Networks of Communication and Exchange (Chapter 7)

300 BCE-600 BCE

I. The Silk Road

A. Origins and Operations

-The Chinese General Zhang Jian is credited as “originator of overland
trade with the western lands.” He made 18 expeditions across deserts to
west; he first went to Ferghana river-valley. Helped to introduce new plants
and trees to China through the trade.
- Long-distance trade was made important by China’s demand for western
products. Nomadic steppe people didn’t trade very much but controlled
areas of the Silk Road and sold pack animal’s that were necessary for
early traders.
-By 100 BCE, China could trade with civilizations as far away as Greece.
-Everyone traded spices, fruits, seeds crops, metals, medicines, animals
and animal products, and art. (ex: pottery)

B. The Sasanid Empire, 224-600

- In present-day Iran, helped long-distance trade along the Silk Road.
Cities were military strongholds that protected this trade instead of
producing products for trade.
-Sasanids traded crops with Mesopotamia
-Religious persecution throughout Europe and Asia as religion was used as
a political tool (official faiths)
-Silk Road helped spread and preserve religions.

C. The Impact of the Silk Road

-It helped the spread of people throughout the continent.
-It helped spread cultures, languages, and religions.
-It helped spread technology and military technology like the stirrup.

II. The Indian Ocean Maritime Society

-A trading network that centered around the Indian Ocean, it connected
East Africa, Southern Arabia, the Persian Gulf, India, Southeast Asia, and
China.
- Trade took place mainly in East coast of India to Southeast Asian Islands,
China and the South China Sea, and the Persian Gulf to the east coast of
Africa and west coast of India.
-The Indian Ocean trade system had bigger and more advanced ships and
sails in order to take advantage of the monsoon winds.
- The trade network had more advanced navigation system than the
Mediterranean because the ocean was larger and sailors could no longer
follow the coast.
 - Merchants and sailors were traveling farther distance so they tended to
sever their political ties to their hometown.

A. Origins of Contact and Trade

-In 2000 BC, the Sumerians traded with Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf,
Oman, and the Indus Valley. Eventually the trade broke off and the
Sumerians traded mostly with East Africa.

B. The Impact of Indian Ocean Trade

-The high demand for luxuries made the need for long ocean voyages
necessary, and goods were spread far and wide all over the continents of
Asia, Europe, and Africa. The Indian Ocean trade system had a wide
variety of items up for trade and had a much higher volume of trade.
-The cultures and society of some Indian Ocean trading ports tended to be
more isolated from the mainland because of geographical challenges.
Others were very open, hospitable and open, becoming major centers of
trade.
-Women were not part of sea voyages and men tended to marry women on
the ports that they landed in, at the same time spreading their hometown
language and culture. The offspring had mixed heritages and a lot of
cultural diversity.

III. Routes Across the Sahara

-The Sahara is a desert the reaches from the Red Sea to the Atlantic
Ocean, with the sub-Saharan area to the south separated from the
Mediterranean. Water is scare in the desert and travel and trade was
limited to a few routes across the Saharan.

A. Early Saharan Cultures

-Early cave paintings by hunters suggest the Sahara wasn’t always a
desert, but once fertile grassland. These paintings also show the hunting
societies being joined by pastoral herders, herding mainly cattle. Horse
herders probably succeeded the cattle herders and the artwork shows
chariots which is a mystery because no evidence of chariots or
Mediterranean chariot riders has been found.
-Arrival of camels and domestication of them happened around 46 BC and
made it easier for desert travel.

B. Trade Across the Sahara

-Trade existed between north and South Africa, with the sub-Saharan
trading with the desert nomads.
-Traders from forested areas brought goods such as kola nuts and wood,
while the salt mining areas traded salts.
-The trade system mainly handled necessities, not luxury goods.
-Rome traded from the north, trading wheat and olives.
IV. Sub-Saharan Africa

A. A Challenging Geography
-Obstacles surrounded the sub-Saharan: the Red Sea, Atlantic Ocean,
Indian Ocean, and the Sahara Desert. The river system was unusable for
the most part because of fierce rapids. The sub-Saharan consists of
tropical savanna, rain forests, and steppes.

B. The Development of Cultural Unity

-The “great traditions” were the main and dominating cultures of the time
period (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, etc)
-The “small” traditions or local traditions were the cultures of small villages
and nomadic tribes
-When an empire with one of the great traditions conquered a smaller area,
they would force the culture upon the local people.
-An exception would be isolated areas and empires that showed religious
tolerance.
-There was extreme diversity in Africa (over 2000 languages) and many
small hunting and gathering tribes.
-There was less diversity in pastoral societies.

C. African Cultural Characteristics

-African tribes and civilizations all were different but had basic similarities.
-Music was a big part of African culture.
-King and kingship was the main political system.
-Dryness resulted in difficulty in supporting life in the Saharan. Migration
away from the Sahara and to Nile River contributed to the settling and
foundation of the Old Kingdom of Egypt.

D. The Advent of Iron and the Bantu Migrations

-Agriculture spread through the equatorial area by the 2nd millennium BCE
and spread southward
-Copper mining started as early as the 1st millennium in the Niger Valley, at
the same time, iron smelting was developed in the sub-Saharan and
spread from there.
-Historians don’t know how iron smelting developed in Africa
-The migration of the Bantu-speaking people helped to spread culture and
language, and helped to spread technologies such as I iron smelting.
-500-600 BCE is when the Bantu people migrated outward.

V. The Spread of Ideas

A. Ideas and Material Evidence

- All historical evidence is from written materials and you can’t be exactly
sure of the rituals because they vary from area to area. Also the spreading
of languages, cultures, technologies, and goods is not always a good
 indicator of what spread where and when, because there is just no way of
knowing.

B. The Spread of Buddhism

-Then in the third century BC and second century CE, King Ashoka of the
Maurya Empire in India and King Kanishka of the Kushans in northern
Afghanistan started to promote Buddhism in their empires. This caused a
large majority of people to all convert to Buddhism, but the spread of
Buddhism
-The period of trade over the Silk Road and trade in the Indian Ocean
system, Buddhism was spread though monks and missionaries traveling
these paths.
- Pilgrims and monks played a huge role in spreading this religion when
they boarded ships and sailed across the Ocean, spreading Buddhism to
China, Korea, and Japan.
- Thanks to the Buddhist merchants and missionaries traveling the Silk
Road, Buddhism was spread to Southeast China, the Middle East, Europe,
and Africa.

C. The Spread of Christianity

-The Silk Road traders helped to spread Christianity after the fall of the
Roman Empire and the crucifixion of Jesus
-The invention of the Armenian alphabet in the 5th century also helped
spread Christianity because Armenia it was in the center of trade and the
Silk Road.
-Constantinople sent out missionaries to convert the Yemens and
Ethiopiaians.
-Aksum kings Frumentius and Ezana helped to established Christian
communities and spread it outward.
-Christianity spread into Nubia and down to Egypt and the Nile River
Valley.

Chapter 13 (338-347)

I. Indian Ocean Trade

A. Monsoon Mariners
-The Indian Ocean is also much larger and vast than the Mediterranean,
with trade routes stretching from African and the Middle East, all the way to
Southern China. The Indian Ocean also was connected to the Pacific and
Atlantic Ocean, which would later provide pathways for early explorers. In
addition to all of this, the Indian Ocean also had monsoon winds, which
provided a quicker and easier way for ships to travel.
-Because of the powerful monsoon winds and vastness of the sea, large
cargo ships with engineered sails (Square and made to trap the wind) were
needed. Monsoon winds could propel a ship across the ocean without the
use of oars; therefore longer distances could be achieved, with more
goods aboard.
-The Chinese made ships called junks, basically large ships made for
transporting large amounts of goods and people. The larger ones could
have up to 12 sail and hold over 1000 people. The Chinese built special
rudders so that they could control these huge ships.
-New navigation technologies were needed to navigate the Indian Ocean.
In the Mediterranean, people navigated using the shoreline as a reference
point, and some of the smaller ships in the Indian Ocean used this
navigation. However, the larger ships, and the ships that traveled long
distances used the stars and other navigational instruments in order to
navigate the seas.
-The merchants and sailors also had a different mindset than the
Mediterranean people. In the Mediterranean, people tended to be loyal and
identify with their homeport or colony, and tended to return there after their
voyages. The people in the Indian Ocean system tended to be freer and
people tended to lose their political ties to their country over time.

B. Africa: The Swahili and Zimbabwe

-Gold was a major resource imported and exported in Africa. Prior to the
focus on long-distance trade, the communities tended to be small
agricultural and pastoral tribes and villages. This changed as the demand
for gold spiked.
-African trade led to city-states development, and helping to upgrade
villages. Kilwa was the main commercial center of the Swahili people.

C. Arabia: Aden and the Red Sea

-The city of Aden was separated from the rest of Arabia because of the fact
that the monsoon winds showered enough yearly rainfall to support large
populations, unlike the rest of Arabia, which was very dry with arid and
unfertile soil. Aden also was in the center of the major trade, in between
East Africa, India, the Persian Gulf, and Egypt. Aden’s economy depended
not only on trade, but manufacturing as well.
- Cotton cloth, slaves, beads, spices, gold, ivory, and pearls were exported
from Aden, for which they traded grain, opium, and different dyes.

D. India: Gujarat and the Malabar Coast

-Gujarat was located in west India, and was involved in overseas trade with
Arabian merchants. This trade became vital after the 1258 CE Mongol
invasions, which compromised their land trade.
-Gujarat’s exports included cotton textiles and indigo.
 E. Southeast Asia: The Rise of Malacca
-In between the eastern end of the Indian Sea and the South China Sea
was a strait called Malacca. The Malacca strait was the main passageway
to the South China Sea and became a strategic spot that was fought over
by the surrounding countries. It also served as a place that traders from
India and China could meet, and served as a “stockholder” for all
Southeast Asian trade.

II. Social and Cultural Change

A. Architecture, Learning, and Religion

-The religious institutions within a city (such as a Islamic mosque or a
Buddhist temple) showed cultural diversity through their art in the building
and the architecture used to build it.
-The literacy of the sub-Saharans was greatly improved by the Islamic
mosques in the cities. Mosques served as learning centers for the illiterate
while at the same time fulfilling their religious purpose.
-The practice of sailors and merchants marring different wives at other
ports helped to spread cultures throughout the Indian Ocean trading
system. Their offspring often had a diverse heritage and ethnic
background.
-As Islam spread to India through invading forces, Hinduism started to
decline. Buddhist monks went into exile in Nepal and Tibet after the
Islamic invaders burned and raided the Buddhist temples.

B. Social and Gender Distinctions

-In the Indian Ocean region, slaves were abundant and slavery during that
time was very popular. People sometimes trained their slaves to do
specialized work too.
-While Islam was spreading, women received a slight elevation in status.
Punishment became less severe and the law was sometimes easier on
women than men. Women were still sent off to be married at a young age
(before puberty sometimes), but they weren’t sent off until they were ready
to leave their father’s household. Women were also required to raise and
educate her husband’s children.
-In the tropical areas of Asia and Africa, women were supposed to do daily
chores to help the household. She would be expected to collect firewood,
bring home the food, get fresh water, make clothes, and make pots for
everyday usage. (For storage and cooking)
-Even though Islam was a major influence in the early world, not all of the
Islamic customs were adopted into some societies