TK

Emerging Transregional Networks of Communication and Exchange

  • New technologies gave rise to transregional interactions, and networks of communication and exchange increased. This process was driven by war and migration but mainly trade.

    • Transregional Trade Routes

    • Trade operated mainly on local and regional levels

    • In the Andes, trade was dependent on the llama

    • Four major transregional trade routes emerged

      • The Mediterranean
      • Facilitated by the Mediterranean Sea
      • Relied on galleys: oared ships with small square scales
        • Suitable for coastal navigation rather than open-water navigation
      • The Indian Ocean Basin
      • The Indian Ocean maritime network connected East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia with China and Japan.
      • Traders benefited from open-water navigation
      • Used dhows: ships with triangular lateen sails
      • Took advantage of monsoon winds
      • Trade led to the settlement of diasporic communities foreign traders settled in cities
      • Trans-Saharan Caravan Routes
      • Trade between the sub-Saharan and the Mediterranean
      • Trade was over large distances over arid conditions, and finding an oases was important
        • oases: sources of water
        • Nubia: served as an avenue for north-south trade between Egypt and the South
        • Domestication of camels became important
      • Eurasia’s Silk Roads
        • Silk Road: expanded from the Middle East and Mediterranean ports to China’s pacific coast
        • Chang’an: China’s economic hub
        • Overland transport helped share cultural traditions and religions

    • Innovations in Transport

    • Overland transport: less expensive and the only way to reach places far from rivers and coastlines

    • Domesticated pack animals: used to transport large amounts of cargo

      • ox, horse, llama and camel
      • Stirrup, yokes and collars, pack saddles: added greater stability for horseback riders

    • Wheeled vehicles: carts and wagons, helpful on roads and flat grounds

    • Water transport was more preferable to land transport

      • Maritime technology and coastal navigation made transport easier and safer

    • Chinese junk: capable of open water navigation and carrying large amounts of cargo

    • Transmissions: The Effects of Communication and Exchange

    • Consequences included: technology transfer, environmental and medical impact, and religious and cultural borrowing

    • Intensive agriculture: the use of technology to maximize productive potential of every square foot of an area

      • cleared fields by chopping down trees and bushes, then burning down the foliage to fertilize the soil
      • terracing of hillsides: common in Mesoamerica
      • rice-paddy cultivation: originated in Southeast Asia
      • draining of swamps and wetlands
      • building of elevated fields
      • “floating islands”

    • water management, complex irrigation systems and aqueducts

    • qanat: sank vertical rainwater hafts in the ground to underground pipes that collected rainwater for irrigation

      • Originated in Persia but used throughout Eurasia

    • Horse collar: a technique pioneered by the Chinese that made plowing easier

    • Spread of disease

      • bubonic plague
      • smallpox and measles

    • Spread of religion

      • cultural borrowing
      • active missionary activity
      • forced conversion