AP World Unit 2 Complete Guide

2.1: Explain the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200.

Three Main Periods for the Silk Road(s)

The Silk Road: Connections

The most important trade network of the premodern world, the silk road connected East Asia, Central Asia, SW Asia, South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe.

(it carried goods, ideas, technology, religion, and disease)

Bactrian Camel- made the Silk Road work. Capable of carrying heavy loads and managing both the terrain and climate.Had a heavier coat for colder climates.

The African/Arabian Camel- made the trans-Saharan and Arabian trade routes functional.

Notice: There was not just one route on the “silk road”. 

Silk Road: Innovations and Tech

Central Asia: Caravanserai = a way station along a highway. Refresh animals, stay the night, etc.

SW Asia: Banks with branches. Letters of Credit: Merchants could draw a letter of credit at one branch and redeem it for currency at another branch. Called Sakks (Checks).

East Asia: Paper Money

Kashgar and Samark (Important Silk Road Cities)

Cities along the Silk Road(s) that got as big as Kashgar (western China today) and Samarkand (in Uzbekistan today) were usually stop over and transfer. Stop over and transfer meant shelter and relative safety for caravans but also new opportunities for trade and wealth generation for the cities and their rulers. More traffic, more wealth, bigger city!

Decline of the Silk Road

Several factors contributed to the eventual decline of the Silk Road. 

1. Bubonic Plague (14th century) made the the infrastructure of traveling the silk road much less safe.

2. Disintegration of the Mongol Empire: the Mongols had made the Silk Road as safe as it had ever been because they stood to benefit from taxing the route. When that empire fractured, the Silk Road was no longer safe.

3. By the late 1400s, Europeans were attempting to access direct routes to trade goods like spices in South and SW Asia in order to bypass the Arab middlemen who charged high prices. 

4. Atlantic trade was picking up in the 15th century, as well as early traffic across the Atlantic to a “new world”.

2.2 The Mongol Empire and the Modern World

1. Explain the process of state building and decline in Eurasia over time.

2. Explain how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time.

3. Explain the significance of the Mongol Empire in larger patterns of continuity and change

Turkish Nomads (Turkic peoples)

The Turks were a clan based nomadic people living in central Asia. In the 5th and 6th centuries, due to contact with the Umayyad and then the Abbasid Caliphate, Turkish tribes began to convert to Islam.

Contact with settled peoples, knowledge of vast geography and ability to lead/interact with caravan trade assisted nomadic Turkish development.

Nomadic Military Skill: Nomadic peoples were often exceptional horse riders and elite bowmen. Their speed, discipline, ability to skillfully retreat, and lack of infrastructure for their enemies to target, made the nomadic warriors very hard to defeat.

Turkish Influence on Persia

The Seljuk Turks converted to Islam in the late 10th century and migrated to Persia. Living in the Abbasid Caliphate, Seljuk Turks became valued warriors in the Caliphs’ military.

By the mid 11th century the Seljuk Turks had essentially taken control of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Seljuk ruler, Tughril Beg, was declared Sultan (ruler) by the Abbasid Caliph (who, himself was really only a figurehead by that point)

The Seljuk Turks took Baghdad and then Syria, Palestine, and Arabia over the last two centuries of the Abbasid Caliphate before losing their empire to another nomadic people, the Mongols.

Turkish Influence on Byzantium

While one arm of the Seljuk Turks consolidated its hold on the Abbasid Caliphate, another group moved onto the Anatolian Peninsula (modern day Turkey). In 1071, the Turks beat the Byzantines at the battle of Manzikert and essentially took control of the peninsula setting the stage for the slow disintegration of the Byzantine Empire; completed in 1453 with the capture of Constantinople.

Turkish Influence in India

The Ghaznavid Turks began raiding into Northern India in the early 11th century, bringing Islam with them. Over the next two centuries all of Northern India came under Turkish control with the formation of the Delhi Sultanate.

The Mongols

Mongol Background and Chinggis Khan

Like the Turks, the Mongols were tribal and nomadic living on the eastern steppes of Asia.

Temujin, born in 1167, unified the Mongols through a unique combination of conquest, diplomacy and alliance building, and was named Chinggis Khan (universal leader) in 1206.

Mongol Military Strategy 

Short bows: The Mongols employed stiff short bows that riders could shoot on the move, hitting targets up to 650 feet away.

The metal stirrup: basically two pieces of metal (one on each side) connected to the saddle that act as both a footrest and a stability platform from which to stand or twist while riding. Thus the rider could shoot his bow from a moving horse

Lightning fast movement: Mongol riders sometimes travelled 50+ miles in a day and fought a battle.

Psychology: Chinggis’ forces often spared those who gave up without resistance but slaughtered those who resisted.

Mongol Conquest in Northern China

Between 1127 and 1211, what is now northern China had been controlled by the nomadic Jurchen people. The forces of Chinggis Khan had essentially defeated the Jurchen by 1215 (although fighting would continue for two more decades).

The Mongols renamed the Jurchen capital Khanbaliq (city of the Khan) and that city served as the Mongol capital in China throughout the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty.

Chinggis himself moved on to new targets (he was not interested in administration, he was a conqueror).

Mongol Conquest in Southern China

Chinggis Khan’s grandson Khubilai continued to attack into Song China and in 1276 took the Song capital at Hangzhou. In 1279 Khubilai proclaimed himself emperor of all China (called the Yuan Dynasty, pronounced YOO-ahn).

Invasions beyond China: 

Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia failed due to geography. Mongol horse related tactics did not work well in jungle terrain and tropical climates. 

Sea invasions against Java and Japan also failed (Japan was saved by typhoons on more than one occasion leading Japan to believe in kamikaze “divine wind”).

Mongol Invasion of Persia

Even before the invasion of northern China was totally secured, Chinggis was off on what would become the conquest of Persia and the final destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate (now run by the Khwarazm (1077-1231) empire).

The violence in Persia was catastrophic. In 1218, Chinggis Khan attempted to open relations with the Khwarazm, but the Shah could not accept the idea of nomadic horselords being on his level, so he ordered the Khan’s envoys murdered. Chinggis Khan’s retaliation was utterly savage and merciless. His forces shattered the region and probably set it back centuries in the process.

Chinggis Khan died in 1227 leaving the empire he had started to fend for itself.

A Four Way Split

As can happen to large empires when the principal organizing personality dies, the Mongol empire fractured into four parts (compare to Carolingian Empire in Europe):

1. The richest portion was the Chinese piece and this went to the “Great Khans” who were supposed to rule all the Khans (but that didn’t really ever happen). Khubilai Khan (grandson of Chinggis) took over this Khanate. It became the Yuan dynasty of China.

2. The Khanate of Chaghatai, central Asia, was taken by one of Chinggis Khan’s sons.

3. The Khans of the Golden Horde took the north/west central Asian piece extending into Russia.

4. The Ilkhanate was the Persian piece.

Mongol Administration (China and Persia)

Religion: for the most part, the Mongols were tolerant throughout the various khanates, as long as religion was not causing them a problem they let it be (Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam).

In China, the Mongols set themselves apart from (and above) Chinese culture. The Yuan dynasty frequently used foreign talent to help administer their realm. They ended the civil service exam, dismissed Confucianism, and invited other religions into China.

In Persia, the Mongols reserved the top administrative positions for themselves but used Persian talents at almost all levels under them. Eventually, Mongol rulers in Perisa converted to Islam and slowly the Mongols themselves were assimilated into the region.

The Mongols and Eurasian Trade (The Silk Road)

The Mongols made the Silk Road safer than it had probably ever been by unifying control over it. The Mongols were interested in wealth and they facilitated and protected trade along the entire route. 

From the 13th to the 14th century, the Silk Road entered its third phase of prosperity.

Wrapping up the Mongols

Communication and Cultural Transfer in Eurasia versus damage done by conquest.

The entirety of the Mongol Empire (including the four khanates) probably sponsored the safest travel in Eurasian history to that point. They went to great lengths to maintain safety for merchants, diplomats, and religious personnel. 

The road system also benefited the empire (caravanserai, fresh horses and riders, etc) because communication could travel extremely quickly.

The Mongols, Marco Polo, the Silk Road and Europe

(1271) Marco Polo was seventeen when he left Venice, Italy for China with his father and uncle (who had already been there once).  Marco had quite the journey.

He travelled on the Silk Road, protected by the Mongols, and eventually became quite acquainted with the Mongol ruler of China, Khubilai Khan (Grandson of Chinggis Khan).

Khubilai Khan appointed Polo as a diplomat in his court and Polo stayed in China for 24 years.

Upon his return to Italy, Polo was captured and held by the Genoese as a prisoner of war. It was there that he told his story to fellow prisoners, one of which who wrote them down and published them (1295). Certainly not all of Polo’s account is factual, but much of his commentary about the silk road and the trade goods was…created quite a stir within the European merchant community.

Decline of the Khanates: Persia and China

The Ilkhanate really struggled in the late 13th and early 14th century (in part possibly because of the tremendous damage Chinggis Khan had done in conquering the region). In 1335, the last Mongol ruler died without an heir and the khanate collapsed. It would take about 70 years for the region to unify again.

In China, the Yuan Dynasty lasted until 1368 but it was falling apart as early as the 1320s when economic difficulties began. Rebellion also took a toll. Enforced Mongol superiority caused Chinese uprisings.

Bubonic Plague (1330s) emerged in southwestern China and decimated the Yuan Dynasty. The same silk road trade network that had facilitated cultural, religious, idea and material transfer now moved plague. The Europeans would call it the Black Death (arrived in Sicily in 1347).

By 1368, Chinese rebels took Khanbaliq and Mongol rule in China was over.

Decline of the Khanates: Chaghatai and the Golden Horde

The Chaghatai survived until the 18th century and remained a threat to China. It was also the location from which the Turkic-Mongol Conqueror Timur (Tamerlane--Timur the Lame) expanded his empire (1360-1405).

The Golden Horde never really moved into an administrative role preferring to live on the Russian steppes and exact tribute from conquered peoples. In the mid 16th century, the prince of Muscovy took a risk and decided to no longer pay tribute to the Golden Horde. The resulting conflict was a loss for the Mongols and they were pushed out, although they remained a threat into the 18th century.

2.3 Exchange in the Indian Ocean

1. Explain the causes of the growth of networks of exchange after 1200.

2. Explain the effects of the growth of networks of exchange after 1200.

3. Explain the role of environmental factors in the development of networks of exchange in the period from 1200-1450.

Indian Ocean Trade Context

We know there was contact between merchants from India and the Ancient Roman Empire taking Indian Ocean trade into BCE territory.

Between 0 and 1000 CE, improved technology and ship design increased the volume of trade. Ships were more likely to leave the sight of land as tech became more reliable.

Between the 6th and 16th century, the Indian Ocean was probably the most travelled water on Earth with Chinese ships putting in as far west as east African ports.

Indian Ocean Sailing Technology

Compass (direction finder) = China

Lateen Sail (triangle sail, helps with mobility) = Asia/India

Astrolabe (latitude calculations) = Ancient Greece

Knowledge of monsoon wind patterns improved Mapping technology and coastal knowledge improved and diffused.

Sailors and merchants knew that the voyage would require a substantial time commitment because monsoon winds between April and October blew from the south and west and between November and March from the north and east. This meant you would have to probably stay in port for 6 months or so before leaving for home. 

India as Emporium

Due to its location in between East/Southeast Asia and SW Asia/Europe, India became the perfect location to house commercial centers and warehouses of goods.

One could find anything thing in India…all religions, all types of people, races, languages, ideas and trade goods.

Goods from India headed out: high quality cotton textiles, sugar, leather tanning, carpet weaving and Pepper! Everyone wanted pepper.

Coming in from China: silk, porcelain, lacquerware, exotic hardwoods, gunpowder and iron.

Coming in from Southeast Asia: Spices, gems

Coming in from Africa: Gold, ivory, exotic animal skins, shells, enslaved peoples

Coming in from Southwest Asia: Horses, dates, incense, and (everything coming from Africa and Europe)

Emporium  Cities

Cambray, Calicut and Quilon were three key emporium locations that benefited from increased Indian Ocean trade.

An Example of Indian Ocean Trade and State Building in Africa

Swahili means “coaster” in Arabic. The language of Swahili is a combination of native Bantu and Arabic. A language created by Indian Ocean trade and cultural diffusion!

In the 2nd century, east Africans had formed small, complex societies dependent on cattle, agriculture and iron metallurgy.

By the 10th century, the Swahili had largely converted to Islam and dominated the east coast of Africa. They opened trade with central Africa and became the purveyors of gold, slaves and ivory plus animals skins and shells to Indian Ocean traders who traded for glass, pottery and textiles.

By the 11-12th centuries, increased trade had coalesced in convenient places along the coast. These places grew into cities like Mogadishu, Zanzibar, Kilwa and Zimbabwe.

Big exporters of gold to the Middle East and Europe.

Swahili City State: Kilwa

Kilwa, situated about halfway down the southern stretch of east Africa was a location that became increasingly complex as it gained wealth. Multi level stone construction, copper coins used in transactions, large amounts of unearthed Chinese porcelain, all suggest a large volume of trade moving through this site and the inhabitants benefiting greatly.

China: the Ming Dynasty and the Indian Ocean.

The Yuan dynasty (Mongols) was overthrown by what became the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The Ming dynasty was much more restrictive of foreigners in China (a reaction to the fact that the Yuan had been foreign and favored using foreign bureaucrats). Foreign trade was restricted to only two ports: Quanzhou and Guangzhou.

Hard to say, but this change probably hurt China overall.

One of the Most Important Sailors You’ve Never Heard About.

Even as the Ming Dynasty was limiting its own access with foreign trade, it funded seven massive voyages (1405-1433) by Admiral Zheng He. 

Refurbishing the left over Song Navy, the Ming probably had two goals:

(1) Get imperial control of foreign trade coming into China and (2) impress the heck out of everyone in the Indian Ocean basin with Chinese power.

Possibly as many as 317 ships (28,000 troops) including maybe some of the largest ships to ever sail to date. The voyages were astoundingly successful…China projected its power, made contacts, probably sailed as far as the east coast of Africa, and then…

Poof No More Exploring…at all. Anywhere. The End.

Why would the Ming Dynasty pull the plug on their entire Navy? Thoughts include:

Mistrust of Zheng He’s success by other bureaucrats meant plots to discredit him with the emperor(s).

Mongols did reappear as a threat on the northern border of China. Ships were just too expensive. Needed money for the army.

China was still dealing with bubonic plague…no energy for exploring. 

Nevertheless, just as Europe was getting ready to head out in tiny little boats, in much smaller expeditions, which they could barely afford, China ended what was easily the most successful and impressive exploration/military force on the water. The ships rotted away. The charts and data were destroyed (oh my!) and Chinese builders forgot all the shipbuilding tech they had learned as the builders got old and died away.

2.4 Trans-Saharan Trade Routes
1. Explain the causes and effects of the growth of Trans-Saharan trade.

2. Explain how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time.

Major Causes of Trans-Saharan Trade Expansion

Islam: The religion was brought across the Sahara (7th and 8th centuries) by Muslim merchants most likely seeking gold. Because North Africa was becoming Islamic, West African conversion unified and enhanced the trade network across the Sahara and volume picked up.

Gold: It appears the largest source of gold in the world at the time was at the headwaters of the Niger, Gambia, and Senegal rivers. Everyone wants gold. Controlling what everyone wants is a good way to gain power and wealth.

Camel Tech and camels themselves: The camel saddle was invented sometime around 200 CE. Clearly this invention changed the game when it came to trade across the arid regions of southwest Asia and Africa.

Kingdoms of Ghana and Mali

The Kingdom of Ghana (7-8th-13th century)  was the first large western African empire and it gained its power and wealth from the increase in trans-Saharan trade due to Islamic unification in North Africa. The principal trading city for the Kingdom of Ghana was Koumbi-Saleh, and that city’s fortunes were directly tied to trans-Saharan trade.

The Kingdom of Mali took over the Kingdom of Ghana in the early 13th century led by the “Lion Prince” Sundiata. Mali benefited from the increased volume of trade coming across the Sahara and probably taxed and controlled all routes in the region. Upwards of 25,000 camel caravans. Principal city was Timbuktu.

Mansa Musa

Grand nephew of Sundiata, Mansa Musa ruled Mali at its height (r. 1312-1337). 

He is known for his wealth and for his connection to Islam. Mansa Musa underwent the pilgrimage to Mecca taking a massive retinue along. He lavished large amounts of gold on supporters and hosts along the way.

Upon his return he founded many schools and mosques, invited Muslim scholars to teach. Mansa Musa is one of the primary reasons Islam found a permanent home in west Africa.

**The primary driver of the wealth and religious changes in west Africa was trans-Saharan Trade.

2.5 Cultural Consequences of Connectivity

1. Explain the intellectual and cultural effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from 1200-1450.

Cross Cultural Effects of Trade: Religion

Hinduism and Buddhism: (both carried by merchant trade, silk road and Indian Ocean)

Buddhism found traction in China because it offered some similarities to Daoist thinking about the ways of nature. Buddhism and Daoism syncretized with each other to form Zen Buddhism. (silk road)

Neo Confucianism was a fusion of Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. (silk road)

Hinduism did better moving to southeast Asia and in that often came to conflict with Buddhism. (silk road)

Islam spread all over north and west and east Africa. Also into SE Asia and India (all three networks).

Cross Cultural Connections: Culture and Technology

Poetry, songs, and natural science were all transferred to Europe from SW Asia.

Sailing tech: Magnetic compass from China diffused all across the Indian Ocean basin and eventually into the Atlantic.

Stern Post Rudder: Allowed for much better maneuverability and combined with better sail tech, the ability to sail into the wind.

Gunpowder and printing from China.

New crops: citrus fruits, rice and cotton to Africa. Muslim merchants introduced Europeans to refined sugar. 

**note on sugar: the Abbasid Caliphate had been refining sugar for a long time but did not have great climate for it. The Europeans would eventually acquire lots of land for sugar refining in the western hemisphere…but where did they get the idea…?

Cross Cultural Connections: Travelers

Ibn Battuta (1304-1369): travelled extensively throughout Dar al-Islam. Wrote about the places he travelled to and many of those writings survive. Ibn Battuta was quite opinionated about what he saw and wrote freely about many topics.

Marco Polo: We connected with Polo back during the Mongol section. The key here is to connect with the idea of the impact Polo’s account had on Europe. In this case, Polo himself (and his account) is the cross cultural connection.

2.6 Environmental Consequences of Connectivity

1. Explain the environmental effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from 1200-1450.

Agricultural Impacts due to Connectivity

Bananas in Africa

New strains of rice diffusing

Citrus fruits in the Mediterranean

Sugar and Slaves

Epidemic Disease Impacts due to Connectivity

Bubonic Plague is the headliner here.

Probably originated in southwestern China. Mongol campaigns in the region (lots of horses, disruption, etc.) probably encouraged the jump from animals to humans sometime around the early 1330s. By 1347 the plague had spread to the Black Sea port of Caffa and from there it jumped to Sicily and then through all of Western Europe by 1350. 

Population decline as an impact of connectivity: China probably lost 10-20 million people down to 85 million. Europe from approx 79 to 60 million and for SW Asia there are no figures but population recovery took much longer, perhaps into the 19th century.

Population decline mattered:

All groups were affected, all classes, all occupations.

Lots of knowledge was lost. Shortages were common for decades.

In Europe: Manorial life was greatly disrupted. Peasants went looking for higher pay. Nobles lost power and cities gained influence as the plague waned. The Plague helped usher in the Italian Renaissance during 1400s.

In China: it’s possible the Plague influenced one of the more puzzling but far ranging decisions made in world history: The Ming Dynasty’s cancellation of its naval program at its very height.

Note** Could we take something like the Plague and relate it to connectivity regarding Covid 19? If the Mongols were the vector for Bubonic Plague, what was Covid’s initial vector?