Unit 2: The Networks of Exchange

Mrs. Nour Abdelkhaleq

Objectives:
1. Identify a city on the silk road and explain its significance
2. Identify a major trade area in the Indian Ocean and explain its significance
3. Identify a major land explorer in the Old World and explain their significance
What are the Networks of Exchange? 1200-1450
• A deepening and widening of networks of human interaction within and
across regions contributed to cultural, technological, and biological
diffusion within and between various societies.

• Improved trade practices led to an increased volume of trade and

expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes

• Including the Silk Roads, trans-Saharan trade network, and Indian Ocean—
promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities.
Improved Commercial Practices

• Further development of money economy.

• There were already different types of currency before the 1200 but during
this period there were more innovations within the money economy.
• In China, there was a development of the system of credit called
flying money or paper currency.
• In Europe, developments in banking houses
How do you
think paper
money
made life
easier for
merchants?
UNIT 2.1: The Silk Roads
The Silk Roads

• Overland trade routes between China and Constantinople, connecting every area in
between
• Named for the lucrative trade of silk from China, it also involved numerous other
exotic products that people could obtain from merchants travelling across the route.
• The route was normally quite dangerous, as it wasn’t united in one state, which
made goods even more expensive as merchants had to pay staff to protect them
and their goods, and any other licenses and passes needed to travel across states.
• We can think of the Silk Roads as a highway.
Important Cities on the Silk Road

• Kashgar: One of the westernmost cities of China, located in an oasis on the Silk
Road, near the border with modern day India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (The place
still exists today). It had a highly diverse population of half a million people during
this time, owing to its important location on a trade route.
• Samarkand: One of the most important cities in Central Asia and one of the oldest
continually inhabited locations in human history. It was important to the Mongol
Empire (13th century) and the capital of Timur’s Empire (14 th century)
• Modern day uzbekistan

• Constantinople: Previously Byzantium, and now Istanbul, this city was the capital of
the Eastern Roman Empire and one of the most powerful, wealthy, and influential
cities in Europe and the world.
Trade on the Silk Roads

• The merchants were traveling far and for long periods of time. they
wanted to make sure they were getting valuable products.
• Silk, porcelain, tea from China
• Species, rugs and other luxury goods from the Middle East.
CaravanSerai

❖ Caravan= groups of people traveling together.

❖ Serai= Palace
❖ Roadside inns located along the Silk Road that provided shelter to
travelers and served as a marketplace for trading goods.
❖ Merchants could rest, camels could rest and drink water.
❖ A way the government could support trade
❖ https://images.nationalgeographic.org/image/upload/v1645781815/Education
Hub/files/where-worlds-and-ideas-connect-caravanserai.pdf
UNIT 2.2

The Mongol Empire and the Making of the Modern World

“The greatest happiness is to vanquish your enemies, to chase them

before you, to rob them of their wealth, to see those dear to them
bathed in tears, to clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.”
--Genghis Khan
Mongol Invasions of the Middle East

• The Khwarezmian Shah looted a trade caravan sent by Temujin’s state in the far Orient
• Temujin sent ambassadors to request punishment for the looters and a return of their
property. They were beheaded and their heads sent back to Temujin
• The Khwarezmian dynasty was the most powerful state in the Middle East, Africa, and
Europe. Temujin was just a Mongol
• Temujin had already taken the title King of Kings, or in his language, Genghis Khan
• The Mongols killed 40 million people in their conquests, and enslaved or drafted
anyone who wasn’t killed
• The Mongols destroyed the Library of Baghdad in the Middle East, eliminating the
House of Wisdom and eradicating the primary font of knowledge of the Islamic world.
Technological and Cultural transfers
• Mongols were incredibly meritocratic, and allowed a freedom of religion unlike
almost any other state in the time period
• This meant that many experts were of different cultural and religious backgrounds,
who were often working together towards different ends.

• Greco-Roman ideas, focused mainly on Empirical observation, were preserved by

Islam and spread by in the Continuous Mongol Empire
• Trade, such as the Silk Road, was now unified within the Mongol Empire. This
allowed a much greater volume of trade since it was much safer to move through
the area.
• This meant more people traveled more frequently, creating diasporic
communities along these routes, and diffusing cultures and technologies
• Expanded trade meant growing cities and larger populations
BLACK DEATH VIDEO
Mongol Fall

• “Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and

governing that is hard.”
--Genghis Khan

• The Mongols were not invincible. They failed multiple times to take
over Japan, which (temporarily) united itself against Mongol invasions
• The Mongol Empire could not stay united after Temujin's death, and it
was split into multiple Khanates ruled by his heirs.
UNIT 2.3
Exchange in the Indian Ocean
Swahili Coast

• East Africa experienced significant economic growth thanks to trade in

the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, involving Africa, the Middle East, and
India. This led to the growth of several city states, and the Bantu
language of the people in the region grew with many loan words from
Arabic and Hindu languages, producing the Swahili Language.
• Gold was one of the most traded goods in the region, and one of the
greatest cities that came about because of the trade was the city of Kilwa
• The Portuguese will forcibly take over the trade in the region, and destroy
the city of Kilwa in 1505CE
Gujarat

• A western Indian province with close proximity to the Arabic peninsula

in the Middle East, and one of the most important stops in Indian Ocean
trade routes
• The region had a growing Muslim presence, and once a significant
portion of the population was Muslim, the Rajputs were deposed by
foreign Islamist forces
• The region would remain massively important in the Indian
subcontinent, in the Mughal Empire, Maratha Empire, and even as a
base of operation for Mahatma Gandhi in the 20th century.
Sultanate of Malacca

• In the South-East seas of Asia, the Sultan of Malacca made an obscene

amount of wealth by building a navy and charging ships passing
through the region
• Unfortunately for Malacca, this would make them a target for
Europeans seeking to control trade in the region
• The Sultanate of Malacca operated in a similar way as Venice in Europe
at the time, which used its navy to dominate Mediterranean trade
Diasporic Communities

• Diasporic communities are very common with trade routes so

extensive, and that take so long to traverse.
• Trade routes in this time period created multiple diasporic communities
that spread their cultures and religions outside their normal state
bounds. Some examples of these include
• Arab and Persian communities in East Africa
• Chinese merchant communities in Southeast Asia
• Malay communities in the Indian Ocean basin
UNIT 2.4
Trans-Saharan Trade Routes
Technologies encouraging interregional trade
• Trade across the Saharan desert was made possible due to several
factors
• Demand for goods: West African states desired goods and had goods to
trade, principally gold.
• Camels had several advantages over horses for crossing a desert, being
able to drink enormous amounts of water quickly and not needing to drink
for significant stretches of time
• Camel saddles of various kinds allowed merchants to use camels to ride,
scout, carry cargo, and even for war
• Ultimately this resulted in trade caravans; large streams of camels led by
merchants through the desert in lucrative overland trade routes
UNIT 2.5
Cultural Consequences of Connectivity
Diffusion of Scientific or Technological
Innovations
• These large scale trade routes allowed technological diffusion as well as the extraordinary
amount of syncretism it created
• Chinese gunpowder made its way west, to Europe, where eventually they would give way to
cannons. This would drastically change the balance of power in the world from then forward, as
Europeans began to evolve their military tactics and strategies to pursue their interests around
the world.
• Paper from China made its way west, being adopted for record keeping by the states that used
it, and it was fundamental for future technologies (such as the printing press) to work
• Islamic technologies spread to Europe as religious conflicts between Christians and Muslims
continued. Europeans used these technologies, particularly navigational technologies, to
explore the world and expand their influence and wealth
Famous Travelers
• Marco Polo: A Venetian merchant who traveled with his father (who met
Kublai Khan) to China, and although he was not the first European to do
this, he was the first to leave such a detailed account of the grandeur
of the far east in his accounts, Livre des Merveilles du Monde (Book of
the Marvels of the World or The Travels of Marco Polo)
• Margery Kempe: An English woman who may have written the first
autobiographical work in English, The Book of Margery Kempe, which
chronicles her domestic troubles, pilgrimages to Christian holy sites,
and her musings with and about God.
 Ibn Battuta
• A Muslim Moroccan
Scholar who spent
three decades
traveling within and
without the Islamic
world throughout Asia
and Africa.
• His book is titled A Gift
to Those Who
Contemplate the
Wonders of Cities and
the Marvels of
Traveling
UNIT 2.6
Environmental Consequences of Connectivity
Diffusion of Crops
• Moving crops allows people to grow and sell things closer to where the
demand for them is.
• Where crops naturally grow, there are typically natural pests and diseases.
Moving crops, while often bad for the ecosystem, gives them a better
chance at mass production without their natural pests and diseases.
• Some examples of crops diffused through Eurasian and African trade are
• Bananas
• New varieties of Rice in East Asia
• Spread of Citruses in the Middle East
Cultural Consequences vs. Environmental
consequences