Download Post-Classical Trade Routes WHAP/Napp Do Now: “The great

Post-Classical Trade Routes
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“The great crossroads of the world’s shipping lanes in the period 1100-1500 was the
Indian Ocean. Its waters encompass three distinct geographic sectors, each with its own
cultural orientation. The western sector sweeps from the East African coast across Arabia
and continues on to the west coast of India. From the time of Alexander the Great and the
Roman Empire, Greek sailors participated in this trade. By the first century B.C.E. Greek
sailors had learned to use the monsoon winds to navigate these waters swiftly and
effectively. From the fourth to the eighth centuries, following the decline and fall of the
Roman Empire, two new groups dominated this western region of the Indian Ocean:
sailors from Axum (modern Ethiopia and Eritrea), and its Red Sea port of Adulis, and
sailors from Sassanian Persia, an empire that was in the ascendant in western Asia at the
time.
From the eighth to the sixteenth century, Arab Muslim traders and sailors became
masters of the western Indian Ocean Sea lanes…As Islam inspired the people of Arabia to
undertake expeditions of conquest by land beginning in the seventh century; Arab sailors
also began to assume prominence in the Indian Ocean trade. Among Arabs living at the
southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, some had experience with sea trade, but those to
the north, the majority, did not. As Arab armies moved still further north, however, they
came into contact with, conquered, and learned from previous masters of the Indian
Ocean, the Sassanians of Iran. Mastering these new skills, and inspired by their own
expansionism, Arab sailors displaced the Sassanians. In 762 C.E. the new Abbasid dynasty
built a new capital in Baghdad, in the heartland of Mesopotamia. In this land that had
participated in sea trade for millennia, the Arabs’ concern for oceanic trade increased
further…Arab sailors became true masters of the Indian Ocean trade…
In the eastern waters of the Indian Ocean, for example – from India and the Bay of
Bengal to Indo-China and the Malacca Straits – Indian sailors and merchants, largely
Hindu, had predominated. East of the Malacca Straits, these sailors entered into the South
China Sea, attracted by China’s wealth and luxury products. Despite the geographical
distance of their homes from this region, they came to surpass in importance the more local
Chinese and East Asian merchants.” ~ The World’s History
1- What lands or regions were connected by trade in the Indian Ocean basin?
________________________________________________________________________
2- How were Greek sailors able to trade in the Indian Ocean by the first century BCE?
________________________________________________________________________
3- What groups dominated the western Indian Ocean Sea Lanes in the 4th to 8th
centuries? ______________________________________________________________
4- Who became masters of the western Indian Ocean Sea Lanes in the 8th to 16th
century? _______________________________________________________________
5- How did the successful conquests by Arabs change Arab Muslim traders and
sailors? ________________________________________________________________
6- Who dominated the eastern waters of the Indian Ocean?
________________________________________________________________________
I.
A.
B.
C.
The Silk Roads
Land-based trade routes that linked pastoral and agricultural peoples
More of a “relay trade” in which goods were passed down the line
Prospered most when powerful states provided security for merchants
1. Trade flourished during the classical era - Roman and Han
2. Flourished7th and 8th centuries CE  Byzantine, Abbasid, T’ang
3. Flourished  13th and 14th centuries: Pax MongoliaMongol Empire
D. Luxury products for elite/wealthysilk came to symbolize exchange
E. Conduit of Culture
1. Buddhism spread on Silk Roads – owing much to merchants
2. Buddhism had appealed to merchants  universal message
3. Buddhism changed on the Silk Roads
a) More devotional Mahayana form of Buddhism flourished
4. Diseases
a) Diseases traveled the trade routes of Eurasia too
b) Smallpox and measles devastated populations of both the Roman Empire
and Han dynasty, contributing to their political collapse
c) Bubonic plague ravaged Mediterranean region between 534 and 750 CE
1. Preventing Byzantium from reintegrating Italy into empire
2. Most well-known Black Death from China to EuropeBetween 1346
and 1350, about one-third of Europe perished from plague
II. Indian Ocean Trade
A. Transportation costs were lower on the Sea
B. Monsoons with their alternative wind currents that blew predictably eastward
during the summer months and westward during winter
C. Operated across an “archipelago of towns”
D. The fulcrum of this growing commerce lay in India itself
E. Significant impact-Southeast Asia/East Africa: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam
F. Malay sailors opened an all-sea route between India and China through the Straits
of Malacca around 350 CE
1. Malay kingdom of Srivijaya dominated choke point from 670 to 1025
G. Sailendra kingdom in central Java between the 8th and 10th centuries featuring
Hindu temples/Buddhist monuments (most famousBorobudur)
I. In East Africa, civilization known as Swahili (also a language) emerged in the 8th
century CE, stretching from present-day Somalia to Mozambique
1. Language: grammatically African within Bantu family but Arabic script
III. West Africa
A. Trans-African trade connected North Africa and West AfricaSalt for
GoldCamel introduced 300 to 400 CE
B. Islam entered along trade routesAlso Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and
SonghaiUrban and commercial centers – such as Koumbi-Saleh, Jenne,
Timbuktu, Gao, Gobir, and Kano
C. Americasgeographic obstacles to trade
1. North/South Orientation
2. Isolated from Eurasia/Africa until 1492 - Oceans
1- Why was trade on the Silk Roads a “relay trade”? What is a “relay trade”?
__________________________________________________________________________
2- When did trade on the Silk Roads prosper?
__________________________________________________________________________
3- Why did trade flourish on the Silk Roads during the Mongol Empire?
__________________________________________________________________________
4- What goods were traded on the Silk Roads?
__________________________________________________________________________
5- What belief system spread on the Silk Roads?
__________________________________________________________________________
6- Why did Buddhism appeal to merchants?
__________________________________________________________________________
7- How did Buddhism change on the Silk Roads?
__________________________________________________________________________
8- What is the primary difference between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism?
__________________________________________________________________________
9- Why did disease spread on the Silk Roads?
__________________________________________________________________________
10- Provide an example of disease spreading on the Silk Roads.
__________________________________________________________________________
11- How did the spread of disease on the Silk Roads impact Western Europeans?
__________________________________________________________________________
12- How did the monsoons affect trade in the Indian Ocean Trade Network?
__________________________________________________________________________
13- Explain the statement: “Indian Ocean Trade operated across an ‘archipelago of
towns.’” __________________________________________________________________
14- How did Malay sailors impact Indian Ocean Trade?
__________________________________________________________________________
15- What was Borobudur?
__________________________________________________________________________
16- Why is the Swahili language evidence of diffusion as a result of trade?
__________________________________________________________________________
17- Identify the region of the Swahili kingdoms.
__________________________________________________________________________
18- Identify two facts about the Trans-Saharan trade routes.
__________________________________________________________________________
19- What religion entered West Africa along the Trans-Saharan trade routes?
__________________________________________________________________________
20- Identify important commercial centers of West Africa.
__________________________________________________________________________
21- What geographic obstacles impacted trade within and with the Americas?
__________________________________________________________________________
2009 Change Over Time Essay from the World History AP
Analyze continuities and changes in patterns of interactions along the Silk Roads from 200
B.C.E. to 1450 C.E.
A- Identify one change: _____________ B- Identify one continuity: _______________
2008 Change Over Time Essay from World History AP
Analyze the changes and continuities in commerce in the Indian Ocean region from 650
C.E. to 1750 C.E.
A- Identify one change: ______________ B- Identify one continuity: _______________
1. The Mongol conquests of much of Eurasia
in the thirteenth century tended to
encourage trade along the Silk Roads
primarily by
(A) opening large new markets for both
European and East Asian goods in Central
Asia
(B) increasing the demand for military
supplies needed by the Mongol armies that
occupied various regions
(C) decreasing the risk of bandit attacks and
reducing the number of local rulers
collecting tribute from trade caravans
(D) discouraging seaborne trade along the
Indian Ocean routes that competed with the
Silk Roads
2. Which of the following languages came
into existence after 1000 as the direct result
of expanding global trade patterns?
(A) Arabic
(B) Chinese
(C) Latin
(D) Sanskrit
(E) Swahili
3. Why was Mali a powerful state in
northern Africa by the 1300s?
(A) It was known for its huge military
forces.
(B) It profited by cooperating with
European slave traders.
(C) Mali was a center of Christian worship.
(D) It was a major center of trade and
religious instruction and possessed large
deposits of gold and metal ore.
(E) It controlled the African spice trade and
was the center of Buddhist worship
4. Prior to 1000 C.E., Southeast Asia was
most influenced by which of the following?
(A)India and China
(B)China and Japan
(C)Korea and Japan
(D) Australia and Polynesia
5. The longest and most vital overland trade
route before 1000 C.E. was
(A) the Silk Road
(B) the Trans-Siberian
(C) the Appalachian Trail
(D) the Sahara
(E) the Appian Way
6. The monsoon winds in the Indian Ocean
(A) Created tremendous difficulty for
traders.
(B) Blow regularly from the north in the
summer.
(C) Were actually first discovered by the
Romans.
(D) Tied southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and
east Africa together in a maritime trade
route.
(E) All of the above.
7. Trade and communications networks
were slower to penetrate sub-Saharan
Africa compared to other regions because
(A) Africans had little contact with
each other.
(B) Africans did not have any goods
that others wanted to trade for.
(C) There was a language barrier.
(D) There were formidable
geographic barriers to overcome.