Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (1200-1450) Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the major trade networks, cultural exchanges, and environmental consequences of the 1200-1450 period as described in the lecture notes.

Silk Roads

Land-based trade routes stretching from China to Europe and into North Africa that functioned as a conduit for luxury goods like Chinese Silk and cultural exchange.

Caravanserai

Little cities along the Silk Roads where merchants could rest; these locations contributed to the spread of the Black Death because people rested in close proximity to animals with fleas.

Mahayana Buddhism

A version of Buddhism that spread across trade routes where the Buddha became a deity and emphasis was placed on compassionate works and the earning of merit.

Samarkand

A Sogdian city where Buddhists incorporated Zoroastrian fire rituals into their religion, demonstrating syncretism.

Black death/bubonic plague

A disease spread via trade routes between $1346$ and $1351$ that killed nearly half of the European population, with similar results in China and the Islamic World.

Temujin (Genghis/Chinggis Khan)

Born into fractured Mongolian tribes in the $12^{\text{th}}$ century, he united the tribes through alliances and military ruthlessness to create the largest land-based empire in history.

Yuan dynasty

The Mongol-led dynasty in China ($1271-1368$) that unified the country, improved roads and canals, and utilized existing systems of taxation and administration.

Sacking of Baghdad

A brutal Mongol conquest in $1258$ that resulted in the deaths of $200,000$ people.

Monsoon winds

Seasonal wind patterns that societies in the Indian Ocean learned to use to power ships, linking societies from China to East Africa.

Magnetic compass

A maritime innovation used to determine direction, facilitating the growth of Indian Ocean trade.

Astrolabe

A maritime tool used to calculate latitude, assisting navigation along sea-based trade networks.

Chinese Junks

Large flat-bottom ships with square sails and trunks used to carry bulk goods like wheat, sugar, and rice across the Indian Ocean.

Srivijaya Kingdom

A Buddhist empire ($c.600-c.1200$) that controlled trade in Indonesia along key trade routes and cities.

Swahili Civilization

A series of commercial city-states in East Africa that emerged in the $8^{\text{th}}$ century, where Islam became the dominant religion and the language fused Bantu with Arabic.

Arabian Camel

A pack animal whose introduction facilitated trade across the harsh Sahara desert, linking North Africa to the interior of Africa.

Kingdom of Mali

A West African civilization that peaked in the $14^{\text{th}}$ century and generated revenue by taxing the trade of salt and copper.

Neo Confucianism

A moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism that was popular in the Song and Ming Dynasties.

Triangular lateen sail

A maritime technology that allowed sailors to tack into the wind, providing more flexibility in travel.

Stern post rudder

A technological innovation in shipbuilding that allowed for more precision in turning.

Marco Polo

A traveler from Venice who lived in the court of Kublai Khan; his popular written stories spread European interest in Asia and exploration.

Ibn Battuta

A Muslim traveler who journeyed throughout Dar al-Islam, including Mecca, Persia, the East African Coast, India, Mali, and Spain.

Champa rice

A drought-resistant, fast-harvesting crop from Vietnam that spread to China and led to significant population growth.

Terrace farming

The environmental transformation of land where steps are cut into hillsides to plant crops like rice.

Entrepôts

New trading cities that were promoted by the commercial improvements and increased volume of trade within the networks of exchange.