1. The Post-Classical Era
The Post-Classical Era

2. Improved transportation and commercial tech led to increased trade & expanded the geographical range of existing and newly active networks.

3. Existing trade routes flourished & promoted the growth of powerful new trading cities.

4. Trans-Saharan Network

5. Mediterranean Sea

6. Indian Ocean Basins

7. Trading City: Venice

8. New Trade routes centering on Mesoamerica and the Andes developed.

9. Trade in luxury goods increased with new technologies.
Caravan organization
Navigation: astrolabe, compass, larger ships
New forms of credit and money
astrolabe

10. Commercial growth eased by state practices, trade orgs, and infrastructure
State practice: minting of coins
Trading organization: Hanseatic League

11. Expansion of empires aided trade and communication, drawing in new people.
China – Tang Empire
Byzantine Empire
Caliphates
Mongols

12. Movement of peoples caused environmental and linguistic effects.
Expansion & intensification of long distance trade depended on environmental knowledge and adaptations to it.
Example: Arabs, camels, the Sahara

13. Some migrations had significant environmental impact.
Bantu migration

14. Some migrations had significant environmental impact.
Example: Polynesian Migration

15. Cross-cultural exchanges fostered by networks of trade and communication
Islam: result of interaction
Spread of Islam through merchants and missionaries
Arabian dhow
Sufi whirling (meditation)

16. On trade routes, merchants set up diasporic communities where cultural blending (syncretism) occurred.
Muslim merchant communities in the IO region
Great mosque of Kilwa, earliest mosque in East Africa

17. Writings of certain interregional travelers show the extent and limitations of intercultural knowledge and understanding.
Examples: Ibn Battuta & Marco Polo

18. Example: Influence of Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism in East Asia
Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion (spread) of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions.
Example: Influence of Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism in East Asia

19. Increased cross-cultural interactions also led to the spread of science and technology.
Example: Printing and gunpowder technologies from East Asia into Islamic Empires and Western Europe

20. Continued spread of crops and diseases along trade routes
E.g. Spread of cotton, sugar, and citrus throughout Dar-al-Islam (areas where Muslims can practice their religion freely)

21. Spread of diseases
Black Death during Pax Mongolica

22. Empires collapsed and were rebuilt; in some regions new state forms emerged.
Byzantine Empire continues Rome
Sui-Tang-Song

23. Most reborn governments combined power traditions with innovations.
e.g. Patriarchy in Sui-Tang-Song China
e.g. adaptation of religion

24. Some new forms of governance emerged.
Islamic states (Umayyad, Abbasid caliphates)
City states
Decentralized (feudal) states

25. Some states borrowed & blended local traditions.
E.g. Sinofication of Japan

26. In Americas: expanded states, networks, and empires
Mayan city-states
Aztec Empire
Incan Empire

27. Interregional contacts and conflicts led to technological and cultural transfers.
Tang China & Abbasids
Pax Mongolica
The Crusades

28. Innovations stimulated agricultural and industrial production.
Increase in agricultural production due to technological innovations
Champa rice in East Asia
Horse collar in Europe

29. Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expanded production for export.
Song commercial revolution – porcelain

30. Fate of cities varied from decline to growth
Factors leading to decline:
Invasions, e.g. Mongols
Disease
Climate: Little Ice Age

31. Factors leading to urban growth
End of invasions
Safe & reliable transport
Rise of commerce
Global warming from
Greater availability of labor

32. Some older cities declined while new cities replaced them.
Baghdad to Cairo
Rise of Italian city-states
Venice