Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (1200-1450)

This unit focuses on how states are connected during the same time period as Unit 1.
Emphasis is on networks of exchange, examining how states are interconnected.

Luxury goods, especially silk, were traded, primarily for elite markets.
Cities along the Silk Roads grew in power due to their importance in facilitating trade. Examples include:
- Kashgar
- Samarkand
Growth was facilitated by innovations in transportation and commercial technologies.
- Transportation Innovations:
  - Caravan Serai: Inns and guesthouses along the roads for merchants to rest and stay safe.
  - Animal Technology: Development of yokes, saddles, and stirrups made travel more comfortable.
- Commercial Technologies:
  - Money Economies: Started in China with paper money, which was lighter than silver and gold, facilitating trade.
  - New Forms of Credit: Based on a Chinese model, with European states innovating by introducing banking houses.

Until about 1500, it was the world's most significant sea-based trade network.
Causes of Growth:
- Desire for goods not found at home, e.g., Chinese porcelain, Indian cotton and peppers, spices from Southeast Asia.
- Technological innovations like:
  - Lateen sails.
  - Magnetic compass.
  - Astrolabe.
  - New ship designs like Chinese junks and Arab dhows.
- Spread of Islam: Created connections and friendly relations among Muslim traders across Afro-Eurasia.
Growth of cities strategically located along the network, similar to Samarkand and Kashgar along the Silk Road.
- Swahili City-States: Acted as brokers for goods from the African interior (gold, ivory, enslaved people), selling to merchants and growing wealthy.
- Sultanate of Malacca: Controlled the Strait of Malacca, growing wealthy due to trade.
Effects of Growth:
- Establishment of diasporic communities:
  - Settlements created by people living apart from their homeland.
  - Examples include Arab and Persian communities in East Africa and Chinese communities in Southeast Asia.
  - These communities facilitated trade by making necessary connections.
- Cultural and technological transfers:
  - Voyages of Zheng He during the Ming Dynasty: Aimed to enroll distant places in the Chinese tribute system, increasing China's power and influence over the Indian Ocean trade.

Connected North Africa and the Mediterranean with the interior of West Africa.
Growth was driven by innovations in transportation technologies, strategic positioning, etc.
Transportation Technology:
- Introduction of the Arabian camel and saddles to ride on them, increasing interregional trade and expanding the geographical range of existing trade routes.
New empires rose in Africa by the 12th century, spurred on by trade. Significantly, The Empire of Mali.
Islam was introduced to Mali in the 9th century and connected them commercially to Muslim merchants across Afro-Eurasia (1200-1450).
Mansa Musa: The most powerful and influential ruler in Mali.
- Expanded Mali's power and monopolized trade, increasing the wealth of Mali and facilitating the growth of existing trade networks.

A major effect of the growth of trading routes.
Religion and Belief Systems:
- Buddhism entered China from India via the Silk Road, changing into Chan Buddhism. Later, it was exported to Japan, becoming Zen Buddhism and undergoing further changes.
- Hinduism and Buddhism also entered Southeast Asia through trade, influencing states like Srivijaya and Majapahit.
- Islam spread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia through trade and conquest.
  - Swahili: A blend of Arabic and Bantu languages, facilitated trade.
  - Timbuktu in Mali: Became an international center for Islamic education.
  - Delhi Sultanate: Islam made a significant impact in South Asia with the arrival of the Delhi Sultanate.
Scientific and Technological Innovations:
- Champa rice from Vietnam led to population explosion due to increased food supply.
Rise and Fall of Cities:
- Samarkand and Kashgar: Centers of Islamic scholarship and cultural flourishing due to their position along the Silk Road routes.
- Baghdad: Sacked by the Mongols in December, leading to a significant period of decline for the once vigorous city.
Travels and Travelers:
- Ibn Battuta: A young Muslim scholar from Morocco who traveled all over Dar al-Islam and wrote detailed notes about the places he visited, the people and the rulers he met, and, you know, the cultures that hosted him. His travels were made possible because of those trade routes and because of the interconnectedness of the world.

Increasing interconnection facilitated by trading routes led to significant environmental consequences.
Spread of crops and diseases along trade routes.
- Crops:
  - Bananas in Africa, originally from Southeast Asia. Their introduction led to the rise of powerful chiefdoms and larger kingdoms.
  - Champa rice in East Asia.
- Diseases:
  - Bubonic plague (Black Death) spread because of increasing connectivity.

Created the largest land-based empire in history, facilitating further interconnection and interaction across Afro-Eurasia.
Most important thing to remember about the Mongols is to understand how they created the condition for increased interaction among distant states and the cultural and technological transfers that came as a result of that.
Facilitated trade by controlling the entirety of the Silk Road Network.
- The Silk Road network actually traditionally works best when large empires control their routes because they could provide safety and continuity along the roads.
- No better example of that than the Mongol Empire.
Led to an unprecedented increase in communication and cooperation across Eurasia by sending skilled artisans back and forth and exchanging ambassadors and sharing military intelligence.
Technological and cultural transfers occurred because of the Mongol policy to send skilled people to various parts of the empire.
- Science and technology: The authorities in the Ilkhanate region of the former Mongol Empire made significant advances in astronomy, and, astronomical tools. For example, they increased the accuracy of calendars. They improved tools like the astrolabe, which then helped further facilitate more growth in Indian ocean trade and that sort of thing.
- They were able to predict solar and lunar eclipses with great accuracy.