Unit 2: Networks of Exchange Exam Study Guide

Unit 2: Networks of Exchange Exam Study Guide

C. 1200 - c. 1450

Topic 2.1: Silk Roads

Learning Objective:

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

Historical Developments:

• Improved commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes— including the Silk Roads— which promoted the growth of powerful new trading cities.

  • Trading cities:

  • Kashgar

  • Samarkand

• The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including:

  • Caravanserai: Rest stops for merchants and travelers along trade routes.

  • Forms of credit: New methods to facilitate trade financing.

  • Development of money economies: Movement toward standardized currencies.

New Forms of Credit and Money Economies:

• Bills of exchange: A written order to pay a specified amount of money at a set future date.

• Banking houses: Institutions that provided loans and financial services to merchants.

• Use of paper money: A lightweight and convenient alternative to coinage that facilitated trade.

Increased Demand for Luxury Goods:

• The demand for luxury goods increased in Afro-Eurasia.

• Artisans and merchants from China, Persia, and India expanded their production of textiles and porcelains for export.

• The manufacture of iron and steel also expanded in China.

Questions for Review:

1. Explain the various factors that led to the growth of the Silk Road trade networks in the 1200 - 1450 time period.

2. What luxury goods were often traded along the Silk Roads?

3. What transportation technologies facilitated trade along the Silk Roads?

4. What commercial technology facilitated trade along the Silk Roads?

Topic 2.2: The Mongol Empire and the Making of the Modern World

Learning Objective:

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

Historical Developments:

• Empires collapsed in different regions of the world and in some areas were replaced by new imperial states, including the Mongol khanates.

Questions for Review:

5. Explain how the Mongol Khanates developed.

Learning Objective:

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

Historical Developments:

• The expansion of empires—including the Mongols—facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into their conquerors’ economies and trade networks.

Questions for Review:

6. Explain how the Mongol Khanates facilitated trade in Afro-Eurasia.

Learning Objective:

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

Historical Developments:

• Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires, including the Mongols, encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers, which included:

  • Transfer of Greco–Islamic medical knowledge to Western Europe

  • Transfer of numbering systems to Europe

  • Adoption of Uyghur script

Questions for Review:

7. Describe some of the cultural transfers that resulted from the Mongol khanates.

Topic 2.3: Exchange in the Indian Ocean

Learning Objective:

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

Historical Developments:

• Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes, including the Indian Ocean, promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities.

• The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by significant innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including:

  • Use of the compass

  • The astrolabe

  • Larger ship designs (junk and dhow ships)

• The Indian Ocean trading network fostered the growth of states such as:

  • City-states of the Swahili Coast

  • Gujarat

  • Sultanate of Malacca

Questions for Review:

8. Explain the various factors that led to the growth of the Indian Ocean trade networks in the 1200 - 1450 time period.

9. What technologies facilitated trade in the Indian Ocean during the 1200-1450 time period?

10. Explain the impact that Indian Ocean trade had on the Swahili city-states.

Additional Notes on Cultural Exchanges:

• Spread of Islam through trade networks such as the Mongols and Silk Roads.

• Spread of Buddhism facilitated by traders and scholars.

Topic 2.4: Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

Learning Objective:

• Explain the causes and effects of the growth of trans-Saharan trade.

Historical Developments:

• The growth of interregional trade was encouraged by innovations in existing transportation technologies. Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes, including the trans-Saharan trade network.

Technologies Encouraging Interregional Trade:

• Camel saddle: Innovations that improved comfort and stability while riding camels.

• Caravans: Groups of merchants traveling together for safer and more efficient trade.

Questions for Review:

14. Explain the various factors that led to the growth of the Trans-Saharan trade networks in the 1200 - 1450 time period.

15. What effects did this trade route have on the African continent (and beyond)?

Historical Developments in Mali:

• The expansion of empires—including Mali in West Africa—facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into the economies and trade networks.

Questions for Review:

17. Explain the connection between Mali in West Africa and trade and communication.

TOPIC 2.5: Cultural Consequences of Connectivity

Learning Objective:

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

Historical Developments:

• Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions, as well as scientific and technological innovations.

Diffusion of Cultural Traditions:

• The influence of Buddhism in East Asia

• The spread of Hinduism and Buddhism into Southeast Asia

• The spread of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia

Diffusion of Scientific or Technological Innovations:

• Gunpowder from China

• Paper from China

• The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significant decline followed by periods of increased urbanization, buoyed by rising productivity and expanding trade networks.

Questions for Review:

18. Give a few examples of cultural transfers that occurred as a result of trade networks in the 1200-1450 time period.

19. Give examples of the diffusion of scientific/technological innovations that occurred as a result of trade networks in the 1200-1450 time period.

Famous Travelers:

• Ibn Battuta

• Margery Kempe

• Marco Polo

TOPIC 2.6: Environmental Consequences of Connectivity

Learning Objective:

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

Historical Developments:

• There was a continued diffusion of crops and pathogens, which included epidemic diseases, such as the bubonic plague, along trade routes.

Diffusion of Crops:

• Bananas in Africa

• New rice varieties in East Asia

• Spread of citrus in the Mediterranean

Questions for Review:

20. Describe some positive environmental effects of the various networks of exchange from c. 1200 to 1450.

21. Describe some negative environmental effects of the various networks of exchange from c. 1200 to 1450.

TOPIC 2.7: Comparison of Economic Exchange

Learning Objective:

• Explain the similarities and differences among the various networks of exchange in the period from c. 1200 to c. 1450.

Historical Developments:

• A deepening and widening of networks of human interaction within and across regions contributed to cultural, technological, and biological diffusion within and between various societies.

  • Improved commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes— including the Silk Roads— promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities.

  • The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods encouraged by innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the caravanserai, forms of credit, and the development of money economies.

  • Changes in trade networks resulted from and stimulated increasing productive capacity, with important implications for social and gender structures and environmental processes.

  • Demand for luxury goods increased in Afro-Eurasia. Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expanded their production of textiles and porcelains for export; manufacture of iron and steel expanded in China.