Unit 2: Networks of Exchange

Question 1

Describe the height of the Middle Ages.

Answer 1

Towns emerged in an act of urbanization as trade increased. These towns…

• chartered on lands controlled by feudal Lords
• burghers arose
• allainces between towns were established, most notable example being the Hanseatic League (13th-15th century)

Question 2

What effect did commercial interdependence have in Western Europe?

Answer 2

It prompted nationhood and social mobility amongst the classes.

Question 3

Describe the artistic nature of the Middle Ages.

Answer 3

• Gothic style arose with “flying buttresses” up to support high windows and ceilings
• Gotchi style was initially used for cathedrals but came to be an art form
• artists were commissioned

Question 4

What is scholasticism?

Answer 4

As universities were founded, a surge in an intellectual pursuit of science occurred. Interaction with Byzantium and the Arabic Empire fueled this process via trading and crusading.

Question 5

Describe the Crusades.

Answer 5

• 1095-1291

- were religious wars aimed to liberate the Holy Land and convert Muslims and non-Christians into Christianity

Question 6

What were the effects of scholasticism on the Roman Catholic Church?

Answer 6

The rise of scholasticism gave way to heresies, some of which arose from the people’s view of the Chruch as becoming wealthy and worldly.

Question 7

Briefly summarize the whole situation with heresies.

Answer 7

In 1201, Pope Innocent II launched the Crusade that sacked Constantinople and persecuted heretics and Jews. Pope Gregory the 9th, after a few years of the fall of the Latin Empire in Byzantium, also persecuted heretics. Because of all this persecution and power exercised by the Church prompted the name Church Militant.

Question 8

Describe the Bubonic Plague.

Answer 8

• originated in China
• began at around the 1330s
• beacuse of Mongol rule, it spread quickly and rapidly
• indirectly brought about social and economic movements since it allowed for lesser authority and more individual freedom

Question 9

Describe urbanization in the 1440s.

Answer 9

• cities started to emerge as a place for exchange
• cities also began acting as displays of power and wealth
• cities were usually located along trade routes or places with good defense

Question 10

Prior to the 1400s, what was the only economically noteworthy city at the time?

Answer 10

Constantinople. But, Paris and Italy emerged as new trading powers after the 1400s.

Question 11

Who were the Mongols?

Answer 11

They were nomadic, pastoral people who were superb horsemen and archers from thier homeland in Mongolia. They were initially tribes but were united under Chinggis Khan, who expanded the empire so that the unity between the tribes would not be destroyed. They began this conquest of Eurasia in 1234 but were divided into hordes.

Question 12

Did the Mongols assimilate into Persian society?

Answer 12

Yes.

Question 13

What did the Mongols do or didn’t do during their rule?

Answer 13

They did not bother establishing thier culture or religion amongst the vastly different ethnuc groups under their control. They established the first pony express and assisted in spreading technologies and cultures, just not their own.

Question 14

What did Timur/Tamerlane do?

Answer 14

He took over the Dehli Sultanate, but when returning to his capital at Samarkand, the sultanate was restored.

Question 15

How did the Mongols expand so much?

Answer 15

They were a highly organized and mobile army and had advanced bows (the composite bow) and calvary. They were so brutal that other nations grew weary of them and planned out how they were going to react to them.

Question 16

Describe the Mongol Impact.

Answer 16

-in China, inter-marriage was prohibited and Chinese learning of the Mongol language
TWO MAJOR CONSEQUENCES:
-Russia didn’t develop as quickly as the rest of Europe.
-a Eurasian form of globalization occured
-by the 1450s, the world would never again be disconnected

Question 17

Describe the Mali Empire.

Answer 17

• 1200-1450
• Mali had tons of gold
• capital city was Timbuktu
• ruler was Mansa Musa
• in 1324, Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca with gold-carrying servants and camels and became an international sensation
• Mali actively partook in trade with the Muslim world

Question 18

Describe the Songhai Empire.

Answer 18

• ended at around 1600
• largest empire in West Africa
• had a university that attracted Islamic scholars in Timbuktu

Question 19

List some notable Chinese technologies.

Answer 19

• bureaucratic system based on merit with the imperial examinations
• these examinations provided the government with loyal workers since they were also based in Confucian values
• transportation was established (canals)
• business practices of paper money and letters of credit
• movable type was made
• printed books spread knowledge, leading to increased productivity and population growth

Question 20

List some more notable Chinese technologies.

Answer 20

• gunpowder
• compass
• bulkheads
• Chinesw junks
• increase in iron production from 800-1100
• Chapma rise, drought-resistant and fast-ripening from Vietnam led to increased population

Question 21

What helped develop maintained trade relationships?

Answer 21

Monetary systems and accounting methods helped maintain business trade relationships; record-keeping and money management are key.

Question 22

Did trade systems allow the Bubonic Plague to spread from China? How many people did the Bubonic Plague kill?

Answer 22

Yes. The plague killed one out of three people in Western Europe and caused feudalism to decline as manors could not function.

Question 23

Describe Great Zimbabwe.

Answer 23

• located in modern-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique

- the de facto distributer of African gold to the rest of the world

Question 24

Did the Indian Ocean have resilient ships as compared to other naval trades?

Answer 24

Yes, and it was also comparitively safer than the Mediterranean trade.

Question 25

What is one way of cultural diffusion?

Answer 25

Inter-marriage

Question 26

Describe the Silk Road.

Answer 26

• was once again used from 1200-1600 with trade towns such as Kashgar and Samarkand emerging in Central Asia
• interaction here led to a common script for easier trade communication in Central Asia
• carried porcelain, paper, military technologies, religions, food, silk, etc.

Question 27

Describe the Hanseatic League.

Answer 27

• 13th-15th centuries
• created a trade monopoly in northern Europe
• fought off pirates and foreign governments
• resulted in more middle class (trade generally leads to more middle class)
• set a precedent for large, European trading operations

Question 28

Was the world in a global network in this time period?

Answer 28

It was a web of interconnected but highly independent parts, except the Americas.

Question 29

What was one of the most significant influences on cultural interaction and diffusion?

Answer 29

Expansion of empires and the intentional diffusion of religion

Question 30

What is meant by the intentional diffusion of religion?

Answer 30

Missionary work or religious warfare

Question 31

What other reasons, despite trade and conquest, caused interaction within and among cultures to occur?

Answer 31

A rise in population, since this meant having to expand the empire and more crowding in manors or small towns. What resulted was large cities growing even larger, which meant more opportunities and attracted more people, thereby initiating a sort of positive feedback mechanism.

Question 32

What was another reason that cities grew in this time period?

Answer 32

Because these cities were placed as the centers of civilization; in fact, moving capital cities around gave rise to an aura of a rising empire. The building of these new capital cities attracted people as even universities were made, so as a result, different people came together to live in the same place, causing cultural diffusion.

Question 33

Name one more reason for cultural diffusion to have been so adamant in this time period.

Answer 33

Religious pilgrimages; Rome and Constantinople attracted individuals for their cathedrals, and Mecca attracted Islams.

Question 34

Name some notable global travelers in this time period.

Answer 34

• Xuanzang: went to India to gain a more profound understanding of Buddhism during the Tang dynasty
• Marco Polo: a Venetian merchant who made his way to China and back to Europe
• Ibn Battuta: a Muslim traveler who went throughout the Islamic World and into India and China before coming back to Morocco
• Margery Kempe: a Christian traveler who visited the Holy Land and other religious sites on the way

Question 35

What led to innovation, generally speaking?

Answer 35

Interaction and the need to fulfill this interaction

Question 36

How were women being treated in this time period?

Answer 36

Generally speaking, as a civilization grows more wealthy and urban, women of elite status have their freedoms restricted, as seen in the young age of marriage in South Asia. HOWEVER, a woman may rise to power if there is no male heir or if the male hier is very young.

Question 37

How were woman treated in Africa in this time period?

Answer 37

African societies were quite egalitarian as they continued to abide by a matrilineal system even as they traded with others.

Question 38

Were elite women literate and wealthy during this time period in relatively sexist areas such as China and Japan?

Answer 38

Yes, especially as these civilizations interacted with the wider world.

Question 39

JUST A NOTE.

Answer 39

It helps to think of the world in terms of major cultural divisions. Religious especially help as fully centralized, global superpowers have yet to arise in this stage of world history.

Question 40

What were tributes typically used for, metaphorically speaking?

Answer 40

To demonstrate loyalty to a ruling entity.

Question 41

Was there a unity between political and religious entities in Islamic countries?

Answer 41

Yes.