Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

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AP World History 🌍

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The Indian Ocean became the largest sea-based trade network in this time frame. I know we tend to think of the Silk Roads and luxury items being sold when we picture trade routes. However, the bulk of actual trade happened on the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean traded “regular goods”, in bulk and at a lower cost. Why could bulk goods be carried on water, you ask? Simple. It’s much easier to carry huge quantities of high-demand goods (such as timber) on water than on a camel’s back on land. A couple of these goods included timber, frankincense, ivory, and sandalwood.

Obviously, the biggest difference between this trade and the Silk Road was that it occurred on the sea. This meant they faced all kinds of unexpected obstacles, like unpredictable wind patterns, monsoons, etc. In fact, knowledge of monsoon winds (when they blew at what times) was huge in making Indian Ocean trade happen. Once sailors could utilize where the monsoons were blowing at what times, they could make those winds blow their sails to wherever they wanted to go!

Of course, sailing presents its own unique obstacles. But as always, technology helped people through! Improvements of maritime technologies like lateen sails (the first triangle-shaped sails, allowing ships to be far more maneuverable), dhow ships and the astrolabe (an instrument that vastly increased accurate navigation by measuring the stars), helped sailors navigate safely and consistently throughout the Indian Ocean.

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Dhow Ship with Lateen Sails. Image Courtesy of Wikipedia

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The two major effects of the Indian Ocean are the 2C’s-- community and contact.

Communities: Diasporic communities were set up by merchants  to introduce their own cultural traditions into other cultures. A couple key examples are Arab and Persians in Eastern Asia, Chinese merchants in Southeast Asia, and Malay communities in the Indian Ocean basin.

On a more consolidated note, states formed from the Indian Ocean trade on the edge of the water. Along the Swahili coast, city-states not far departed from the Greek ones of yore formed and grew rich from trade, along with the state of Gujarat in India and the sultanate of Malacca. The last one is particularly key-- Malacca, being an island forming a very thin strait in between itself and East Asia, controlled this strait and became incredibly wealthy, since Chinese merchants often had to travel through it to get to the riches of the Indian Ocean Basin.

Contact: As all trade networks did, the Indian Ocean trade fostered the exchange of ideas, such as Buddhism to Southeast Asia, and Islam across Eurasia. Additionally, many famous travelers such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and eventually Ming Admiral Zheng He utilized these key routes, and their records would soon spread to much of the world.

After studying on your own, invite some friends to a study with me online session to discuss the main points of the lesson and review anything that you may be confused on. It is a great way to for everyone to feel supported while studying!

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Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

 The second unit in AP WORLD HISTORY: MODERN is all about the inter-connectivity of the 1200-1450. The world was about to become a true global network as different regions in the NEXT period (1450-1750) began to interact. However, in THIS period the AFRO-EURASIAN world was already pretty well connected by the Silk Roads, Trans-Saharan Trade Routes, and Indian Ocean Trade Routes. This unit focuses on the effects of these Networks of Exchange…

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

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 commercial 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.

  • The Indian Ocean trading network fostered the growth of states.

  • The growth of inter-regional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the caravanserai, forms of credit, and the development of money economies as well as the use of the compass, the astrolabe and larger ship designs.

  • The economy of Song China flourished as a result of increased productive capacity, expanding trade networks, and innovations in agriculture and manufacturing.

  • The expansion of empires—including the Mongols—facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into their conquerors’ economies and trade networks.

  • The expansion of empires—including Mali in West Africa—facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into the economies and trade networks.

  • The expansion and intensification of long distance trade routes often depended on environmental knowledge, including advanced knowledge of the monsoon winds. The growth of inter-regional trade was encouraged by innovations in existing transportation technologies.

  • Muslim rule continued to expand to many parts of Afro-Eurasia due to military expansion, and Islam subsequently expanded through the activities of merchants, missionaries, and Sufis.

  • In key places along important trade routes, merchants set up diasporic communities where they introduced their own cultural traditions into the indigenous cultures and, in turn, indigenous cultures influenced merchant cultures.

  • As exchange networks intensified, an increasing number of travelers within Afro–Eurasia wrote about their travels. .

  • Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions, as well as scientific and technological innovation.

    • Chinese cultural traditions continued, and they influenced neighboring regions.

    • Buddhism and its core beliefs continued to shape societies in Asia and included a variety of branches, schools, and practices.

    • Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and the core beliefs and practices of these religions continued to shape societies in Africa and Asia.

    • Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism, and their core beliefs and practices, continued to shape societies in South and Southeast Asia.

    • Christianity, Judaism, Islam and the core beliefs and practices of these religions continued to shape societies in Europe.

  • There was continued diffusion of crops and pathogens, with epidemic diseases, including the Bubonic plague, along trade routes.

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

State formation and development demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity in various regions.

  • Abbasid Caliphate fragmented, new Islamic political entities emerged, most of which were dominated by Turkic peoples. These states demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity.

  • Empires and states in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity in the 13th century. This included the Song Dynasty of China, which utilized traditional methods of Confucianism and an imperial bureaucracy to maintain and justify its rule.

  • State formation and development demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity, including the new Hindu and Buddhist states that emerged in South and Southeast Asia.

  • Europe was politically fragmented and characterized by decentralized monarchies, feudalism, and the manorial system.

  • Empires collapsed in different regions of the world and in some areas were replaced by new imperial states, including the Mongol khanates.

  • In the Americas and in Africa, as in Eurasia, state systems demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity, and expanded in scope and reach.

  • Muslim states and empires encouraged significant intellectual innovations and transfers.

  • Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires, including the Mongols, encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers, including during Chinese maritime activity led by Ming Admiral Zheng He.

Which trade networks facilitated cultural and technological transfers in the 1200 to 1450 time period?

Changes in trade networks resulted from and stimulated increasing productive capacity, with important implications for social and gender structures and environmental processes.

  • Demand for luxury goods increased in Afro–Eurasia. Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expanded their production of textiles and porcelains for export; manufacture of iron and steel expanded in China.

  • The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significant decline and periods of increased urbanization buoyed by rising productivity and expanding trade networks.

  • The economy of Song China became increasingly commercialized while continuing to depend on free peasant and artisanal labor.

  • Europe was largely an agricultural society dependent on free and coerced labor, including serfdom.