Unit 2 - Networks of Exchange c. 1200 - 1450

Question 1

Explain the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200. (The Silk Roads)

Answer 1

• commercial practices + new tech -> ↑ volume of trade bc it made trade more efficient + safer:
  - saddles: ↑ the amount of cargo a camel could carry
  - caravans: traveling in groups in caravans is much safer than traveling alone
  - caravanserai: inns 100 miles apart where traders could rest & trade w/ each other
  - China’s flying cash: allows a person to deposit $ at a certain location, then can withdraw that same amount at another location via bills of exchange -> 1300’s EU models banks after flying cash locations
  
  • paper money instead of coins + goods bc they’re too unwieldy
• silk roads = arid + no water so cities grew where rivers were available
• cities served as centers of trade + cultural exchange:
  - kashgar: at the crossroads of the n. + s. silk roads routes
  - provided food (rice, fruits), textiles, rugs, pottery to replenish travelers’ spirits
  - former Buddhist but then became home to Islamic scholarship
  - samarkand: located in modern-day Uzbekistan
  - stopping pt btwn china & mediterranean
  - very religiously diverse (buddhists here adapted zoroastrian fire rituals - CHANGE)
  - embellished mosques + islamic learning centers
• demand for luxury goods like silk (status symbol) + porcelains ↑ in eurasia -> chinese + persian + indian artisans had to increase their supply by expanding their production

Question 2

Explain the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200. (The Indian Ocean Trade)

Answer 2

• new tech + env knowledge -> ↑ trade:
  
  • mag compass
  • astrolabe: allowed sailors to determine their latitude
    - og greek but arabs improved it
  • lateen sail: triangular sails that caught wind coming from many directions -> ↑ ship mobility
  • stern rudders: made ships more stable + easier to maneuver
  • Chinese Junks: based on Arab Dhows, these ships were 400 ft long + several sails + hull divided into sections w/ thick walls to prevent sinking of goods
  • monsoon winds impacted the time when a sailor could set sail
    - winds blew from the NE in winter but in summer they blew from SW
    - merchants timed their voyages carefully in an effort to maximize their trip’s efficiency -> some resided in a port city for months waiting for favorable wind conditions but would end up forming diasporic communities + marrying a local woman -> merchants introduce their own cultural trads to indig cultures & vice versa (ISLAM + INTERMARRIAGE)
    - arab + persians in east africa + china
    - chinese in se asia
• expanded trade -> growth of cities/states:
  - calicut: bustling port city that accumulated wealth bc arab + chinese merchants met here to exchange goods + obtain south indian spices
  - malacca: a muslim city-state that attained wealth thru charging ships that passed thru the malacca strait, a thin channel anyone needed to pass to get to china
  - gujarat sultanate: western indian rajput kingdom that became an intermediary btwn the east/west
  - gov’t ↑ their role in an effort to supervise manufacturing + impose taxes on imported goods (customs)
  - swahili city-states: thriving centers of trade that sold ivory + gold + SLAVES (indian ocean slaves usually performed domestic duties + had more rights)
  - ISLAM brought by merchants
• zheng he, a muslim ming admiral, who was sent by the emperor on 7 voyages around the indian ocean basin to display the might of the ming + receive tribute
  - won prestige for chinese gov’t + opened new markets + brought exotic treasures to china like giraffes
  - his voyages ended as the new emperor worried that more interaction w/ foreign cultures put china’s social organization at risk + others looked down on other cultures + voyages were $$
  - beginning of chinese isolationism

Question 3

Explain the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200. (The Trans-Saharan Trade)

Answer 3

• Trans-Saharan Trade: 7 north-south routes, 2 east-west routes
• new tech -> ↑ trade + wealth to kingdoms:
  - caravans
  - camels help traverse sahara desert
  - camel saddles created by Somalis in E. Africa
• stuff traded:
  - ivory + slaves for salt, textiles, and horses
  - brought islam (however trad animism beliefs remained)
• kingdoms:
  - ghana declined bc of wars w/ neighbors -> mali takes over & becomes prosperous bc of gold trade + taxation of goods
  - timbuktu: center of islamic learning
  - sundiata (lion king) + mansa musa greatly spread islam
  - made connections w/ other states thru islam
  - 1400s songhai came after & prosperous like mali

Question 4

how did mongol khanates form and govern? how did they facilitate afro-eurasian trade?

Answer 4

• temujin (aka genghis khan) born in 1162 was power hungry as he sought tribal alliances + defeated rivals -> appointed khan bc of his ruthlesness
  - would send messengers (pony express/relay system) to enemy aristocrats to surrender, if they don’t he would kill them immediately + anyone who resisted
  - army highly disciplined, great horse riders, & skilled w/ short bow
  - often deployed a force smaller than their enemies, would retreat + opposing forces chase after them, and then a larger mongol army would flank them
  - used seige weapons (catapults) to attack wall forts
  - some leaders surrended before mongols even attacked
• mongol women enjoyed more freedom bc living in the steppes was difficult *
• even tho ruthless, governing pretty chil = Pax Mongolica 1200s - 1300s
  - implemented a policy of religious toleration (vry progressive)
  - protected silk roads by prosecuting bandits
  - new routes established + old ones renewed
  - facilitated cultural/tech transfers:
  - Transfer of Greco–Islamic medical knowledge to western Europe
  - Transfer of numbering systems to Europe
  - Adoption of Uyghur script
  - SPREAD BLACK DEATH
• after death of genghis, three grandsons set up their own khanates:
  - first conquest was of china:
  - established yuan dynasty in 1271
  - infrastructure improved + artists recognized -> confucians thought that mongols had mandate of heaven
  - mongols resisted assimilation to chinese by forbid learning of mongol language + outlawed intermarriage
  - only ruled for 100 yrs bc white lotus society secretly plotted successful revolt bc mongols failed to conquer japan, indochina, burma, and java -> established ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)
  - golden horde: mongols conquer christian russia -> evaporated west’s indifference to mongols
  - mongols ruled indirectly thru existing russian rulers
  - rulers of moscow began setting aside some $$ to fight back -> successfully revolted + forced russian city-states to unify
  - il-khanate: in central asia + mid east
  - rly violent in conquest (1258 sacked baghdad + 200,000 ppl died)
  - Mongols were influenced by persians rather than vice versa:
  - Made use of the persian administration system (indirect ruling)
  - Mongols who conquered persia became muslim but then started massacring christians + jews
  - Mongols just eventually assimilated into persian culture

Question 5

Explain the intellectual and cultural effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from 1200 to 1450. (cultural effects of connectivity)

Answer 5

• As religions transferred and traveled across trade routes, they helped unify more people and justify leadership or religious syncretism
  - syncretism:
  - Zen Buddhism
  - Neo Confucianism
  - Swahili
• scientific/tech diffusion:
  - Medical advances = improved healthcare and hospitals
  - Standardized medical professions by creating medical examinations and licenses
  - Lateen sail
  - Sternpost Rudder
  - Magnetic Compass
  - Astrolabe
  - gunpowder from china
  - paper from china
• growth of cities bc of expanding trade networks:
  - timbuktu
  - calicut
  - hangzhou, china
  - cultural + trade center bc of merchant activity + located at southern tip of grand canal
  - thriving arab minority (DIASPORIC COMMUNITIES)
  - poetry flourishes (lu yu + xin qiji)
• travelers! :
  - marco polo (pov based on trade bc was a merchant)
  - Ibn Battuta: Muslim traveler + wanted to travel throughout dar-al-islam
  - detailed his journeys -> Muslim pop was fascinated by his stories + had similar reactions as europeans when they first read marco polo’s journal entries
  - margery kempe: english mystic who traveled to rome, jerusalem, spain, germany, etc.
  - created first autobiography

Question 6

Explain the environmental effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from 1200 to 1450. (env effects of connectivity)

Answer 6

• diffusion of crops along trade routes:
  - more enriched diets -> pop growth
  - champa rice!!
  - bananas introduced to sub-saharan africa by indonesian merchants
  - bananas allowed bantu ppl to move to diff regions since they no longer had to rely only on lands where they could grow yams
  - caliphs spread cotton + citrus + sugar beyond arab peninsula
  - sugar introduced to eu -> massive use of slaves
• diffusion of diseases along trade routes:
  - fleas carried bubonic plague
  - traveled w/ mongols, caravans(erai), ships, etc
  - ravaged EU + north africa + china + c. asia
  - sub-saharan africa + south asia avoided bc not a lot of trading ports there
• env degradation:
  - overgrazing in great zimbabwe -> desertation in 1400s
  - mayan’s slash & burn technique