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Trade Routes: 1200-1450

Trade Routes: 1200-1450

3 major trading routes across Africa, Europe, and Asia: Silk Road, Indian Ocean, and Trans Saharan


Overview

  • Land based: Silk Road + Trans-Saharan Desert
  • Sea based: Indian Ocean
  • Silk Road and Indian Ocean existed before 1200 but experienced growth between 1200-1450 because of:
  • Economic revival in China during Tang + Song Dynasties -> able to export abundance of goods
  • Rise of Islam -> creation of Islamic empires led to large amount of land connected by Islam
  • Religions, ideas, languages, and cultures spread through interactions at resting stops and cities by merchants, which led to the spread and birth of new religions 
  • Trade benefits empires and vice versa
  • Long distance trade through empire = more tax money for the government
  • Empires help look over trade: police and military forces keep people safe + legal systems established in case of a dispute in a contract or trade
  • Similarities: 
  • Trade routes caused the increase of new trading cities
  • Religions spread through the trade networks beyond their original homelands
  • New inventions and technologies helped increase and improve trade
  • Trade grew because of desire for goods that weren’t available in their own region
  • Increase of wealth along the Silk Road and Trans-Saharan encouraged invasions
  • Trans-Saharan and Silk Road relied heavily on caravans and domesticated animals
  • Differences:
  • The types of goods being traded (Silk Road: luxury items, Indian Ocean: common items in bulk, Trans-Saharan Desert: local items)
  • Transportation costs more on the Silk Road than on the Indian Ocean


Silk Road

  • Land based : Asia + Europe + Africa
  • Luxury (valuable) goods because of limited space: silk, china, iron, porcelain
  • Goods became more expensive as they traveled further along the silk road, price rises
  • Spread of Religion
  • Buddhism from South Asia -> Central, South-East, East Asia
  • Islam from Middle East -> Central, East Asia
  • Diseases traveled across the silk road (bubonic plague, measles, smallpox)
  • Different civilizations have different diseases -> develop immunities over time // civilizations that don’t have those immunities are affected badly
  • New ideas/technologies that increased trade:
  • Caravanserai - inns/resting stops outside of cities
  • Credit System - well known merchants were able to buy things on credit + pay back later -> led to quicker + more efficient trade


Indian Ocean

  • Sea based : Stretched from China to East Africa
  • Common (bulk) goods were exchanged ; Ships were able to carry more things than on the Silk Road: spices (South-East Asia), pepper (India), wheat, sugar, rice
  • Rise of large trading cities along the coast
  • New technology + knowledge
  • Inventions
  • Magnetic compass - allowed sailors to hold their bearing w/o seeing the sun
  • Lateen sails - triangular-shaped sails that allowed ships to be easily maneuverable
  • Astrolabe - allowed sailors to calculate latitude
  • Knowledge of monsoon winds (yearly predictable storms)
  • Summer: wind blew northeast
  • Winter: wind blew southwest
  • Rise of diasporic communities (people who left their homeland (merchants, slave trade, etc.) to live in another region)
  • Spread of religion + culture + language
  • Islam from Arabian Peninsula -> East Africa, South-East Asia
  • Buddhism from South Asia -> South-East Asia


Trans-Saharan 

  • Land based (desert) ; North Africa + Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Produced different goods because of different environments:
  • Manufactured goods (cloth + glasswork + books) from North Africa
  • Agricultural goods ( crops) from Southwest Africa
  • Gold and Salt
  • Trade increased because of:
  • Arabian Camel (could walk up to 10 days w/o water)
  • Caravans (group of people traveling together)
  • Cities grew because of trade , became centers of commerce and education
  • Led to new kingdoms + more interconnectedness
  • Spread of religion
  • Islam from Arabian Peninsula -> North Africa -> West Africa




Trade Routes: 1200-1450

Trade Routes: 1200-1450

3 major trading routes across Africa, Europe, and Asia: Silk Road, Indian Ocean, and Trans Saharan


Overview

  • Land based: Silk Road + Trans-Saharan Desert
  • Sea based: Indian Ocean
  • Silk Road and Indian Ocean existed before 1200 but experienced growth between 1200-1450 because of:
  • Economic revival in China during Tang + Song Dynasties -> able to export abundance of goods
  • Rise of Islam -> creation of Islamic empires led to large amount of land connected by Islam
  • Religions, ideas, languages, and cultures spread through interactions at resting stops and cities by merchants, which led to the spread and birth of new religions 
  • Trade benefits empires and vice versa
  • Long distance trade through empire = more tax money for the government
  • Empires help look over trade: police and military forces keep people safe + legal systems established in case of a dispute in a contract or trade
  • Similarities: 
  • Trade routes caused the increase of new trading cities
  • Religions spread through the trade networks beyond their original homelands
  • New inventions and technologies helped increase and improve trade
  • Trade grew because of desire for goods that weren’t available in their own region
  • Increase of wealth along the Silk Road and Trans-Saharan encouraged invasions
  • Trans-Saharan and Silk Road relied heavily on caravans and domesticated animals
  • Differences:
  • The types of goods being traded (Silk Road: luxury items, Indian Ocean: common items in bulk, Trans-Saharan Desert: local items)
  • Transportation costs more on the Silk Road than on the Indian Ocean


Silk Road

  • Land based : Asia + Europe + Africa
  • Luxury (valuable) goods because of limited space: silk, china, iron, porcelain
  • Goods became more expensive as they traveled further along the silk road, price rises
  • Spread of Religion
  • Buddhism from South Asia -> Central, South-East, East Asia
  • Islam from Middle East -> Central, East Asia
  • Diseases traveled across the silk road (bubonic plague, measles, smallpox)
  • Different civilizations have different diseases -> develop immunities over time // civilizations that don’t have those immunities are affected badly
  • New ideas/technologies that increased trade:
  • Caravanserai - inns/resting stops outside of cities
  • Credit System - well known merchants were able to buy things on credit + pay back later -> led to quicker + more efficient trade


Indian Ocean

  • Sea based : Stretched from China to East Africa
  • Common (bulk) goods were exchanged ; Ships were able to carry more things than on the Silk Road: spices (South-East Asia), pepper (India), wheat, sugar, rice
  • Rise of large trading cities along the coast
  • New technology + knowledge
  • Inventions
  • Magnetic compass - allowed sailors to hold their bearing w/o seeing the sun
  • Lateen sails - triangular-shaped sails that allowed ships to be easily maneuverable
  • Astrolabe - allowed sailors to calculate latitude
  • Knowledge of monsoon winds (yearly predictable storms)
  • Summer: wind blew northeast
  • Winter: wind blew southwest
  • Rise of diasporic communities (people who left their homeland (merchants, slave trade, etc.) to live in another region)
  • Spread of religion + culture + language
  • Islam from Arabian Peninsula -> East Africa, South-East Asia
  • Buddhism from South Asia -> South-East Asia


Trans-Saharan 

  • Land based (desert) ; North Africa + Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Produced different goods because of different environments:
  • Manufactured goods (cloth + glasswork + books) from North Africa
  • Agricultural goods ( crops) from Southwest Africa
  • Gold and Salt
  • Trade increased because of:
  • Arabian Camel (could walk up to 10 days w/o water)
  • Caravans (group of people traveling together)
  • Cities grew because of trade , became centers of commerce and education
  • Led to new kingdoms + more interconnectedness
  • Spread of religion
  • Islam from Arabian Peninsula -> North Africa -> West Africa




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