UNIT 2: NETWORK OF EXCHANGES

• Networks of exchange


  • Not only created economic interaction, but also facilitated cultural diffusion and transfers
• Major networks of exchange


  • Silk Roads
  • Indian Ocean Network
  • Trans-Saharan Trade
• General developments in major networks of exchange 1200-1450


  • Geographical range expanded
  • Innovations in commercial practices and technology
  • Increased connectivity led to growth of powerful states and cities, and collapse of others
• Silk Roads


  Luxury goods traded, such as Chinese silk and porcelain
• Silk Roads


  • Merchants specialized in luxury goods due to expense and difficulty of travel
  • Expansion reflected growing demand for luxury items
  • Production of luxury goods for trade led to changes in local economies
• Innovations that facilitated Silk Road expansion


  1. Innovations in transportation technology - Caravanserai

  2. Innovations in commercial practices - Money economies, new forms of credit
• Powerful trading city on Silk Roads


  • Samarkand
• Indian Ocean Network


  Traded more common goods like textiles and spices, in addition to luxury goods
• Innovations that facilitated Indian Ocean Network expansion


  1. Improved magnetic compass

  2. Improved astrolabe

  3. New ship designs like Chinese junks
• Powerful state in Indian Ocean Network

  • Swahili city-states
• Indian Ocean Network


  • Establishment of diasporic communities
  • Spread of Islam and emergence of Swahili language
• Influential figure in Indian Ocean Network

  • Zheng He
• Zheng He's voyages led to technological and cultural transfers
• Cultural intermingle


  Led to the further spread of Islam
• Spread of Islam


  Fostered the growth of the Swahili States in East Africa
• Swahili language


  Emerged as a mixture of native Bantu languages and Arabic words
• Cultural diffusion in the Indian Ocean Network


  Came from Zheng He's voyages
• Zheng He was sent by China's Ming Dynasty to enrol states in China's tributary system
• Zheng He's voyages


  • Spread China's advanced maritime technology, especially navigation tools and shipbuilding methods
• Trans-Saharan Trade Network


  Expanded during 1200-1450 due to innovations in transportation technologies
• New and improved camel saddle


  Allowed for transporting bigger loads of cargo across the desert
• Empire of Mali


  Converted to Islam in the 9th century, which folded the state into the prosperous Merchant Network throughout Dar al-Islam
• Mali's wealth and influence


  Reached its highest point in the 14th century under Mansa Musa, who further monopolized trade between the North and the interior of the continent
• Transfer of religion/belief systems


  Example: Buddhism spread from South Asia to China via the Silk Roads
• Transfer of literary and artistic works


  Islamic scholars in Baghdad translated Greek and Roman classics into Arabic, laying the basis for the European Renaissance
• Transfer of scientific and technological innovation


  Gunpowder, invented in China, spread to Muslim empires and Eastern European states
• Rise of cities


  Example: Hangzhou in China became wealthy and urbanized due to its location on the Grand Canal
• Fall of cities


  Example: Baghdad was destroyed by Mongol armies in 1258
• Increased connectivity facilitated travel writing


  Example: Ibn Battuta, a Muslim scholar from Morocco, wrote detailed accounts of his extensive travels throughout Dar al-Islam
• Transfer of crops


  Example: Champa rice was introduced to China, leading to increased food production and population growth
• Transfer of diseases


  Example: The Bubonic Plague spread along trade routes, devastating populations in the Middle East and Europe
• Mongol Empire


  • Replaced powerful empires across Eurasia, including the Song Dynasty and Abbasid Empire
  • Facilitated a significant increase in trade and communication across its territory, known as the Pax Mongolica
  • Facilitated the transfer of technological and cultural innovations, such as the adoption of the Uyghur script