Unit 2- Notes

Networks of Exchange (1200-1450)

Overview

  • States were connected through networks of exchange, facilitating economic interaction and cultural diffusion.

  • Major networks: Silk Roads, Indian Ocean Network, Trans-Saharan Trade.

General Developments

  • Geographical range of networks expanded.

  • Innovations in commercial practices and technology.

  • States grew wealthy and powerful.

  • Rise and collapse of states and cities.

Silk Road

  • Stretched across Eurasia, trading mainly luxury goods such as Chinese silk and porcelain.

  • Expansion reflected growing demand for luxury items; increased production by Chinese, Indian, and Persian artisans.

  • Innovations:

    • Caravan Serai: Inns and guesthouses facilitated trade and cultural exchange.

    • Money Economy: Paper money, first developed in China, facilitated exchange.

    • Flying Money System: Chinese system for depositing and withdrawing money.

    • Credit: Banking houses and bills of exchange.

  • Kashgar: A powerful trading city located at the convergence of major Silk Road routes.

Indian Ocean Network

  • Facilitated by understanding monsoon winds.

  • Traded common goods like textiles and spices, plus luxury goods.

  • Technological Innovations:

    • Improved magnetic compass.

    • Improved astrolabe.

    • New ship designs like the Chinese junk.

  • Commercial Practices:

    • Forms of credit like those on the Silk Roads.

  • Swahili City States: Grew in power and wealth as brokers for goods from the African interior.

  • Diasporic Communities: Arab and Persian communities in East Africa led to cultural intermingling and spread of Islam, and emergence of Swahili language.

  • Zheng He: Ming Dynasty sent him to integrate states into China's tributary system, spreading Chinese maritime technology.

Trans-Saharan Trade Network

  • Expanded due to innovations in transportation technology, especially the improved camel saddle.

  • Mali Empire: Leadership converted to Islam, growing rich through gold trade and taxing merchants. Mansa Musa further monopolized trade, increasing Mali's wealth.

Consequences of Connectivity

  • Cultural: Transfer of religion (Buddhism into China), literary and artistic transfers, scientific and technological innovation (gunpowder).

  • Rise and Fall of Cities: Hangzhou prospered due to trade, while Baghdad was destroyed by Mongol armies.

  • Travelers: Ibn Battuta wrote detailed accounts of his travels throughout Dar al-Islam.

  • Environmental: Transfer of crops (Champa rice) and diseases (bubonic plague).

Mongol Empire

  • Largest land-based empire, replacing powerful empires across Eurasia.

  • Networks of exchange increased significantly under Mongol rule.

  • Pax Mongolica: Mongols encouraged international trade and increased safety along trade routes.

  • Facilitated technological and cultural transfer: Greek and Islamic knowledge to Europe, adoption of the Uighur script.