Communication and Trade Networks

1. Period 2 600BCE-600CE Adaptation of AP World History Crash Course by Jay Harmon Communication and Trade Networks

2. The Land Networks of Africa, Europe and Asia • Geography • Determined what, where, and by whom • Climate and topography (mountains, plains, etc) determine where minerals can be found, types of plants that can be grown, where ports and passes exist • Merchants needed safe paths • Trade happens because people want goods • Salt needed to preserve food • Merchants were willing to do it to get nice payoffs • Afro-Eurasian trade is like a web allowing merchants to make trade “relays”.

3. The Silk Roads • Most extensive land based trade route at the time named after the highly valued silk that was traded • For centuries only the Chinese knew how to make silk-light, soft and durable. • Other items traded • East Asia to the west: horses, spices, furs, ivory, perfumes, lacquered boxes and furniture, rice, wool, tea, and porcelain (known as “China”) • South Asia to east and west: cotton, spices, sandalwood, rice • Central Asia to east, west, and south: dates, almonds, fruit, camels, horses • West to east and south: glass, gold, furs, amber, cattle, olive oil and perfumes

4. Exchange of grains and fabric changed farming techniques-qanat system • Merchants and missionaries from South Asia intoduced Buddhism • Disease was also transported along the Silk Roads • Pandemic (widespread) diseases such as the bubonic plague (the Black Death)

5. Saharan Caravan Routes • Commerce across North Africa • Mediterranean coastal cities provided ports and resources • Dates, cotton, dyes, leather, and glass were supplied from these ports • Merchants who ventured into the Saharan desert traded gold, salt, ivory, animal hides and slaves • The camel • Around 1st century CE introduced as a means of transporting goods which led to a major increase in trade • In the next era, Islam was carried along these routes

6. The Sea Networks of Africa, Europe and Asia • Indian Ocean Trading Network • Largest sea trading area in the world until the late 1400s • Connected Southeast Asia and China to Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia • Major conveyor of Buddhism and later in the next era Islam • Similar items to the Silk Roads: silk, cotton, spices, horses, ivory, gold, porcelain, and people • All sea trade depended on ocean currents and wind • The monsoon winds blow along east African coast toward South Asia in the summer and down the east African coast in the winter. This natural “clock” helped merchants plan the timing and content of their shipments • Small but seaworthy trading ships used by Arab merchants called dhows, used a triangular lateen sail to follow these winds

7. Mediterranean Trading Areas • Beginning with the Egyptians and Phonetians and continuing with Greeks and Romans • Olives, pottery, glass, woodwork, leather, and wool • Out of Africa merchants traded gold, ivory, salt, copper, and slaves • Christianity also moved along these routes • Black Sea Trading Areas • Asia on the east and Europe on the west • Constantinople (Byzantium) was a great point of exchange • Carried goods from Silk Roads, the Mediterranean, and Russia

8. Exchanging Goods in the Americas • Much smaller scale exchange • Far fewer people in the Americas. 12 million out of the 250 million on Earth at the time • Few types of domesticated animals and no wheel until Europeans arrived in 1400CE • The llama and alpaca were used in Andes and in other parts of the Americas dogs pulled sleds • Narrow jungle terrain of the Isthmus of Panama made it difficult to trade from North to South • Trade did occur in relay fashion • Tobacco, corn, manufactured goods like pottery, jewelry, and clothing.