Cross-Cultural Interactions

1000 CE – 1450 CE

Big Picture• The societies of the Eastern Hemisphere begin

to travel, trade, and communicate on a much greater scale

• The rise to power of the nomadic tribes such as the Mongols, at first interrupted trade, laid the groundwork for more substantial interraction

• Merchant, missionaries, and diplomats now traveled on safer roads

• Technological innovations led to increased sea exploration and trade

• Religious faiths, technology, and eventually diseases followed the same routes as products

The Crusades

• Pope Urban II called for a crusade to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims in 1095

• Eventually four crusades to capture the Holy Land would take place, only the second would capture Jerusalem

• The political and religious failures of the crusades was offset by the economic and commercial opportunities resulting from increased interaction between Europeans and the Eastern Mediterranean– Aristotle, “Arabic numerals”, paper production

Long-Distance Travel and Trade

• Two principle trade routes:– Silk Roads

• Mongols provided political unification and safer roads

– Indian Ocean

• Create many destinations:– All of Eurasia– Southeast Asia– West Africa

• Created many wealthy trading cities:– Timbuktu– Melaka (Malacca)

Long-Distance Travel and Trade

• Citrus fruits

• Cotton

• Sugar

Long-Distance Trade and Travel

• What went with the products????– Missionaries– Narratives and stories– Technology– Disease

Long-Distance Travel and Trade

• For the first time merchants began traveling the length of the roads– Marco Polo– He served as a governor of Yangzhou in China,

according to him– “Marco Polo was able to find China by repeatedly

shouting his first name and waiting for China to respond with his last name.”

- John Stewart, America

Marco Polo’s Journey

Political and Diplomatic Travel

• Mongols and Christians recognize common enemy in the 13th Century

• Pope Innocent IV invited the Mongols to convert to Christianity – Mongols counter-offer: Christians accept Mongol

rule or face destruction

“Ring around the rosie,

Pocket full of posie,

Ashes, ashes,

We all fall down”

Bubonic Plague

• Little Ice Age, c. 1300 CE– Shorter growing season– Decline in agricultural output leads to widespread

famine

• Bubonic plague originates in south-west China– Carried by fleas on rodents– Mongol campaigns bring disease to Chinese interior

Spread of the Bubonic Plague

• Plague spread with Mongols, merchants, and travelers westward– 1346 CE Black Sea Ports

– 1347 Mediterranean Ports

– 1348 Western Europe

Symptoms of the Black Plague

• Inflamed and discolored lymph nodes in neck, armpits, groin area– Buboes, hence Bubonic

• 60-70% mortality rate, within days of onset of symptoms

• Extreme northern climates less affected– Winter hard on flea population

• India, sub-Saharan areas unaffected– Reasons unknown

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Europe

Black Death European Art

Black Death European Art

Social and Economic Effects

• Massive labor shortage• Demand for higher wages• Population movements• Governments attempt to freeze wages, stop

serf movements

• If something like this happened today: who would suffer the most? What would happen to trade/travel? What would it do to people’s religious views? How would it influence society?

Recovery in China: Ming Dynasty

• Yuan dynasty collapses 1368, Mongols depart

• Impoverished orphan raised by Buddhist monks, works through military ranks, becomes Emperor Hongwu

• Proclaims new Ming (“Brilliant”) dynasty, 1368-1644

Ming Centralization

• Reestablishment of Confucian educational system

• Execution of minister suspected of treason, begins tradition of direct rule by Emperor

• Reliance on emissaries called Mandarins

• Heavy reliance on eunuchs– Sterile, could not build hereditary power base

• Centralized structure lasts through Qing dynasty to 1911

Chinese Exploration

• Ming dynasty hesitant to have large foreign populations– Mongol experience– Allowed small populations in port cities

• Yongle engaged Admiral Zheng He to mount seven massive naval expeditions, 1405-1433

• Placed trade under imperial control

• Demonstrated strength of Ming dynasty

• Successful, but aborted as Mongols presented new threat in the north

Chinese Exploration: Junk

Chinese Exploration: Junk

Zheng He’s Journey’s

• 7 journey’s to gain control of trade and to awe foreign rivals

• His first expedition contained over 300 ships and 28,000 armed troops

• Destinations included: Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa