Silk, Sand, and Sea: trade routes and cultural diffusion

1
Silk, Sand, and Sea trade routes and cultural
diffusion
2
Why do people trade?
3
What were the significant results of
long-distance trade?
4
What the three main routes of long distance trade
in the period 500-1500 CE?

• Silk Roads
• Indian Ocean routes
• Sahara Sand routes

5
(No Transcript)
6

• Silk Roads Exchange across Eurasia
• Emerged from interaction between outer and inner
  Eurasia.
• Led to exchange of goods between pastoral and
  settled peoples.
• Settled people tried to control the pastoralists,
  extended the boundaries
• Rise of large states also helped Roman and
  Chinese states.

7

• Silk Roads Exchange across Eurasia
• a vast array of goods traveled along the Silk
  Roads, often by camel
• mostly luxury goods for the elite
• high cost of transport did not allow movement of
  staple goods
• Silk symbolized the Eurasian exchange system
• at first, China had a monopoly on silk technology
  (serious production 3000 BCE Korea had it by 300
  BCE India by 300 CE)
• led to drain of resources from Roman Empire to
  east
• Yet, Romans regarded silk as morally decadent 
• by the sixth century CE, other peoples produced
  silk
• Byzantine Empire, Japan, Persia
• silk was used as currency in Central Asia
• silk was a symbol of high status
• sumptuary laws restricted silk clothing to the
  elite (China and the Byzantine Empire)
• silk was sacred in Buddhism and Christianity
• silk industry not developed in Western Europe
  until 12th century

8

• Silk Roads Exchange across Eurasia
• Cultures in Transit
• Buddhism spread greatly, voluntary
• appealed to merchants, snubbed Hindu-influenced
  caste system
• Monasteries provided rest stops for merchants
• Many converts in oasis cities
• Spread more slowly amongst pastoralists
• Buddhism itself was transformed monasteries
  became rich and more involved in secular world.

9

• Silk Roads Exchange across Eurasia
• Disease in Transit
• Long-distance trading led to spread of disease
• Most lethal junctures when an unfamiliar disease
  arrives in a new culture
• Athens, 430-429 BCE, infect from Egypt
• Smallpox and measles periodically ravaged the
  Roman and Han empires.
• 534-750 CE bubonic plague from India to
  Mediterranean region
• Black Death, but much later and largely due to
  Mongol Empire
• Strengthened Eurasians over the long run.

10

• Sea routes
• Exchange across the Indian Ocean
• Probably most important trade network
• Monsoon changes were crucial
• Nov-Feb blew to SW
• April-Sept blew to NE
• Key was regularity
• Sea transport is cheaper
• So more bulk goods textiles, pepper, timber,
  rice, sugar, wheat
• Trade was between towns and cities, not states

11
(No Transcript)
12

• Sea routes
• Exchange across the Indian Ocean
• Already some trading during Indus Valley period
• Egyptians and Phoenicians traded along the Red
  Sea
• Chinese merchants reached India 100 CE
• Fulcrum was India along with trade, spread
  Buddhism and Hinduism in Southeast Asia.
• Reunified China (Tang and Song Dynasties,
  618-1279) brought cheap goods and provided
  markets.
• Rise of Islam crucial to further spread
• widespread conversion made trade move more freely

13

• Sea routes
• Led to the creation of various states
• Srivijaya civilization
• Malay sailors gained control of the Straits of
  Malacca ca. 350 CE.
• Srivijaya came to dominate trade in this region
  from 670-1025 CE.
• Adopted Buddhism and became major center
• Swahili civilization
• Grew from demand for East African products gold,
  ivory, quartz, leopard skins, slaves, iron, wood
• Flourished 1000-1500 CE
• Very urban and city-state oriented
• Sharp class distinctions
• Most trade in Arab ships
• Great Arab and Muslim influence
• Trade for gold led to Great Zimbabwe, 1250-1350 CE

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16

• Sand Roads Exchange across the Sahara
• Commercial Beginnings in West Africa
• North had manufactured goods, salt, horses,
  cloth, dates
• South had crops, gold, ivory, kola nuts, slaves
• Introduction of camel was crucial, early in CE
• Regular trans-Saharan commerce by 300-400 CE
• Huge caravans, up to 5000 camels
• Led to a number of states in western and central
  Sudan Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Kanem, and
  Hausaland.
• Slaves came mostly from south, most sold in North
  Africa.

17
(No Transcript)
18
Quick Write Prompt

• In your opinion, which of these traded items had
  the biggest impact on the development of the
  world goods or cultural ideas? Explain.