Unit 2 Notes

Networks of Exchange & Interactions Between States

  • Unit 2 focuses on the connections between states during the same time period as Unit 1.
  • Emphasis is on how states are connected through networks of exchange.

Three Trade Networks

  1. Silk Roads

    • Luxury goods, especially silk, were traded for elite markets.
    • Cities along the Silk Roads grew in power, e.g., Kashgar and Samarkand.
    • Innovations facilitated growth:
      • Caravan Surai: Inns and guesthouses for merchants.
      • Animal tech: Development of yokes, saddles, and stirrups.
      • Money Economies: Paper money (started in China) made trade easier.
      • New forms of credit and banking houses.

  2. Indian Ocean Network

    • Most significant sea-based trade network before 1500.
    • Causes for growth:
      • Desire for goods not found at home (Chinese porcelain, Indian cotton/pepper, spices from Southeast Asia).
      • Technological innovations: Lateen sails, magnetic compass, astrolabe, new ship designs like Chinese junks and Arab dhows.
      • Spread of Islam: Created connections among Muslim traders.
    • Growth of cities like Swahili city-states (brokers for goods from the African interior) and the Sultanate of Malacca (controlled the Strait of Malacca).
    • Effects of growth:
      • Establishment of diasporic communities (Arab/Persian in East Africa, Chinese in Southeast Asia) facilitated trade.
      • Cultural and technological transfers.
      • Voyages of Zheng He (Ming dynasty) increased Chinese influence.

  3. Trans-Saharan Trade

    • Connected North Africa/Mediterranean with interior West Africa.
    • Growth factors: Innovations in transportation (Arabian camel and saddles).
    • Effect: Increased interregional trade.
    • Empires like Mali rose due to trade influence.
      • Islam connected Mali commercially to Muslim merchants.
      • Mansa Musa monopolized trade, increasing Mali's wealth.

Cultural Diffusion

  • A major effect of growing trade routes.
  • Religion and Belief Systems:
    • Buddhism spread from India to China via the Silk Road and transformed into Chan Buddhism, then to Japan as Zen Buddhism.
    • Hinduism and Buddhism entered Southeast Asia through trade.
    • Islam spread through Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
      • Swahili language: Blend of Arabic and Bantu facilitated trade.
      • Timbuktu in Mali: International center for Islamic education.
      • Delhi Sultanate: Significant impact of Islam in South Asia.
  • Scientific and Technological Innovations:
    • Champa rice from Vietnam led to population explosion.
  • Rise and Fall of Cities:
    • Rise: Samarkand and Kashgar (Silk Road) - centers of Islamic scholarship.
    • Fall: Baghdad sacked by Mongols, leading to decline.
  • Travels and Travelers:
    • Ibn Battuta: Traveled Dar Al Islam, his travels facilitated by trade routes and interconnectedness.

Environmental Consequences

  • Increasing interconnection led to the spread of crops and diseases.
  • Crops:
    • Bananas in Africa: Introduced via Indian Ocean trade, led to powerful chiefdoms.
    • Champa rice in East Asia: Led to population growth.
  • Diseases:
    • Bubonic Plague (Black Death): Spread due to increasing connectivity.

The Mongols

  • Created the largest land-based empire, facilitating interconnection across Afro-Eurasia.
  • Increased interaction among distant states.
  • Facilitated trade by controlling the Silk Road network.
    • Safety and continuity along trade routes.
  • Increased communication and cooperation across Eurasia.
    • Persian and Chinese courts worked together.
  • Technological and Cultural Transfers:
    • Mongol policy of sending skilled people led to transfer of technology, ideas, and culture.
    • Science and technology: Advances in astronomy made in Ilkhani region of the Mongol Empire.
      • Increased accuracy of calendars and improved tools like the astrolabe facilitated Indian Ocean trade.
      • Prediction of solar and lunar eclipses.