From then To now

I can show how an increase in contact amongst groups, led to a profound exchange of knowledge and ideas. POINT- the exchange of knowledge and ideas due to the contact between groups in the crusades and the silk road. PROOF- when the roman empire moved into what is now the middle east, people accepted exotic goods from as far away as China and Japan. In the late middle ages, armies from Europe organized crusades to try to recapture areas of the middle east that were under Muslim control. Inventions such as the irrigation waterwheel, invented around the region of Dacamus, moved in both directions being found in the far reaches of the Islamic civilization and as far east as Cathay ( China ). Comment- the contact amongst groups was the savior of the world because the new inventions led to the technology we have today.

PROOF - the sailors were either dead or dying of an unknown disease. Pus and blood oozed from painful black lumps in there armpits and groin, their skin looked bruised because of internal bleeding, and the smell of their breath, sweat, blood, urine, and excrement was horrible. Most of the sailors died within three to five days of catching the Black Death. Cities suffered most of the deaths, but once rural communities were infected, it was not uncommon for 90% of the residents to die. So many died that bodies were left to rot in the street or were buried in mass graves. Comment- the bubonic plague was the cause due to the fact that the rural areas were the most devastated by the loses of people in the area. POINT- the urbanization grew out of the bubonic plague because the cities were supposed to be safer than the rural areas.

POINT- the increase of trade and urbanization led to development of city-states because it started with the bubonic plague, but soon became the place to get better jobs and easy trade access. PROOF- by the late middle ages, Europeans wanted more exotic silks and spices that had been brought back by crusaders. Merchants hired sailors and adventurers to open new trade routes to China, north Africa, and the Middle East. The trade routes created new rivalries in the trading industries and shipping in the Western world that had not existed since the Roman empire. COMMENT- in the middle ages the Europeans to me are getting greedy and want to gain more power so they can be strong in wealth.

The silk road was the heart of the crusades because the goods that the western people were traded from the Asians. As the silk road was used more and more to trade for exotic spices, silks, metals and other goods people (merchants) started to trade themselves. They soon realized that they got wealthier and wealthier as they traded. The feudal system was crumbling from right under their feet. Eventually the feudal system was gone because surfs and peasants became wealthier than the king or monarch. Little did the Europeans know that goods weren’t the only thing to travel on the silk road.

The black death was a disease first brought over by rats hidden on ships returning from the trade route. When the people saw them they noticed pus and blood coming out of black lumps in their armpits and groin. Their breath, sweat and excrement had a horrible smell. The black death would be the H1N1 of today or the polio of the early 20 century. Although the H1N1 wasn’t fatal it was a contagious disease. The polio was a highly contagious disease that in about every 2 percent of the population died because it attacked their nervous system, spinal cord and/or brain. Some of the people infected by the polio virus were paralyzed. The polio virus, much like the black death, attacked many times between the 1930’s and the 1950’s. The H1N1 infected many people and they had to go to hospital until they found the cure. The polio virus, H1N1 and the black death are all alike in many ways.