Chapter 7 Commerce and Culture 600-1450

Question 1

You must know the political, social, and economic effects of networks of exchange.

Answer 1

Political effects: the wealth available from controlling and taxing trade motivated the creation of taxes
Social effects: trade altered the structure of societies (ex: merchants became a social group) and also became a mean of social mobility
Economical effects: trade encouraged people to specialize themselves in the production of a particular product and sell those products to distant markets rather than only using them in their own community

Question 2

In what ways did long-distance commerce act as a motor of change in premodern world history?

Answer 2

long-distance commerce acted as a motor in the world history because it had a huge impact int he economy, politics and social life. it also helped spread religions, diseases and new technologies across Eurasia

Question 3

The goods, ideas, technology, and peoples that traveled the Silks Roads, and their effects on Eurasian cultures, are “must know” information for success on the AP® exam.

Answer 3

some good in transit in the silk roads were bamboo, gunpowder and silk from China and spices and cotton from India. One of the major effects was that the commerce changed many peoples lives because it changed the structure of society (merchants became a social group) and some individuals benefited from the wealth that came from the trades

Question 4

What lay behind the emergence of Silk Road commerce, and what kept it going for so many centuries?

Answer 4

the emergence of the silk road lays in the geography of Eurasia (outer and inner Eurasia). inner eurasia would trade steppes for agricultural products and manufactured goods from outer eurasia. they started to depend on each other because after trade started people started to specialize in something specific and depend on other people for other things

Question 5

Steppes

Answer 5

hides, furs, livestock, wool, and amber

Question 6

Know the relation- ships between governments and trade routes across time and place.

Answer 6

Roman and Chinese empires anchored long-distance commerce at the western and eastern ends of Eurasia. during the 7th and 8th century the Byzantine empire, the Muslim Abbadiad dynasty and the tang dynasty created a continuous belt of strong states across Eurasia. in the 13th and 14th century the mongol empire gave a renewed vitality to long-distance trade

Question 7

trade products listed here are excellent sources of specific evidence that you might use to answer a Short- Answer or Long- Essay question on the AP® exam.

Answer 7

China: silk, bamboo, mirrors, gunpowder, paper, rhubarb, ginger, lacquerware, chrysanthemums

Forest lands of Siberia and grasslands of Central Asia: furs, walrus tusks, amber, livestock, horses, falcons, hides, copper vessels, tents, saddles, slaves

India:cotton textiles, herbal medicine, precious stones, spices, pepper, pearls, ebony

Middle East:dates, nuts, dried fruit, dyes, lapis lazuli, swords

Mediterranean basin:gold coins, glassware, glazes, grapevines, jewelry, artworks, perfume, wool and linen textiles, olive oil

Question 8

What made silk such a highly desired commodity across Eurasia?

Answer 8

people sought silk because of its comfort, value as fashion statement and because it became a symbol of high status

Question 9

What accounted for the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Roads?

Answer 9

buddhism had appealed to merchants who preferred its universal message to that of hinduism that privileged the higher castes

Question 10

Know examples of merchant groups who traveled far from their homes along trade routes

Answer 10

Sogdian

Question 11

You must know that major religions like Buddhism changed as they spread from their places of origin.

Answer 11

the gods of many peoples along the Silk Roads were incorporated into Buddhist practice as bodhisattvas

Question 12

What was the impact of disease along the Silk Roads?

Answer 12

the spread of diseases strengthened the appeal of Christianity in Europe and Buddhism in china, because both religions offered compassion in the face of immense suffering

Question 13

How did the black death affect people?

Answer 13

half of the population of Europe died, it also gave europeans advantages against the Americans, because they were exposed so much to the disease that they got some immunity

Question 14

You must know the effects of the monsoon winds on trade in the Indian Ocean. You should also know that, like on the Silk Roads, people from many differ- ent societies partici- pated in exchanges in the Indian Ocean network.

Answer 14

the monsoons helped the Indian ocean commerce a lot because of the winds that blew northeast during summer and southwest during winter (predictable )

Question 15

technological developments that aided Indian Ocean trade

Answer 15

improvements in sails, new kinds of ships called junks, astrolabe (new way to calculate latitude) and evolving compasses

Question 16

economic exchange in the Indian ocean basin

Answer 16

Mediterranean basin: ceramics, glassware, wine, gold, olive oil

East Africa:ivory, gold, iron goods, slaves, tortoiseshells, quartz, leopard skins

Arabia:frankincense, myrrh, perfumes

India:grain, ivory, precious stones, cotton textiles, spices, timber, tortoiseshells

Southeast Asia: tin, sandalwood, cloves, nutmeg, mace

China: silks, porcelain, tea

Question 17

What lay behind the flourishing of Indian Ocean commerce in the postclassical millennium?

Answer 17

the economical and political revival of China and the risen of Islam in the 7th century and its spread over Afro-Eurasia

Question 18

In what ways did Indian influence register in Southeast Asia?

Answer 18

many new societies in the southeast Asia were stimulated and shaped by their interaction with sea-trade of the Indian ocean

Question 19

Connection between governments and trade

Answer 19

with the supply of gold and the taxes (from passing ships) the government could get resources to attract supporters, create a military and naval forces (security) and also fund an embryonic bureaucracy

Question 20

What was the role of Swahili civilization in the world of Indian Ocean commerce?

Answer 20

because of the commercial opportunities, African merchants became a social group, villages turned into towns and clan chiefs became kings.,

Question 21

what was the significance of

the introduction of the camel into Africa from South- west Asia

Answer 21

because the camel could go days without water, merchants could travel long distances and across the Sahara

Question 22

What changes did transSaharan trade bring to West Africa?

Answer 22

the Shara stopped being a barrier and became a major international trade route and fostered new relationships among distant people

Question 23

Features of the West African Islamic kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay

Answer 23

all of these societies were monarchies (with complex administrative government and strong military forces) they were known for their great riches (from the saharan trade and taxing the merchants that conducted the trades)

Question 24

forms of coerced labor across time and place

Answer 24

slavery; in the start most slaves were woman (concubines (for additional heirs and pleasure) and domestic servants) but with time men became slaves (miners, craftsmen and agricultural labor). between the years 1100 and 1400 5,500 slaves were traded (per year)

Question 25

In what ways did networks of interaction in the West- ern Hemisphere differ from those in the Eastern Hemisphere?

Answer 25

the civilizations in the western hemisphere had little to no interaction, which could be because they did not have horses, donkeys nor camels to facilitate the long-distance trade