Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks

More Although Afro-Eurasia and the Americas remained separate during this time, this era witnessed a deepening and widening of old and new networks of human interaction within and across regions. The results were unprecedented concentrations of wealth and the intensification of cross-cultural exchange. Innovations in commercial networks, innovations in transportation, state recognition of the importance of trade, all increased trade in this period and…

Islam Played a key role in stabilizing and unifying the connections between the east and west Spread quickly through trade, warfare and diffusion

Existing Trade Routes Encouraged the growth of powerful new trading cities Novgorod Baghdad MelakaTimbuktu VeniceHangzhou Tenochtitlan Calicut Cahokia The Swahili city states

Evidence of… Trade within the Americas, especially north- south trade routes

Luxury Goods Silk and cotton textiles Porcelain Spices Precious metals and gems Slaves Exotic Animals

Commercial Innovations Bills of exchange Credit Checks Banking… Minting of coins Use of paper money

Empires are Good For Trade China The Byzantines The Caliphates The Mongols All love trade and draw more of the hemisphere into trade networks

The Movement of People and Language Vikings Arabs and Berbers adapted camels to make the long trek across the Sahara Central Asians used horses to travel long distances Bantu speaking people brought iron and agriculture technologies through out sub- Saharan Africa Polynesian People traveled the Pacific

Diasporic Communities Muslim traders through the Indian Ocean Chinese merchants in SE Asia Jewish communities in the Mediterranean, in the Indian Ocean Basin and along the Silk road

Travel Writers Ibn-Battuta Marco Polo Xuanzang

Awesome Technology The influence of Indian and Greek math on the Islamic World Greek math, science, and philosophy make their way to Europe after the long, dark ages via the Islamic world Printing and Gunpowder make their way from East Asia to Islamic Empires and Europe

Diffusion of Disease and Crops Bubonic Plague in the mid 1300’s Crops such as new varieties of rice, such as fast-ripening, in East Asia; bananas in Africa; cotton, citrus, sugar throughout Dar al-Islam and the Mediterranean basin—slaves are used to raise sugar in both areas