U2 Networks of exchange c.1200-c.1450

Silk roads

CAUSE

demand for asian goods (silk, gunpowder)

(innovations) to make travel/trade easier (magnetic compass, currency, caravanserai)

EFFECTS

trading cities (Kashgar, Samarkand)

expanded production in asia (textiles, steel)

Mongol empire & modern world

GROWTH OF MONGOL

Genghis Khan → military tactics (cavalry, siege engine)

conquered Song dynasty, Russia (Khanate of Golden Horde), Abbasid caliphate, Persia

CULTURAL DIFFUSION (influence)

islamic science → china

arab numbers → europe

spread of bubonic plague

FACILITATED TRADE (influence)

infrastructure: bridges, roads,

golden age: pax mongolica

growth of silk roads

Exchange in Indian Ocean

Expansion of trade bc demand for goods (cause)

-cotton (india)

-spices (SE Asia)

-slaves (E Africa)

INNOVATION (causes)

-compass

-lateen sail

-knowledge of monsoon winds

CULTURE TRANSFER (effect)

-spread of Islam

-diasporic communities (Arab→E Africa&Chinese→SE Asia)

Trans-Saharan trade routes

EXPANSION OF TRADE

connected Mediterranean towns to W Africa, across to Red Sea

INNOVATION (cause)

-camel saddle

-camel caravans

-oases

-transfer of gold

GROWTH STATES (effects)

-Mali (Timbuktu, Mansa Musa)

-Songhai

-spread of Islam

Cultural consequences of connectivity

TRAVELER’S TALES (intellectual)

-Marco Polo

-Ibn Battuta

DIFFUSION OF CULTURE & TECH (culture)

-Hinduism+Buddhism→Asia

-Islam→W+E Africa & SE Asia

(intellectual) technology (gunpowder paper, lateen sail, compass, rudder)

FATE OF CITIES (culture)

rise: Hangzhou(china), Samarkand(central Asia)

decline: Constantinople

Environmental consequences

DIFFUSION OF CROPS

-champa rice (vietnam→china)

-bananas(indonesia→sub-Saharan Africa)

-sugar+citrus(asia→arabia+euro)

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

-overgrazing

-deforestation

-soil erosion

diffusion of pathogens

-bubonic plague(asia→euro); Black Death