Emerging Trans-regional Networks of Communication and Exchange Flashcards
Transregional interaction
Interations among states, as well as between states and nomadic societies
Coastal navigation
● Short distance sea trade
● Mediterranean route
● Used galleys
Galleys
Ships used in the Mediterranean Sea trade
Open-water Navigation
● Long distance sea trade
● Indian Ocean network
● Used dhows with lateen sails
Dhows
● Ships with triangular tateen sails
● Used in Indian Ocean network
● Able to travel long distance and go against the wind
Lateen sails
Triangular sails used in dhows
Overland trasport
● Require more time and effort and was more subject to outlawry and political disruption
● Less expensive and hte only way to reach places far from rivers and coastlines
● Dpended on domesticated pack animals, wheeled vehicles
Domesticated pack animals
● Overland transport depended on this
● Horses, ox are common in silk road
● Llama is common in Americas
● Camels were vital to trade in the sub-Saharan caravan
Wheeled vehicles
● Useful on roads and on flat ground
- carts, wagons
● Rough terrain rendered them uselss
Caravans
Large processions of pack animals and/or vehicles
Stirrup
● Emerged in Central Asia and China between the 200s B.C.E. and the 100s C.E.
● Added greater stability for those riding camels and horses
Yokes/Collars
Allowed animals to pull heavier loads without choking
Specialized pack saddles
● Enabled pack animals to carry more cargo on their backs
● A crucial function in mountains, deserts, and rough gound that made it hard or impossible to use wheeled vehicles
Water trasnport
● Easier and preferable to overland transport
● Generally cost more to outfit ships than to organize caravans
Junk
Chinese ships capable of open-water navigation and of carrying large amounts of cargo
Intensive agriculture
Use of technology to maximize productive potential of every square foot of a given area
Swidden / shash-and-burn
● Method of intensive agricultrue
● Cleared field by chopping down trees and bushes, and then burned the foliage to fertilize the soil
● Once the soil’s nutrients ran out, villagers cleared more forest or moved on to another location
Terracing of hillsides
● Method of intensive agriculture
● Common in Mesoamerica and hte Andes
Rice-paddy cultivation
● Method of intensive agriculture
● Originated in Southeast Asia
Drining of swmaps and wetlands
Method of intensive agriculture
Building of elevated fields / Floating islands / chinampas
● Method of intensive agriculture
● Teotihuacan’s chinampas
Horse collar
● Chinese pioneered the use of it to agriculture
● Made plowing easier
Aqueducts
● Most famous in Rome but also constructed in India and the Middle East
● Require huge investments of money and labour
Qanat
● Originated in Persia, but used widely throughout Eurasia
● Sank vertical rainwater shafts in the grounds, connecting them to a horizontal but gently downward-sloping underground pipe that carried the collected rainwater toward the area to be irrigated
● Required huge investments of money and labour