Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks

Although Afro-Eurasia and the Americas remained separate from one another, this era witnessed a deepening and widening of old and new networks of human interaction within and across regions. The results were unprecedented concentrations of wealth and the intensification of cross-cultural exchanges. Innovations in transportation, state policies, and mercantile practices contributed to the expansion and development of commercial networks, which in turn served as conduits for cultural, technological, and biological diffusion within and between various societies. Pastoral or nomadic groups played a key role in creating and sustaining these networks. Expanding networks fostered greater interregional borrowing, while at the same time sustaining regional diversity. The prophet Muhammad promoted Islam, a new major monotheistic religion at the start of this period. It spread quickly through practices of trade, warfare, and diffusion characteristic of this period.

The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods (Ex: silk and cotton textiles, porcelain, spices, slaves, precious metals/gems) was encouraged by significant innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including more sophisticated caravan organization (Ex: caravanserai, camel saddles); use of the compass, astrolabe, and larger ship designs in sea travel; and new forms of credit and monetization (Ex: bills of exchange, credit, checks, banking houses).

Historical Developments

The growth of interregional trade was encouraged by innovations in existing transportation technologies.

Technology that encouraged interregional trade:

• Camel Saddle

• Caravans

Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes, including the trans-Saharan trade network.

The expansion of empires--including Mali in West Africa--facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into the economies and trade networks.

Gold, Salt, and Slaves - West Africa

• introduction of the camel to N. Africa and the Sahara changed commercial life

• camels can go ten days without water

• merchants sought gold, above all else

• Also traded ivory, kola nuts, and slaves were in demand in the Mediterranean basin

• In return people in Sudan received horses, cloth, dates and manufactured goods, especially salt from the Sahara

• eventually helped spread Islam

Bantu Migrations

• Bantu is used as a general label for the 300–600 ethnic groups in Africa who speak Bantu languages, distributed from Cameroon east across Central Africa and Eastern Africa to Southern Africa.

• The migration of Bantu-speaking peoples who facilitated transmission of iron technologies and agricultural techniques in Sub-Saharan Africa