Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks

1. Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks Key Concept 3.1

2. Outline • Main Idea • Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the range of trade networks • Existing trade routes flourished and promoted the growth of powerful new trading cities • New trade routes centering on Mesoamerica and the Andes developed • Growth of trade encouraged by technology • State practices encouraged commercial growth • The movement of peoples caused environmental, linguistic, and religious effects • Expansion of trade depended on environmental and technological knowledge • Some migrations had a significant environmental impact • Some migrations and commercial contacts led to diffusion of languages and religions • Cross-cultural exchanges were fostered by the intensification of trade networks • Diasporic communities • The writing of certain interregional travelers illustrate extent and limitations of intercultural knowledge and understanding • Marco Polo • Ibn Battuta • Diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions • Diffusion of scientific and technological traditions • Diffusion of crops and pathogens throughout the Eastern Hemisphere • Food and agricultural technologies adopted • Spread of epidemic diseases followed the paths of trade and military conquest • The Black Death

3. Main Idea During this time period, the Post-Classical Era, Islam was introduced and spread throughout Asia and Northern Africa. The number of people and amount of goods, ideas, technology, and diseases that crossed Afro-Eurasia increased tremendously compared to the Classical Era, and this had many consequences—intended and unintended.

4. The Dark Ages…was it really so dark? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV7CanyzhZg&list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9

5. International Commerce, Snorkeling Camels, and Indian Ocean Trade • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6XtBLDmPA0&list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9

6. Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the range of trade networks • Existing trade routes flourished and promoted the growth of powerful new trading cities • The Silk Road linked the Ruasian land mass • Trans-Saharan trade connected West Africa to other parts of the Muslim world and beyond • The Indian Ocean linked China, Southeast Asia, india, Arabia, and East Africa • The Mediterranean Sea linked Europe with the goods from the Muslim world and Asia • Cities along these routes grew substantially • Some other factors are increased agricultural productivity, increased trade, and slightly warmer global temperatures • Djenne, Timbuktu, Gao (West Africa) • Byzantium, Novgorod, Venice (Europe) • Baghdad, Tyre, Hormuz (Southwest Asia) • Samarkand and Bukhara (Central Asia • Dunhuang, Chang’an, Hangzhou, Guangzhou (East Asia) • Zanzibar, Kilwa (East Africa) • Calicut, Goa (South Asia) • Melaka (Southeast Asia)

7. New trade routes centering on Mesoamerica and the Andes developed • Tihuanaco (southern Andes) and Huari (northern Andes) • Their reign ended sometimes in the ninth century, causing another round of regional cultures (Chimu on the east coast) • Contact between Mesoamerica and Andes led to parallels in cultural development and complex political systems • Intermediate cultures in Central America • Peruvians used metallurgy more fully • Llamas in the Andes allowed pastoralism • The Maya had a system of writing

8. Growth of trade encouraged by technology • Luxury and everyday items were exchanged • Silk still a high priced commodity • Porcelain, spices, precious metals and gems, slaves, exotic animals • Overland trade carried luxury goods and sea lanes were used for bulkier goods • Items were traded more efficiently with new technology: • Caravan organization • Compass • Astrolabe • Larger ship designs • Credit and monetization

9. State practices encourage commercial growth • China: • Tang(618-907) and Song(960-1279) dynasties provided security and supported trade by land and sea • Did not interfere in Indian Ocean trade • Flying money • Grand Canal Project • Links China’s major rivers in a north-south fashion and allows good to move more easily from interior to exterior • Still used today • Byzantine Empire provided protection for trade routes in Mediterranean • Muslim caliphates and Mongol emperors kept trade routes open

10. The movement of people caused environmental, linguistic, and religious effects. • Expansion of trade depended on environmental and technological knowledge • Deforestation, erosion, and flooding • The Vikings of northern Europe (Scandinavia) • Domestication of camels in Southwest Asia • Mongols of Central Asia and horsemanship • Some migrations had a significant environmental impact • 1500 BCE to 1000 CE, Bantu speakers in Central Africa migrated east and south into forested regions • Agricultural knowledge, animal herding, metal-working • Polynesian peoples cultivated transplanted foods and domesticated animals to knew islands

11. Some migrations led to the diffusion of languages… • Norsemen influenced English and French language development. • Bantu-based languages prominent in Southern and Eastern Africa • Swahili • Latin-based languages diffused across western Europe • Arabic spread across North Africa

12. …and religion.

13. Cross-cultural exchanges were fostered by the intensification of trade networks • Diasporiccommunities • Jews and Christians in major trade cities • Muslim communities in major trade cities • Sogdian merchants from Persia traveled Silk Roads • Translation of religious texts • Chinese merchants across Indian Ocean All of these people were moving to earn money! Cooperative governments aided these merchants.

14. The writing of certain interregional travelers illustrate extent and limitations of intercultural knowledge and understanding • Marco Polo • Traveled throughout the Mongol empire in the 1200s and recorded his findings. • Wrote The Travels (sometimes known as A Description of the World) • Ibn Battuta • Early 1300s traveled through Dar-al Islam for 30 years and wrote detailed journals • Other travelers include Mansa Musa and Xuanzang

15. Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvnU0v6hcUo&list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9

16. Diffusion of… …literary, artistic, and cultural traditions scientific and technological traditions • Musical instruments • Hindu and Buddhist sculptures and temples • From China: paper-making, printing, compass, gunpowder, cannons • From India: mathematical concepts • Muslim scholars preserved libraries of Greek literature and science • Europeans sparked new interest in classical past

17. Diffusion of crops and pathogens throughout the Eastern Hemisphere • Food and agricultural technologies adopted • From India: sugar and cotton • From Vietnam: new types of rice • Bananas introduced in Africa • Spread of citrus fruits • Spread of epidemic diseases followed the paths of trade and military conquest • The Black Death