Networks of Exchange 1200 CE - 1450 CE

The Silk Roads

• Expansion: Trade routes expanded, connecting states in Afro-Eurasia due to new trade technology and practices.
• Main Goods: Luxury goods like Chinese silk and porcelain. Increased demand led to increased production (e.g., Chinese farmers shifted from food to luxury goods production).
• Trade Impact: Growth of interregional trade stimulated the production of luxury goods by Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans (iron and steel in China).
• Innovations:
  • Transportation: Caravanserai (inns for merchants, enabling cross-cultural interactions).
  • Commercial practices: Development of a money economy (e.g., paper money, Flying Cash system in China, and banking houses in Europe).
• City Growth: Cities like Kashgar grew due to their strategic location on trade routes.

The Indian Ocean Network

• Monsoon Winds: Predictable wind patterns facilitated trade.
• Innovations:
  • Navigation: Magnetic compass and astrolabe improvements.
  • Ship designs: Chinese junks with large cargo holds.
  • Commercial practices: Use of credit.
• Main Goods: Bulk items (textiles, spices) and luxury goods.
• Cultural Impact:
  • City Growth: Ports became crucial (e.g., Swahili City-States).
  • Cultural Blending: Arab and Persian merchant communities in East Africa led to the spread of Islam and the Swahili language.
  • Zheng He: His voyages for the Ming Dynasty facilitated technological and cultural exchanges.

Trans-Saharan Trade Networks

• Innovations:
  • Camel Saddles: Improved for larger cargo loads.
• City Growth: Mali Empire grew rich from gold trade and taxing routes (e.g., Mansa Musa's influence).
• Cultural Transfers: Spread of Islam and Hinduism into Southeast Asia, Buddhism via Silk Road, and translations of Greek and Roman works in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.

Consequences of Connectivity

• Technological Transfers: Gunpowder spread from China westward.
• Urbanization and Decline: Hangzhou grew; Baghdad declined post-Mongol destruction.
• Notable Travelers:
  • Ibn Battuta: Provided firsthand accounts of different cultures.
  • Marco Polo: Influenced European interest in China.
• Environmental Effects:
  • Champa Rice: Increased population in China.
  • Bubonic Plague: Spread along trade routes, causing significant depopulation.

The Mongol Empire

• Inclusion in Unit 2: Facilitated connections; largest land-based empire.
• Political Impact: Collapse of Song Dynasty and Abbasid Empire; ruled through Khanates.
• Trade Encouragement:
  • Pax Mongolica: Secured Silk Road to encourage trade.
• Cultural and Technological Transfers: Greek and Islamic medical knowledge to Western Europe; adoption of Uyghur script for Mongol language.
• Significance: Expansion facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and significant cultural exchanges.