AP World History Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (1200-1450)

Key

(—>) = Causation

(——>) = Continuity/Change over time

Bolded text = More useful/important information

2.1 The Silk Roads

The Silk Roads: A vast network of trails that facilitated trade and the spread of culture across Eurasia

• Silk Roads —> Spread of trade, cultural traits, ideas

• Mainly luxury items exchanged

  1. Chinese Silk

  2. Expensive to transport goods across Roads —> Only high-value, luxury goods being sold for profit

Causes of Silk Road Expansion (—>)

• Innovations in Commercial Practices (Economics)

  1. Development of Money Economies

     • Paper Money

     • Pioneered by Chinese

     • Merchants can deposit bills in one location and withdraw in another location —> increased ease of travel and security of transactions

  2. Increasing use of credit

     • Merchants can use pieces of paper to transfer for coins

     • “Flying Money”

  3. Rise of Banks

     • Bills of Exchange

• Innovations in Transportation (Technology)

  1. Caravanserai: Series of inns and guesthouses dispersed along routes

     • Provided safety from plunderers

     • Centers of cultural exchange and diffusion

  2. Saddles

     • Made riding easier over long distances

Effects of Silk Road Expansion (—>)

• New Trading Cities

  1. Being strategically placed on routes —> power and wealth

  2. Provided areas for resting and resupplying

  3. Kashgar and Samarkand:

     • Built around river —> area being suitable for agriculture —> Merchants stopping for water and food (Kashgar)

     • Increasing demand for interregional trade —> Kashgar and Samarkand hosting profitable markets and becoming center for Islamic scholarship

     • Similarities:

       1. Strategically located on Silk Roads

       2. Centers of cultural exchange

• Increased demand for luxury goods

  1. Chinese Silk & Porcelain

  2. Demand growing for luxury items —> Chinese, Indian, Persian artisans increasing production —> Production oriented economy from agrarian —> Proto-Industrialization in China

     • Proto-Industrialization: Process in which China produced more goods than population could consume —> products being sold in distant markets —> Growth of Chinese economy

• Cultural Diffusion

  1. Merchants spread religion while trading (Islam, Buddhism)

  2. Merchants meeting at Caravanserai —> exposure and adoption of new ideas and innovations

     • Saddles

     • Religion

2.2 The Mongol Empire

Rise of the Mongol Empire

• Mongols: Pastoral Nomads living in the Gobi desert (traveling people)

• Led by Temujin (Genghis Khan)

  1. Temujin united the various Mongol groups

• Mongols military organization, superior weapons & skills —> Conquering of most of Asia

  1. Groups organized in 10,000, 1000s, 100s, 10s —> Higher efficiency

  2. Skillful horse riders, archers

• The decline of Song Dynasty and Abbasid Empire at the time —> Mongols being able to conquer Asia

• Reputation for brutality —> Immediate surrendering of cities

• Despite violent upbringing, Mongols ruled peacefully (Pax Mongolica)

  1. Expansion of Mongol Empire —> Replacement of previous empires in Unit 1 (Song, Abbasid)

• Mongol Rulers adopted cultural norms of the people they ruled

  1. Kublai Khan established Yuan Dynasty, united warring factions —> Confucian elites claiming he had the Mandate of Heaven

     • With Mandate of Heaven, many believed that Kublai Khan was the rightful ruler of China

  2. Kublai Khan styled himself as a Confucian-style ruler

Economics of the Mongol Empire

• The Silks Roads were most organized and prosperous under Mongol rule

  1. Multiple states controlling parts of Silk Road with inconsistent safety ——> Mongol rule ensuring consistent safety

• Improved Infrastructure

  1. Build bridges and repaired roads —> facilitation of trade

• Increased Communication

  1. Yam system: Series of relay stations spread across empire —> More friendliness between distant areas —> facilitation of trade —> increased wealth

• Pax Mongolica —> Trade flourishing in Silk Roads

Technological & Cultural Transfers

• Mongols had high opinions of intellectuals & skilled workers —> them not being killed during Mongol expansion

• Mongol policy of sending skilled workers across the empire —> transfer of technology, ideas, culture

• Consequences of Transfers

  1. Medical Knowledge

     • Greek/Islamic scholars to Western Europe

  2. Mongol adoption of Uyghur Script —> Lingua franca

2.3 Indian Ocean Trade Network

Indian Ocean Trade Network: network of sea routes that connected Afro-Eurasia through trade

Causes of expansion of Indian Ocean Trade Network (—>)

• Collapse of Mongol Empire —> collapse of safety along Silk Roads —> more maritime trade

• Commercial Practices (Economics)

  1. Money economies/credit —> easier trade —> increased use of trade route

• Transportation Technologies

  1. Magnetic Compass

     • Helped sailors determine direction

  2. Astrolabe: tool used to measure stars and determine location

  3. Lateen Sail

     • Allowed ships to take wind from any direction

  4. Knowledge of Monsoon Winds

  5. Improvements in Shipbuilding

     • Chinese Junk Ship: Massive ship that carried lots of cargo

     • Arab used Dhows became bigger and better

• Spread of Islam —> facilitation of trade through Dar-Al-Islam

Indian Ocean vs Silk Road

• Silk Road

  1. Mainly luxury goods traded

     • Silk, Porcelain

• Indian Ocean Trade

  1. Increasing size of trading ships (Junk ships, Newly improved Dhows) —> trading of more common items as well

     • Cotton textiles, grains, luxury goods

• Both trade routes facilitated by Islamic Merchants

Effects of expansion of Indian Ocean Trade Network (—>)

• Growth of Powerful trading cities

  1. Swahili City-States:

     • Strategically located near Indian Ocean Trade —> Growing in wealth & power; Selling goods; Converting to Islam (mosques)

  2. Malacca:

     • Controlling of Strait of Malacca, Taxing ships passing through —> Extreme wealth

     • Entry & Exit point for Indian Ocean trade to East Asia

  3. Gujarat:

     • Midpoint of Indian Ocean Trade, taxing passing by ships —> Increased wealth

• Establishment of Diasporic Communities

  1. Diaspora: A group of people who establish home in another place while still retaining culture —> spread of culture

  2. Diasporic Chinese in Southeast Asia; Diasporic Arabs in East Africa

  3. Diasporic communities acted as “connective tissue” —> increase in scope and stability

     • Chinese merchants interacted with Diasporic chinese communities —> facilitation of trade

• Cultural & Technological Transfers

  1. Cultural and Technological exchanges over trade routes are just as significant as goods exchanged

  2. Traveling merchants —> Spread of Religion, Language, Technology

  3. Zheng He:

     • Chinese general with extremely large fleet

     • Adopted newest technologies (gunpowder cannons)

2.4 Trans-Saharan Trade Network

Trans-Saharan Trade Network: Series of trade routes connecting North Africa and the Mediterranean with the interior of West Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa

Causes of Trans-Saharan trade expansion (—>)

• Innovations in Transportation Technologies (Technology)

  1. Camel Saddles

     • Easier for riding and carrying more goods

• Caravanserai

• Caravans

  1. Greater security: thousands of merchants travelling together

• Being able to travel more comfortably, carry more goods, and find shelter —> Trans-Saharan network expanding greatly

• Trans-Saharan Goods

  1. Gold

  2. Kola Nuts

  3. Horses

  4. Salt

  5. Each region specializing in certain goods —> demand to trade with each other —> expansion of trade networks

Expansion of Trans-Saharan Network —> Growth of Empires

• Empire of Mali

  1. Conversion to Islam —> Religious and Economic connection —> Participation in Dar-Al-Islam trade and Trans-Saharan Network —> Extreme wealth

  2. Taxing other merchants in territory, selling gold —> Gaining wealth and power

  3. Mansa Musa (Ruler)

     • Embarked on Hajj with giant, rich entourage —> Showcasing immense wealth in Egypt (spent so much gold in Egypt that gold value plummeted)

     • Expanded Mali’s power —> further monopolizing trade between North Africa and Interior —> Mali growing wealthier

Sultanate of Malacca vs. Mali

• Controlled strategic points along popular trade routes —> Wealth

2.5 Cultural Effects of Connectivity

Increasing connectivity/trade between states —> Exchange of ideas and cultural traits (cultural diffusion)

Trade Networks and Diffusion

• Merchants brought culture and technology with them while trading

• Cultural transfers

  1. Belief Systems

     • Buddhism from India to China via Silk Roads in 2nd century CE while also changing over time (——>)

       1. 1. To make Buddhist teachings understandable to Chinese, monks/merchants explained in terms of Daoism —> Blending of ideas (syncretism)

       2. 2. Buddhism ——> Chan Buddhism (Buddhism + Daoism)

     • Spread of Islam (Dar-Al-Islam)

  2. Literary and Artistic Transfers

     • House of Wisdom Greek + Roman scripture —> Renaissance in Europe

  3. Scientific and Technological Innovations

     • Chinese papermaking to Europe

     • Gunpower from China —> Major power shift in later years

Effects of Trade on Cities

• Networks of Exchange —> Increased wealth and power of trading cities

  1. Hangzhou

  2. Samarkand & Kashgar

  3. The expansion of trading networks —> Increased influence and productivity of trading cities

• Militaries using trade routes —> Decline of cities

  1. Baghdad: Capital of Islamic culture and art

     • Mongols invasion —> Decline of city, end of Abbasid Empire

  2. Constantinople: Political and religious capital of Byzantines

     • Rise of Islamic Ottomans —> Sacking of Constantinople (renamed to Istanbul)

Networks of Exchange —> facilitation of interregional travel

• Increasing security and safety (Mongols) —> facilitation

• Ibn Battuta: Muslim scholar from Morocco

  1. Travelled all around Dar-Al-Islam

  2. Took details about culture, people, rulers

  3. Trade routes —> Battuta’s travels

  6. being possible

  7. Battuta’s writings about cultures —> readers understanding far away cultures

• Marco Polo: Traveler from Italy to China

  1. Traveled through Indian Ocean

  2. Wrote about Kublai Khand and China

• Margery Kemp: Christian Mystic

  1. Made pilgrimages to Christianity’s holy sites

  2. Provided insights to readers about variety of Christian beliefs around the world

2.6 Environmental Effects of Connectivity

Diffusion of crops

• Trade routes —> crops being introduced to new areas

• Bananas (Africa)

  1. SE Asia to Africa through Indian Ocean Trade

  2. Lush rainforests in Africa provided great conditions for bananas

  3. Bananas introduced —> Expanded diets of population —> Population growth

  4. Bananas introduced —> Bantu people able to migrate to areas that couldn’t grow yams

• Champa Rice (East Asia)

  1. Champa Kingdom (Vietnam) to China

  2. Matured quickly, two harvest a season —> More food —> Extreme Population growth in China

• Citrus fruits

  1. Muslim traders to Europe and N. Africa through Mediterranean

  2. Introduction —> Improved diets, better health

Diffusion of diseases (The Bubonic Plague)

• Increased Silk Road Trade (Pax Mongolica); Indian Ocean Trade Routes —> facilitation of the spread of Bubonic Plague