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Agrarian Civilizations did not exist in isolation
- joined up to form larger structures
- linked different civilizations
- allowed for collective learning to go further
- embraced more people and diversity
agrarian civilization links
- linked through a vast interconnected network
- trading material goods
- also traded social, religious and philosophical ideas
- languages, new technologies, and disease were also passed around
- smaller than silk roads, but still important connections
not all connections based on trade: warfare
- conflict was a powerful way of connecting civilizations
- warfare connected different civilizations
small exchanges expanding bc of the silk roads
- silk roads allowed the small exchanges to expand greatly
- civilizations like mesopotamia, egypt, and the indus valley were all involved in commercial relationships
the first major silk roads trade period
- between 50 bce and 250 ce
- trade took place between chinese, indian, kushan, irainian, steppe-nomadic, and mediteranean cultures
- nonmaterial exchanges between cultures have greatly impacted them
second major silk roads trade period
- 700-1200 ce
- chinese, asian, southeast asians, islamic realm, and the mediteranean cultures participated in a busy over-land and maritime trade
- nonmaterial exchange between the cultures have greatly advanced them
large scale exchanges
- only possible after small agrarian civilizations have settled into huge and powerful empires
- four ruling dynasties during the time: roman, parthian, kushan, and han empires
landmass control
- roman, parthian, kushan, and han empires controlled most of the eurasian landmass
- from the china sea to the atlantic ocean
- this caused great road networks to be constructed
- as a result, advances were made in metallurgy, transport technology, and agricultural productions
pastoral nomads
- the main groups that were the mostr powerful were the scythians, the xiongnu, and the yuezhi
- the ability of these nomads to thrive in the harsh environment of inner asia helped link the different civilizations
- travelers depended on these people and their survival knowledge to get through the roads
han china engages in long distance commerce
- turned small scale reigonal trade into a great trans-afro-eurasian exchange
- in rome, there was a demand for foriegn luxury goods (for example silk)
- this lead to a huge expansion and lanf based and maritime trade routes
chinese demand products
- exceptional demand in rome
- chinese carefully guarded the secret of the silk
- searched merchants heading out of the country for silkworms
- romans also prized han iron for its exceptional hardness
bulk of trade was carried on animals
- silk roads stretched from chang'an (capital of han) to the mediteranean
- camels were common in transport because of their abilities to thrive in the environment
- they were incredibly well adapted
silk roads disuse
- third century CE
- chinese and romans empires withdrew from the network
- disease was spread because of the network
- population of both empires dropped
silk roads revival
- since the roman and the han empires were facing internal challenges (other than disease) the political structure was not conducive to use a large scale commercial exchange
- this meant the bigger empires could reign the silk roads for trade like india and the emergence of the tang dynasty
sik roads spread
- the silks roads allowed the cultures of different civilzations to develop and evolve based on encounters at the silk roads
- people learned a lot about other civilizations and brought their knowledge back home
- this allowed for an underlying unity expressed in techonology, cultures, art styles, religions, and even disease immunity patterns
