Unit 2.3: Consequences of Connectivity & End of the Post-Classical Period

Flashcards reviewing the consequences of connectivity and the end of the Post-Classical Period, covering trade routes, key figures, technological innovations, crises, and the transition to the Early Modern Period.

What were the main trade routes of Afro-Eurasia during the Post-Classical Period?

Silk Roads, Indian Ocean Trade Routes, and Trans-Saharan Trade Route.

Which regions generally produced the most valuable trade goods in the Post-Classical period?

East Asia (porcelain, silk, tea) and Southeast Asia (spices).

How did South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East grow wealthy during the Post-Classical Period?

Charging trade duties on goods passing through their lands.

What resource allowed East Africa and West Africa to participate in Post-Classical trade?

Rich gold mines.

What was Europe's main economic challenge during the Post-Classical Period?

A highly unfavorable balance of trade and a bullion famine due to the outflow of gold and silver.

What is a bullion famine?

A bullion famine is when Europeans did not possess enough gold and silver to mint the commodity money they needed for their expanding economies

Name three travelers from the late Post-Classical Period who left accounts of their journeys.

Margery Kempe, Marco Polo, and Ibn Battuta.

What was Margery Kempe known for?

An English brewer and professional mourner who wrote about her pilgrimages around Europe and the Middle East.

What did Marco Polo identify as the source of lucrative spices sought after by the Europeans?

The island of Java.

How was salt used in the Trans-Saharan trade, according to Ibn Battuta?

As a commodity money equal in value to gold.

From what region did gunpowder and paper originate?

China

What impact did paper have on states during the Post-Classical Period?

Allowed to expand their administrations and bureaucracies, more effectively governing their people and extracting tax revenues from them.

What was Champa rice, and what impact did it have?

A fertile and nutritious variety of rice that spread from Southeast Asia to East Asia, encouraging population growth.

What were some of the crises that destabilized the Post-Classical world?

The Bubonic Plague, decline of the Mongol Ilkhanate, rise and fall of the Timurid Empire, and rise of the Ottoman Empire.

What was the impact of the Bubonic Plague?

Killed a large portion of the population, lead to new opportunities for social change

What was the key negative impact of the Ottoman Empire's rise on European trade?

It cut Europe out from the old Post-Classical Trade Routes.

What was the Great Western Schism?

A period when the Catholic cardinals elected multiple rival Popes simultaneously, damaging papal authority.

What was the significance of the Reconquista?

Marked the end of Islam in Western Europe

What was the Renaissance, and where did it begin?

A period of intellectual exploration in the arts and political theory in Europe, beginning in Italy.

Which marriage created Spain?

The marriage of the Queen of Castile and the King of Aragon.