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Oct 26th UNIT 3 Get with a REALLY good partner One reads 307-309 Other reads 309-311 5 min to read for big picture, syncretism, diffusion, comparison, common phenomena Chapter 7 Commerce and Culture 500-1500 C.E. SILK ROADS: Exchange Across Eurasia Introduction to the SILK ROAD “The Impact of Long Distance Trade” In groups: List the ways in which people and regions can be affected (directly or indirectly) by commerce. Identify which regions of the earth weren’t affected in a significant way by long distance trade during this time period. Modern trade includes astonishingly large and heavy commodities (ranging from oil to food). Has this always been the norm? What difficulties would you consider in transporting the following items: Wine, Beer, Wheat, Horses or cattle, spices, silk What method of transportation would you recommend for the above items? Trade in Human History Exchange of goods between people of different ecological zones is a major feature of human history. Societies create Monopolies on goods (silk) Long Distance (indirect) trade was booming from 500-1500 C.E. Why was trade significant? Altered consumption Encouraged specialization Diminished economic “self sufficiency” of local societies Traders became social group (not always good) Could create social mobility Prestigious goods for elites Many “things” spread along trade routes The network of long-distance commerce is a common feature of third-wave civilizations Silk Roads: Exchange across Eurasia Relay trade Provided a unity and coherence to Eurasian history The Growth of the Silk Roads Eurasia = Inner and Outer Zones: Outer – relatively warm, well watered (China, India, Mid East, Med) Inner – harsher, drier climate, much is pastoral (E. Russia, Central Asia) Not conducive to agriculture Traded and raided their agricultural neighbors Silk Road trading networks prospered most when large states provided security Rome and Chinese empires (second wave era) Byzantine – Abbasid – Tang Dynasty (7th and 8th) Mongle Empire (13th and 14th century) Goods in Transit Vast array of goods traveled along the Silk Roads, often by camel. Mostly luxury goods for elite Too expensive to transport staple goods Silk symbolized the Eurasian exchange system China had monopoly (until 6th century) Silk = currency in Central Asia Silk = high status Silk industry did not develop in Western Europe until the 12th century Volume of trade was small, but of economic and social importance Peasants in Yangzi River delta produced market goods instead of crops Well placed individuals could make large profits Cultures in Transit Cultural transmission was more important than exchange of goods Buddhism: Spread along Silk Roads through Central and East Asia Always appealed to Merchants (universal message unlike Hinduism) Conversion was voluntary, but popular among cities of Central Asia Many cities became centers of learning and commerce Buddhist texts and cave temples of Dunhuang Spread more slowly among Central Asian pastoralists No written language among pastoralists and nomadic ways limited monasteries In China, it was the religion of foreign merchants/rulers but slow to take hold amongst Chinese people Buddhism transformed during its spread along Silk Roads (Mahayana) Disease in Transit The major population centers of the Afro-Eurasian world developed characteristic disease patterns and ways to deal with them Long-distance trade meant exposure to unfamiliar diseases Athens 430-429 B.C.E. Roman and Han Empires – smallpox and measles Bubonic Plague 534-750 C.E. – ravaged Mediterranean world The Black Death spread thanks to the Mongol Empire’s unification of much of Eurasia (13th and 14th Centuries) Killed ½ of European population between 1346-1350, similar death toll in China and parts of the Islamic world. Disease exchange gave Europeans an advantage when they reached the western Hemisphere after 1500.