AP World History Unit 2 Notes

Unit 2 Overview

Expanded Geographical Range: All three networks increased in geographic scale, leading to more connections between states.
Innovations: Commercial practices and technological innovations facilitated range expansion.
Wealth and Power: States grew wealthy and powerful due to participation in these networks.
Rise and Fall: Increased interconnectivity caused the rise of powerful states and cities, while also causing the collapse of others.

Location: Across Eurasia.
Goods Traded: Mainly luxury goods (e.g., Chinese silk and porcelain).
Reason for Luxury Goods: High cost and difficulty of travel.
Proverb: "If it don't make the boom boom, I ain't got the room room to carry it on my camel."
Increased Demand: Growing demand for luxury items increased production by Chinese, Indian, and Persian artisans.
Example: Peasants in the Yangtze River Delta shifted from food production to luxury goods for trade.
Innovations:
- Transportation Technologies:
  - Caravan Serai: Inns and guesthouses along the Silk Roads, about a day's journey apart, providing safety and cultural exchange.
- Commercial Practices:
  - Money Economies: Use of paper money, first developed in China.
  - Flying Money System: Chinese system allowing merchants to deposit bills in one location and withdraw in another.
  - Credit: Introduction of new forms of credit (e.g., bills of exchange), pioneered by the Chinese and later adopted in Europe with banking houses.
    - Banking Houses: Handled exchanges, merchants presented a bill of exchange and received payment.
Rise of Trading Cities:
- Kashgar: Located at the convergence of two major Silk Road routes, grew in power and wealth due to its location and lush valley.

Trade Characteristics:
- Understanding of Monsoon Winds: Predictable wind patterns dictated by the season.
- Goods Traded: Common goods like textiles and spices, as well as luxury goods.
Innovations:
- Technological:
  - Magnetic Compass: Helped merchants with direction.
  - Improved Astrolabe: Measured stars to determine latitude and longitude.
  - Chinese Junk: Massive ships with large cargo holds.
- Commercial: Similar to Silk Roads, including various forms of credit.
Growth of States:
- Swahili City States: Independent city-states along Africa's East Coast that acted as brokers for goods (gold, ivory, enslaved people), became Islamic through Muslim merchants, connecting them to Dar al-Islam.
Diasporic Communities:
- Definition: Settlements of ethnic people in a location other than their homeland.
- Example: Arab and Persian communities in East Africa, leading to intermarriage and the spread of Islam, fostering the growth of Swahili states.
Language Emergence:
- Swahili: Mixture of native Bantu and Arabic words.
Zheng He's Voyages:
- Ming Dynasty: Sent by China to enroll states in the tributary system and spread advanced maritime technology (navigation tools, shipbuilding).

Expansion: Expanded during the period due to innovations in transportation technology.
Camel Saddle: New and improved camel saddles allowed for larger cargo loads.
Empire of Mali:
- Conversion to Islam: Leadership converted in the 9th century, integrating Mali into Dar al-Islam.
- Wealth: Grew rich through gold trade and taxing merchants.
- Mansa Musa: Further monopolized trade in the 14th century, increasing Mali's wealth.

Cultural Consequences:
- Transfer of Religion:
  - Buddhism: Entered China via the Silk Roads, carried by merchants and missionaries.
- Literary and Artistic Transfers:
  - Islamic scholars in Baghdad's House of Wisdom translated Greek and Roman classics into Arabic, leading to the Renaissance in Europe.
- Scientific and Technological Innovations:
  - Gunpowder: Invented in China, spread to Muslim empires and later to Eastern Europe.
Rise and Fall of Cities:
- Rise: Hangzhou (China), located at one end of the Grand Canal, grew wealthy and urbanized.
- Fall: Baghdad, sacked by Mongol armies.
Travelers' Accounts:
- Ibn Battuta: Muslim scholar from Morocco who traveled throughout Dar al-Islam and wrote detailed accounts of his experiences.
Environmental Consequences:
- Transfer of Crops:
  - Champa Rice: Introduced to China via the Champa Kingdom as tribute, led to increased food production and population growth.
- Transfer of Disease:
  - Bubonic Plague: Spread from China in 1331 via rats and fleas along trade routes, causing massive death tolls in the Middle East and Europe.

Facilitation of Connections: The Mongol Empire facilitated connections by:
- Establishing largest land-based empire:
  - Replaced powerful empires: Song Dynasty and Abbasid Empire fell to Mongols.
  - Divided into four Khanates in the 14th century.
- Increasing Networks of Exchange:
  - Flourishing of Silk Roads: Mongols provided safety and continuity.
  - Encouraged international trade and extracted wealth as facilitators.
  - Increased communication and cooperation across the empire.
- Pax Mongolica: Peace of the Mongols.
- Facilitating Technological and Cultural Transfers
  - Greek and Islamic medical knowledge to Western Europe
  - Adoption of the Uighur Script: became common in all parts of their empire as the language policy and diplomacy and exchange.