Studied by 2 people
Bubonic Plague
Def: plague that killed a 1/3 - 1/2 of the population of Europe in the middle ages but also significantly affected Afro-Eurasia with mass deaths at various times over two thousand years
Sig: most significant disease to spread through trade routes until the 20th century; known as the Black Death in Europe after it weakened Europe socially and economically and spelled the end of serfdom in Western Europe
The Crusades (1095-1291)
Def: a series of 5 holy wars declared by the Catholic Pope in which Crusaders (warriors wearing crosses) fought to take back the Holy Land (Palestine and Jerusalem) from the Muslims
Sig: along with transfer of Greco-Islamic medical knowledge, luxurious eastern goods and technology diffused to Europe, generating a pressing need for Europeans to find a way to trade directly with the East instead of going through Muslim intermediaries
Gunpowder
Def: Chinese invention of explosive powder that was in use during the Tang dynasty but utilized as a weapon by the Song
Sig: reached Europe by 1258 in large part due to the Mongols; ultimately played a key role in European conquest of the Americas
Indian Ocean Trade Network
Def: with the benefit of the monsoon winds, this boasted the largest volume of goods traded (esp. bulk items) amongst the largest number of people, with the interaction of the most diverse selection of cultures
Sig: this trade route was not controlled by any particular state or empire and open to all for participation until the Europeans arrived
The Silk Roads
Def: the world's most extensive network of land exchange until the 15-16th century, which brought great wealth and power to those who controlled it
Sig: facilitated the exchange of goods, ideas and disease across long distances and it promoted the growth of powerful new trading cities.
Trans-Saharan Trade Networks
Def: rose in prominence when the camel was introduced from Arabia, on which salt, gold, slaves and ivory from the south were exchanged for cloth, horses, olives and manufactured goods from the north
Sig: connected the wealth of sub-Saharan Africa with Eurasia and facilitated the spread of Islam into Africa
Chinggis Khan
Def: founder of the Mongol empire and quintessential nomadic steppe warrior/military genius; name means "universal ruler"
Sig: united thousands of fractious tribes and clans across Eurasia to create a single confederation in 1206 that overran China, Persia, Abbasid Caliphate, Russia and parts of Eastern Europe over the next few decades
Ibn Battuta
Def: 14th century Muslim scholar and traveler from Morocco (North Africa) who traversed all of the Dar al Islam (from West Africa to India) on the trade routes; most celebrated Muslim traveler of the postclassical world
Sig: he promoted the proper observance of Islam wherever he went, such as modesty of dress in West Africa and the islands of SE Asia; was highly critical of the syncretic nature of Islam in places like India and West Africa
Junks
Def: oceangoing ships built in China during the Song Dynasty (capacity: 2700+ people) that utilized a magnetic compass, stern-mounted rudder, and gunpowder-propelled rockets
Sig: helped to intensify and advance Chinese trade and tributary relationships further afield
Khubilai Khan
Def: grandson of (and greatest successor to) Chingghis Khan and overlord of all the Khannates across Eurasia; Yuan emperor in China who improved infrastructure, lowered taxes, promoted culture (including Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism), and supported peasant agriculture
Sig: completed the conquest of all of China, thus reuniting it for the first time since the Tang Dynasty; established what has become the modern capital of Beijing
Marco Polo
Def: Italian merchant who traveled from Italy to China during Mongol rule and stayed at the court of Yuan emperor Kublai Khan for years; stories of his travels on the Silk Roads and the Indian Ocean Trade Network were accumulated in a book and rapidly circulated throughout Europe
Sig: introduced readers to the rich world of the Chinese and their customs, advanced technologies and luxury products; inspired Columbus and others to find a passage to the East
Sacking of Baghdad (1258)
Def: destroyed by the Mongols with the massacre of more than 200,000 people
Sig: marked the final end of the crumbling Islamic Abbasid caliphate
Timbuktu
Def: located near the Niger River and one of the wealthiest cities in West Africa due to its location in the Trans-Saharan trade routes
Sig: with the conversion of the Mali emperor to Islam in the mid-1330s, it became a leading cultural, intellectual, and religious center in Africa; declined with the increase in European trading posts along the coast of West Africa
Caravanserai
Def: inn or rest station for merchants traveling alone or caravans
Sig: allowed merchants of luxury goods to travel for trade more extensively, because of the added security of a place to rest, which allowed for the growth of inter-regional trade
Bills of Exchange
Def: a written order to a person requiring the person to make a specified payment to the signatory or to a named payee; a promissory note
Sig: allowed for the growth of interregional trade by providing buyers and sellers over long distances with assurance that they would be paid for their investments
Banking Houses
Def: before this time period, there weren't many places to store money or exchange foreign currencies until the emergence of this commercial technology that allowed the lending of money, use of checks, and also let people store their money for safety
Sig: played a big role in increasing Islamic and European trade, including luxury goods
Samarkand
Def: one of the most influential cities and trading centers on the Silk Roads and a cultural center for Islam in central Asia
Sig: its growth was an effect of increased volume of trade, wealth and security on the Silk Roads
Mongol Khanates
Def: New imperial states that arose after Genghis Khan and his descendants brought about the demise of existing post-classical empires; these became the Khanates of Chaghati, Golden Horde, the Great Khan and Il-khanate of Persia.
Sig: They drew in new peoples into their economies and trade networks and guaranteed a time of peace and security, allowing Silk Roads trading to reach its peak
Compass and Astrolabe
DEF: instruments that allowed travelers to determine direction and latitude, respectively
Sig: innovations that significantly increased trade of both luxury and mass market products on the Indian Ocean
Zheng He
Def: Muslim eunuch and Chinese admiral who commanded an extensive naval fleet of junks on seven exploratory voyages as far as Eastern Africa to establish tributary relationships between 1405 and 1433 (during the Ming dynasty)
Sig: demonstrated China's ability to be a military, political, and economic power in the Indian Ocean
Diasporic Communities
DEF: merchant communities on the Indian Ocean that introduced their own cultures into local cultures and were themselves influenced by local cultures
SIG: a significant effect of the growth of the Indian Ocean Trade Network, that saw the spread of Islam to east Africa and Southeast Asia, and Buddhism from India to Southeast Asia, as well as Chinese merchants to Southeast Asia, leading to the emergence of syncretic cultures in these places
Monsoon Winds
Def: The seasonal wind of the Indian Ocean and southern Asia, blowing from the southwest in summer and from the northeast in winter (aka rainy season).
Sig: advanced environmental knowledge of phenomenons such as these allowed for expanded trade on the Indian Ocean
Camel Saddle
Def: An invention which gives camel riders more stability on the animal and its invention and basic idea traveled along the Trans-Saharan Caravan Trade Route
SIG: allowed for trade to extend into Africa from Asia by making it possible for traders to comfortably travel over the dry Sahara desert for long periods of time
Mali Empire
DEF: The kingdom in West Africa that followed the Kingdom of Ghana
SIG: its wealth was also based on trans-Saharan trade; it also encouraged the spread of Islam brought into Africa by merchants and adopted by the elite and upper class people
Bananas in Africa
DEF: brought into Madagascar (and from there the rest of Africa) by the Malays of southeast Asia
Sig: this helped increase the population of Africa to 17 million due to its nutritional value; this diffusion was a result of the Malays traveling on the Indian Ocean Trade routes
Sultanate of Melacca
DEF: a small fishing village that eventually became a kingdom after the arrival of a Hindu prince from nearby Srivijaya
Sig: it controlled the Malaccan straits and in essence the sea trade route between India and China, which allowed it to become very rich and experience a Golden Age
Swahili City-States of East Africa
DEF: with the arrival of Arab merchants, the Africans in this area began to trade on the Indian Ocean trade network
Sig: Indian Ocean trade allowed for the flourishing of these states while also helping to create a syncretic culture combining Arabic and Bantu
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