Connections and Interactions in the Americas and Beyond (1200-1450)

Enduring Legacy of the Crusades and the Rise of the Ottoman Empire

  • European transfer of the plantation system reliant on unfree and enslaved labor to the Americas originated in earlier Crusader context, resulting in incalculable long-term historical consequences.

  • Flow of intellectual knowledge: Muslim scholarship, alongside ancient Greek learning incorporated within it, entered Europe primarily via Spain and Sicily.

  • Completion of the Christian conquest of Muslim Spain (Reconquista) by 1492 C.E.1492\,\text{C.E.} was conceptualized in European thought as Crusader work.

  • Contrast in permanence: Unlike the transient two-century Crusader presence in the Middle East, Muslim Spain was integrated permanently into Christendom.

  • Ideological continuation: European imperial expansion into the Western Hemisphere maintained the crusading ethos of "God wills it," embedding the Americas within the Christian sphere.

  • Modern resonance: Over the past two centuries, during geopolitical interactions between the Christian West and Islam, both sides have repeatedly deployed images of the Crusades for political popularity and ideological mobilization.

  • Emergence of the Turkish Ottoman Empire around 1300 C.E.1300\,\text{C.E.} marked a major shift in Christian-Islamic interactions.

  • Ottomans systematically conquered remaining territories of the Byzantine Empire, culminating in the capture of Constantinople in 1453 C.E.1453\,\text{C.E.} and sending large numbers of Turkic Muslims to settle in the Byzantine heartland of Anatolia.

  • Ottoman military forces seized much of southeastern Europe and laid siege to Vienna in Central Europe in 1529 C.E.1529\,\text{C.E.}

  • From a European viewpoint, Ottoman expansion represented both a political/military and a religious existential threat.

  • Expressed in literature by English playwright Christopher Marlowe in 1587 C.E.1587\,\text{C.E.}: "Now shalt thou feel the force of Turkish arms, which lately made all Europe quake for fear."

Characteristics and Limitations of Trade Networks in the Americas

  • Prior to the voyages of Columbus, the pre-Columbian Americas developed independently from Afro-Eurasian trade systems.

  • Interconnections across American civilizations were far less densely woven and possessed no equivalent to the expansive, long-distance commercial arteries of the Silk, Sea, or Sand roads.

  • Absence of widespread cultural traditions (such as Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam in Afro-Eurasia) to culturally integrate geographically distant populations.

  • Lack of direct contact: Major contemporary fifteenth-century civilizations like the Mayas and Incas had little to no direct interaction with one another.

  • Absence of key crop and cultural diffusion:

    • The potato, domesticated in the Andes, never reached Mesoamerica.

    • The Maya writing system was never adopted by Andean civilizations.

  • Absence of key draft animals and transport technologies: Lack of horses, donkeys, camels, wheeled vehicles, and large oceangoing vessels severely hindered physical travel and heavy cargo transport.

  • Geographic bottlenecks: The narrow Isthmus of Panama, covered in dense rainforests, acted as a major barrier inhibiting direct contact between South America and North America.

  • Environmental orientation: The predominantly North/South axis of the Americas required crops and agricultural methods to adapt across drastically different climatic and vegetation zones, significantly slowing agricultural diffusion compared to Eurasia's East/West axis.

The American Web and Cultural Diffusion

  • Scholars characterize pre-Columbian interactions as a "loosely interactive web" spanning from the North American Great Lakes and upper Mississippi region south to the Andes Mountains.

  • Movement across this web occurred through gradual crop diffusion, shared architectural conventions, pottery styles, and cultural practices rather than direct high-volume merchant trade.

  • Spread of maize: Originating in Mesoamerica, maize gradually diffused north to the Southwestern United States and Eastern North America, as well as south into the South American continent.

  • Rubber ball game: Played on specialized outdoor courts, leaving physical traces across Mexico, the Caribbean, and northern South America.

  • Widespread ceramic styles and architectural features indicating indirect long-distance exchange across regional networks.

Major Commercial Nodes of the Pre-Columbian Americas

  • Cahokia and the Mississippi River Valley Network (1100–1350 C.E.1100\text{--}1350\,\text{C.E.}

    • A prominent North American chiefdom located near present-day St. Louis served as the center of a widespread trading network.

    • Transport relied on sturdy dugout canoes plying the rivers of the eastern woodlands.

    • Network brought diverse regional materials to Cahokia:

    • Shells from the Atlantic coast.

    • Copper from the Lake Superior region.

    • Buffalo hides from the Great Plains.

    • Obsidian from the Rocky Mountains.

    • Mica from the southern Appalachian Mountains.

    • Urban size and architectural features:

    • Focal point was a massive four-tiered terraced pyramid measuring 1,000 feet1{,}000\,\text{feet} long by 700 feet700\,\text{feet} wide, rising over 100 feet100\,\text{feet} high, and covering 15 acres15\,\text{acres}.

    • Largest structure north of Mexico and center of a community of 10,00010{,}000 or more people.

    • Social stratification: Burials confirm a stratified society with powerful elites capable of mobilizing massive labor forces. One high-status male was buried on a platform of 20,00020{,}000 shell beads, accompanied by 800800 arrowheads, sheets of copper and mica, and surrounding human sacrifices of men and women.

  • Chaco Canyon Phenomenon (860–1130 C.E.860\text{--}1130\,\text{C.E.}

    • Located in northwestern New Mexico, encompassing 25,000 square miles25{,}000\,\text{square miles} and linking 150150 outlying settlements to five major settlements or pueblos.

    • Pueblo Bonito stood 55 stories high, containing over 600600 rooms and numerous kivas (subterranean circular pits used for ceremonial purposes).

    • Engineered road system: Hundreds of miles of roads up to 40 feet40\,\text{feet} wide radiated outward from Chaco. Lacking wheeled carts or pack animals, these roads likely served a sacred or ceremonial landscape function leading to an entrance to the underworld.

    • Commercial specialization: By the eleventh century, Chaco became a dominant production center for turquoise ornaments.

    • Trade connections with Mesoamerica:

    • Exports: Turquoise ornaments.

    • Imports from Mesoamerica: Copper bells, macaw feathers, tons of shells, and cacao beans used for drinking liquid chocolate in Maya-origin jars.

    • Decline: An extended drought in the half-century following 1130 C.E.1130\,\text{C.E.} brought the culture to an abrupt end. By 1200 C.E.1200\,\text{C.E.}, the great houses were abandoned and inhabitants scattered into smaller Pueblo communities.

  • Mesoamerican Commercial Networks and the Aztec Empire

    • Maya and Teotihuacan Networks (200–900 C.E.200\text{--}900\,\text{C.E.}

    • Maya cities in Yucatan and Guatemala, along with Teotihuacan in central Mexico, maintained extensive land trade.

    • Maya conducted seaborne commerce using large dugout canoes holding 40–5040\text{--}50 people along Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

    • Aztec Empire Merchant Class (15th Century15\text{th}\,\text{Century}

    • Professional merchants known as pochteca (pohch-TEH-cah) undertook large-scale trading expeditions inside and beyond empire borders.

    • Acted as state agents, representatives of nobility, or independent private businessmen.

    • Legally classified as commoners, but accumulated wealth exceeding nobility, allowing them to become societal "magnates of the land."

    • Aztec Market Systems:

    • Territorial extension and rapid population growth stimulated markets and craft production.

    • Marketplace active in virtually every settlement on weekly market days.

    • Tlatelolco Market: Located near the capital city, it was the largest marketplace, noted by conquistador Hernan Cortes for its massive size, order, and immense variety of available goods including food, victuals, gold, silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, precious stones, bones, shells, snails, and feathers.

  • Inca Empire State-Run Economy and Transport Infrastructure (15th Century15\text{th}\,\text{Century}

    • State-Controlled Distribution:

    • Economic exchange was entirely managed by the state; no independent merchant class equivalent to the Aztec pochteca existed.

    • Bulging state storehouses held massive stockpiles of food, clothing, military supplies, blankets, and construction materials.

    • Record-keeping: Managed by trained accountants using quipus (knotted cords used to record numerical data).

    • Transport Infrastructure:

    • Goods transported by human porters and llama caravans across a network of roughly 20,000 miles20{,}000\,\text{miles} of roads traversing coastal plains and high Andes north to south, with lateral roads extending into eastern rainforests and plains.

    • Included around 2,0002{,}000 state-maintained inns (tambos) providing food and shelter.

    • Relay messenger system operating on foot covered up to 150 miles150\,\text{miles} per day.

    • Local and Foreign Exchange:

    • Despite general state management, local exchange occurred at highland fairs and along imperial borders with external non-Inca groups.