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  • America
    • Introduction
      • Course Overview
      • Policies
      • Essential Documents
    • 1492-1754
      • Colonization
    • 1754-1848
      • Revolution
      • Constitution
      • Expansion
    • 1848-1898
      • The Civil War
      • The Gilded Age
    • 1898-1945
      • The American Empire
      • The Great Depression
      • The Second World War
    • 1945-1991
      • The Early Cold War
      • The Great Society
      • The Late Cold War
    • 1991-Today
      • The Culture Wars
      • The War on Terror
  • Europe
    • Introduction
    • 1200-1450
    • 1450-1648
      • Renaissance
      • Reformation
      • Exploration
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        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Rick Steves Videos
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  • World
    • Ancient
    • Modern
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        • Course Overview
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        • Essential Documents
        • Exam
      • 1200-1450
        • Asia
        • Africa
        • Europe
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      • 1450-1750
        • Discovery
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        • Land Empires
      • 1750-1900
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  • acc. PHILLIPS
  • America
    • Introduction
      • Course Overview
      • Policies
      • Essential Documents
    • 1492-1754
      • Colonization
    • 1754-1848
      • Revolution
      • Constitution
      • Expansion
    • 1848-1898
      • The Civil War
      • The Gilded Age
    • 1898-1945
      • The American Empire
      • The Great Depression
      • The Second World War
    • 1945-1991
      • The Early Cold War
      • The Great Society
      • The Late Cold War
    • 1991-Today
      • The Culture Wars
      • The War on Terror
  • Europe
    • Introduction
    • 1200-1450
    • 1450-1648
      • Renaissance
      • Reformation
      • Exploration
      • Links
      • Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Rick Steves Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
    • 1648-1815
      • Sovereignty
      • Commerce
      • Reason
      • Revolution
      • Links
      • Readings and Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
    • 1815-1914
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  • World
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      • Introduction
        • Course Overview
        • Policies
        • Essential Documents
        • Exam
      • 1200-1450
        • Asia
        • Africa
        • Europe
        • Americas
        • Trade
      • 1450-1750
        • Discovery
        • Maritime Empires
        • Land Empires
      • 1750-1900
        • Revolutions
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      • 1900-Today
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        • Postwar World
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Global Regions,
​c. 1200-1450

Trade

c. 1200-1450

Picture
Kangnido Map of Integrated Lands and Regions of Historical Countries and Capitals, Korean, 1402

Contents


Trade, c. 1200-1450
  • Objectives
  • Commercial Innovations
  • Trade Routes
  • ​Mercantile City-States
  • Travelers

​Objectives

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  • ​​Explain the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200.

  • ​​Explain how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time.

  • ​​​Explain the intellectual and cultural effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to c. 1450.
    ​

  • ​​Explain the environmental effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to c. 1450.

Commercial Innovations

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Picture
Catalan Atlas, a world map made in 1375 CE
Picture
French astrolabe, 1400 CE
Picture
Chinese geomantic compass c. 1760
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  • The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the caravanserai, forms of credit, and the development of money economies.

  • Demand for luxury goods increased in Afro-Eurasia. Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expanded their production of textiles and porcelains for export; manufacture of iron and steel expanded in China.
    ​
  • The growth of interregional trade was encouraged by innovations in existing transportation technologies.

  • The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by significant innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the use of the compass, the astrolabe, and larger ship designs.
audio pronunciation guide:
  • commercial capitalism/money economy​
  • burghers/​bourgeoisie
  • guild
  • Commercial Revolution
  • economic consequences of the Crusades​​
  • economic impact of the bubonic plague
  • economic impact of Mongol collapse
  • economic impact of Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453)
  • bills of exchange
  • Medici family bank (1397)
  • double-entry bookkeeping
  • sakk
  • Grand Canal
  • Chinese junks​
  • magnetic compass
  • astrolabe
  • mappa mundi​​

Trade Routes

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Picture
A close up of the Catalan Atlas depicting Marco Polo travelling to the East during the Pax Mongolica.
Picture
Article: New research changes our understanding of who built ancient Silk Roads
Picture
  • Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes--including the Silk Roads, the Indian Ocean trade network, and trans-Saharan trade network--promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities.
​
  • The expansion and intensification of long-distance trade routes often depended on environmental knowledge, including advanced knowledge of the monsoon winds. ​​
    ​
  • The Indian Ocean trading network fostered the growth of states. 

  • ​The expansion of empires—including Mali in West Africa–facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into the economies and trade networks.
audio pronunciation guide:
  • Silk Roads
    • Pax Mongolica
  • Indian Ocean Trade
    • Sailendra and Srivijaya
    • Demak
    • monsoons
    • emporia
    • dhows
    • lateen
    • Islamic slave trade
  • Trans-Saharan Trade
    • Ghana
    • Mali
    • Songhai​
    • camels

​Mercantile City-States

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Picture
Eastern Mediterranean detail, Catalan Atlas, 1375 CE
The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significant decline and periods of increased urbanization, buoyed by rising productivity and expanding trade networks.
audio pronunciation guide:
  • Hanseatic League
  • Venice
  • Constantinople
  • Palembang
  • Benin
  • Kilwa
Picture
Main trade routes of the Hanseatic League

​Travelers

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Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) was a Moroccan traveller, geographer, botanist and judge who traveled over 73,000 miles during his life! From his North African home he visited Arabia, India, Southeast Asia, China, Russia, and southern Africa. He was probably the most far-ranging human before modern times.
Picture
Zheng He led seven Chinese voyages to South Asia and East Africa.
Article: Zheng He’s Last Voyage: How Ming China Closed Themselves to the World
Picture
  • As exchange networks intensified, an increasing number of travelers within Afro-Eurasia wrote about their travels.​​
    ​
  • In key places along important trade routes, merchants set up diasporic communities where they introduced their own cultural traditions into the indigenous cultures and, in turn, indigenous cultures influenced merchant cultures.

  • Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers, including during Chinese maritime activity led by Ming Admiral Zheng He.
    ​
  • ​​​Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions, as well as scientific and technological innovations.

audio pronunciation guide:
  • Impact of the Crusades
  • Pax Mongolica (1200s–1300s)
  • Giovanna da Pian del Carpine
  • Marco Polo (Travels, 1291)
  • Travels of John Mandeville
  • Ptolemy’s Geography​
  • Prester John
  • Zheng He
  • Rabban Sauma
  • John of Montecorvino
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Resources:

Barron's AP European History Flashcards, Second Edition​

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  • acc. PHILLIPS
  • America
    • Introduction
      • Course Overview
      • Policies
      • Essential Documents
    • 1492-1754
      • Colonization
    • 1754-1848
      • Revolution
      • Constitution
      • Expansion
    • 1848-1898
      • The Civil War
      • The Gilded Age
    • 1898-1945
      • The American Empire
      • The Great Depression
      • The Second World War
    • 1945-1991
      • The Early Cold War
      • The Great Society
      • The Late Cold War
    • 1991-Today
      • The Culture Wars
      • The War on Terror
  • Europe
    • Introduction
    • 1200-1450
    • 1450-1648
      • Renaissance
      • Reformation
      • Exploration
      • Links
      • Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Rick Steves Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
    • 1648-1815
      • Sovereignty
      • Commerce
      • Reason
      • Revolution
      • Links
      • Readings and Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
    • 1815-1914
      • Industry
      • Ideology
      • Empire
      • Modernity
      • Links
      • Readings and Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
    • 1914-Today
      • WWI
      • WWII
      • Cold War
      • EU
      • Links
      • Assignments and Readings
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
  • World
    • Ancient
    • Modern
      • Introduction
        • Course Overview
        • Policies
        • Essential Documents
        • Exam
      • 1200-1450
        • Asia
        • Africa
        • Europe
        • Americas
        • Trade
      • 1450-1750
        • Discovery
        • Maritime Empires
        • Land Empires
      • 1750-1900
        • Revolutions
        • Industrialization
        • Imperialism
      • 1900-Today
        • World Wars
        • Postwar World
        • Globalization
  • Research
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact