, the Swahili civilization on Africa's east coast was a series of independent city states that grew powerful through trade. That was one significant reason they were were able to do that is because they adopted Islam and got all connected into the larger Islamic networks.
In fact, you can see the influence in their language, namely Swahili, which is a blend of Bantu, which is indigenous to southern Africa, and Arabic, which came in with the Muslim traders. Okay, second, there were significant literary and artistic transfers across networks of exchange as well. Recall that Muslim scholars translated and commented upon classical works of Greek and Roman philosophy at Baghdad's House of Wisdom.
And eventually those works would be transferred to southern Europe, where they would spark the Renaissance near the end of this period. And then third, scientific and technological innovations were transferred across trade networks as well. For example, Chinese paper-making technology spread to Europe by the 13th century along with movable type, which was adopted by Europeans. and led to an increase in literacy.
And perhaps even more significant was the spread of gunpowder from China, thanks to our friends the Mongols. It was adapted by Islamic empires and later European states, who would perfect the use of this material to blow up everyone's crap, and as we'll see in the next unit, that development fundamentally altered the balance of power throughout the world. And now let's consider the consequences of connectivity on the rise and fall of cities during this period.
On the rising side of the equation, networks of exchange led to the increasing wealth and power of trading cities. Oh, you want some examples? I got two for you.
First was Hangzhou in China. It was situated at the southern end of the Grand Canal, that prodigious artery of Chinese trade and therefore became one of China's most significant trading cities. And the increasing amount of trade led to further urbanization of the landscape and the population.
Second, and this is a two for one deal, you've got Samarkand and Kashgar. Because these cities were located along strategic routes on the Silk Roads, the cities grew in power and influence by facilitating trade along them. And for all these cities, the expansion of trading networks only increased their influence and that resulted in an increase in productivity in those places.
But there were some cities that did not do so well as connections were increasing because not only did merchants use these routes, but so did militaries with an appetite to conquer stuff. And here are two examples of the decline of cities. First was Baghdad, that flowering capital of Islamic and cultural artistic achievement.
But as it turned out, the Mongols rose to power in the 13th century and sacked Baghdad in 1258, which led to a significant decline for the city, and, kind of like a bonus, it brought the Abbasid Empire to an end as well. And it was kind of a similar story over in Constantinople, which was the political and religious capital of the Byzantine Empire. With the rise of the Islamic Ottoman Empire and their itch to expand, the Ottomans went ahead and sacked Constantinople in 1453 and renamed it Istanbul.
But that's enough sacking for one video. Let's finish up by talking about how networks of exchange facilitated interregional travel, and this was made possible by the increasing safety and security of these routes. Thanks Mongols!
And I reckon I'll introduce you to three of these travelers. First was our boy Ibn Battuta, who was a young Muslim scholar from Morocco who, over the course of about 30 years, traveled all over Dar al-Islam and wrote detailed notes about the places he visited, the people and rulers he met, and the cultures that hosted him. And his travels were made possible because of trade routes.
Batuta sailed on merchant ships down the east coast of Africa, he wrote on camels in merchant caravans across the Sahara Desert, etc. And his travels were important because he wrote about them and he told grand stories of the places that he visited which helped his readers develop an understanding of far-flung cultures across the world. Similarly, the European Marco Polo traveled from Italy to China and all throughout the Indian Ocean as well. He wrote about his experiences in the Chinese court of Kublai Khan and the grandeur and the wealth of China as well.
And his writing seemed almost fantastical to his European audience, but later travelers made similar journeys and confirmed Polo's observations. And third, there was Marjorie Kemp. And she was a Christian mystic who made pilgrimage to Christianity's most holy sites in Jerusalem and Rome, and Spain, etc. And though she was illiterate, she had a marvelous memory and dictated her observations about her travels to others who wrote them down for her. And while her writing emphasized her own spiritual journey and the places she visited, her observations still provided invaluable insights for the cultural variations of how Christianity was practiced across different cultures of Europe and the Middle East.
Alright, click here to keep watching my other Unit 2 videos, and click here to grab my video note guides that go along with all my videos. If you don't like reading your textbook but you still want an A in your class, then these sweet bippies are for you. Now I'll catch you on the flip-flop.
Heimler out.