Communication and Exchange Networks

Expansion, Intensification, and Innovations

Key Concept 3.1

"Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade, and expanded the geographical range of existing and newly active trade networks."

New trade routes centering on Mesoamerica and the Andes developed.

New Trading Cities

•Novgorod (Russia)•Timbuktu•The Swahili city-states•Hangzhou•Calicut (a.k.a. Kozhikode)•Baghdad•Melaka•Venice•Tenochtitlan•Cahokia

River port of Hangzhou

Growth of Trade in Luxury Goods

•Silk and cotton textiles•Porcelain•Spices•Precious metals and gems•Slaves•Exotic animals

Transportation/Commercial Technologies: Caravan Organization•Caravanserai•Camel Saddles

New Forms of Credit and Monetization

•Bills of exchange•Credit•Checks•Banking houses

http://www.ancientmoney.org/

State Practices

•Minting of coins•Use of paper money•Grand Canal in China

Trading Organizations

•Hanseatic League

Expansion of Empires

•China•The Byzantine Empire•The Caliphates•The Mongols

How does the expansion of an empire influence trade and communications?

Environmental Knowledge and Technological Adaptations•The way Scandinavian Vikings used their longships to travel

in coastal and open waters as well as in rivers and estuaries•The way the Arabs and Berbers adapted camels to travel

across and around the Sahara•The way Central Asian pastoral groups used horses to travel

in the steppes

Migrations and Their Environmental Impacts• The migration of Bantu-speaking peoples who facilitatedtransmission of iron technologies and agricultural techniques inSub-Saharan Africa

• The maritime migrations of the Polynesian peoples who cultivated transplanted foods and domesticated animals as they moved to new islands

Diffusion of Languages

•The spread of Bantu languages including Swahili •The spread of Turkic and Arabic languages

Cross-Cultural Exchanges- Islam

•Based on revelations of the 'prophet' Muhammad•Arabian peninsula•Reflected interactions among Jews, Christians, and

Zoroastrians•Military Expansion•Also spread through trade activity and missionaries

Diasporic Communities

•Cultural traditions were introduced into indigenous cultures•Muslim merchant communities in the Indian Ocean region•Chinese merchant communities in Southeast Asia•Sogdian merchant communities throughout Central Asia•Jewish communities in the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean

basin, or along the Silk Road

Interregional Travelers

Marco PoloIbn Battuta

Xuanzang

Diffusion of Literary, Artistic, and Cultural Traditions•The influence of Neoconfucianism and Buddhism in East

Asia•Hinduism and Buddhism in Southeast Asia•Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia•Toltec/Mexica and Inca traditions in Mesoamerica

and Andean America

Diffusion of Scientific and Technological Traditions•The influence of Greek and Indian mathematics on Muslim

scholars•The return of Greek science and philosophy to Western

Europe via Muslim al-Andalus in Iberia•The spread of printing and gunpowder technologies from

East Asia into the Islamic empires and Western Europe

New Foods and New Diseases•Bananas in Africa•New rice varieties in East Asia•The spread of cotton, sugar, and citrus throughout Dar al-

Islam and the Mediterranean basin•The spread of epidemic diseases, including the Black Death,

followed the well established paths of trade and military conquest.

Continuity and Innovation of State Forms and Their

Interactions

Key Concept 3.2

Empires Collapse and Reconstitute

•Combined traditional sources of power and legitimacy with innovationsoPatriarchyoReligionoLand-owning elites

Islamic States•Abbasids•Muslim Iberia•Delhi Sultana

tes

City-States

•In the Italian peninsula•In East Africa•In Southeast Asia•In the Americas

What are city-states?

Synthesis by States

•Persian traditions that influenced Islamic states •Chinese traditions that influenced states in Japan

Technological and Cultural Transfers

•Between Tang China and the Abbasids•Across the Mongol empires•During the Crusades

Increased Economic Productive Capacity and Its

Consequences

Key Concept 3.3

Increased Agricultural Production -> Technological Innovations•Champa rice varieties•The chinampa field systems•Waru waru agricultural techniques in the Andean areas•Improved terracing techniques•The horse collar

Terracing in ChinaHorse collar (early form of harness)

•Crops were transported from their indigenous homelands to equivalent climates in other regions.

•Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expanded their production of textiles and porcelains for export

•Industrial production of iron and steel expanded in China.

Factors of Decline

• Invasions

• Disease

• The decline of agricultural productivity

• The Little Ice Age 

As older cities declined, numerous new cities emerged to take on established roles

Factors of Revival 

•The end of invasions•The availability of safe and reliable transport•The rise of commerce and the warmer temperatures between

 800 and 1300•Increased agricultural productivity and subsequent

rising population•Greater availability of labor also contributed to urban growth

Labor Organization

• Free peasant agriculture

• Nomadic pastoralism

• Craft production and guild organization

• Various forms of coerced and unfree labor

• Government-imposed labor taxes

• Military obligations

Social Structures

•Still shaped by class, caste, and/or hierarchy•Patriarchy, BUT•In some areas women gained power and influence, such as:oThe MongolsoWest AfricaoJapanoSoutheast Asia 

Slaves and Peasants

•New forms of coerced labor•Serfdom•Mit'a•Demand for slaves for military and domestic purposes

increased•Free peasants resisted attempts to raise dues and taxes by

staging revolts. Areas:oChinaoThe Byzantine Empire

•Diffusion of  Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Neoconfucianism often led to significant changes in gender relations and family structure.

CCOT

Identify important changes/continuities for each of the following regions:

Europe, Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa

Identify CCOT in terms of SPICE

Review Questions: 1. Compare the impact of the Mongol Empire on cultures and institutions in Eastern Europe, Middle

East, and East Asia2. Contrast the economic, social, cultural, and political role of cities such as Guangzhou (Canton),

Samarkand, Timbuktu, Cairo, and Venice played vital roles in the development of in the period 1100-1368. Choose two the urban centers and analyze how their location, and other factors, contributed to their role as a member of the interregional networks of this era.

3. Compare schisms in Christianity (Roman Catholic-Orthodox) and Islam (Sunni-Shia).4. Compare and contrast the developments in political and social institutions in two of the following

regions from 600 to 1450: Pre-Columbian Americas, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Islamic World, East Asia, South Asia.

5. Compare the significance of Indian Ocean trade patterns to those of the so-called “Silk Road” and the trans-Saharan caravan routes.  Do land-based transportation networks impact adjacent peoples differently from maritime networks? 

6. The era of 600-1450 was marked by different forms of treatment of women and the different roles they played in society. Choose two different cultures below and compare and contrast the role and treatment of women in them.East Asia        Americas        Western Europe        Sub-Saharan Africa Middle East

7. Compare and contrast the impact of Islam on two gender systems in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia or South Asia.

8. Compare and contrast the social, cultural, political and economic structures of the Aztec Empire and Inca Empire.

9. Compare and contrast European and sub-Saharan African contacts with the Islamic world10. Describe and analyze the cultural, economic, and political impact of Islam on ONE of the following

regions between 1000 CE and 1750 CE. Be sure to discuss continuities as well as changes: West Africa, South Asia, Europe