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Classical Trade Patterns and Contacts. Plus the Fall of the Classical Empires. Classical Trade Patterns and Contacts. An important change in world history during the Classical period was the expansion of trade networks and communications among the major civilizations.
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Classical Trade Patterns and Contacts Plus the Fall of the Classical Empires
Classical Trade Patterns and Contacts • An important change in world history during the Classical period was the expansion of trade networks and communications among the major civilizations. • These trade networks were often controlled by nomads who lived in the vast expanses between civilizations or on their outskirts.
Classical Trade Patterns and Contacts • As a result of these growing networks, more areas of the world were interacting and becoming increasingly dependent on one another. • Three large trade networks developed between 300 BCE and 600 CE: the Silk Road, the Indian Ocean trade, and the Saharan trade.
The Silk Road • The Silk Road: • This fabled trade route extended from Xi’an in China to the eastern Mediterranean. • It began in the late 2nd century BCE when a Chinese general (Zhang Jian) was exploring the Tarim Basin in central Asia and discovered “heavenly horses” that were superior to any bred in China.
The Silk Road • This breed of horse was considered so superior that they caused a war (the first known war fought over horses). • A Han Chinese army traveled over 6,000 miles to bring these horses back for the emperor (Wu Di). • Today they are known as the Akhal teke, and they are still bred by Central-Asian nomads.
The Silk Road • The “Heavenly Horses” of the Tarim Basin:
The Silk Road • Over 6,000 years ago silk was a valued fiber for fabric. • For many centuries, silk fabric was reserved exclusively for the emperor and his royal family. • Gradually silk became available for general use. • Farmers paid their taxes in grain and silk.
The Silk Road • In addition to clothing, silk was used for musical thread, fishing line, bowstrings and paper. • Eventually it became one of the main elements of the Chinese economy.
The Silk Road • Silk farmers raise silkworms, which take about 3-4 weeks to spin a cocoon. • Then the cocoons are carefully unwound to a length up to 3,000 ft long. • It takes several hundred cocoons to make a single shirt or blouse. .
The Silk Road • The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fiber, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, which produces different colors.
The Silk Road Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty decided to develop trade with countries to the west, and the building of a road across Asia was his main legacy. It took nearly sixty years of war and construction.
The Silk Road • Individual merchants rarely traveled from one end to the other (about 5,000 miles); instead they handled long-distance trade in stages. • The Chinese had many goods to trade, including their highly prized silk, and with the discovery of the “heavenly horses”, the Chinese now had something that they wanted in return.
The Silk Road • The Tarim Basin was connected by trade routes to civilizations to the west, and by 100 BCE, Greeks could buy Chinese silks from traders in Mesopotamia, who in turn had traded for the silk with nomads that came from the Tarim Basin.
The Silk Road • Although the Romans and Chinese probably never actually met, goods made it from one end of the Silk Road to the other, making all the people along the route aware of the presence of others.
The Silk Road Traders going west from China carried peaches, oranges, apricots, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, pepper, and other spices as well as silk.
The Silk Road • Spices were extremely important in classical times. • They served as condiments and flavoring agents for food, and also as drugs, anesthetics, aphrodisiacs, perfumes, aromatics, and magical potions.
The Silk Road Traders going east carried alfalfa (for horses), grapes, pistachios, sesame, spinach, glassware, and jewelry.
The Silk Road • Inventions along the route made their way to many people. • For example, the stirrup was probably invented in what is today northern Afghanistan, and horsemen in many places realized what an advantage the stirrup gave them in battle, so it quickly spread to faraway China and Europe.
The Silk Road • The Silk Road was essentially held together by pastoral nomads of Central Asia who supplied animals to transport goods and food/drink needed by caravan parties. • For periodic payments by merchants and governments, they provided protection from bandits and raiders.
The Silk Road • The nomads insured the smooth operation of the trade routes, allowing not only goods to travel, but also ideas, customs, and religions, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam.
The Silk Road • Biological exchanges were also important, but unintended, consequences of the silk roads. • Contagious microbes spread along the trade routes, finding new hosts for infection. • Until immunities were acquired, deadly epidemics took a terrible toll in the second and third centuries CE. • The most destructive diseases were smallpox, measles, and bubonic plague.
The Silk Road • Smallpox, Measles, and Bubonic Plague
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • The Indian Ocean Maritime System: • Water travel from the northern tip of the Red Sea southward goes back to the days of the river valley civilizations. • The ancient Egyptians traded with peoples along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • During the river valley era, water routes were short and primarily along the coasts. • During the classical era, those short routes were connected together to create a network that stretched from China to Africa.
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • Like the traders on the Silk Road, most Indian Ocean traders only traveled back and forth along on one of its three legs: 1). southeastern China to Southeast Asia; 2). Southeast Asia to the eastern coast of India; and 3). The western coast of India to the Red Sea and the eastern coast of Africa.
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • Countless products traveled along the Indian Ocean routes, including ivory from Africa and India; frankincense and myrrh (fragrances) from southern Arabia; pearls from the Persian Gulf; spices from India and SE Asia; and manufactured goods and pottery from China.
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • Comparison between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean: • Differences in physical geography shaped different techniques and technologies for water travel during the classical period. • The Mediterranean’s calm waters meant sails had to be designed to pick up what little wind they could, so large, square sails were developed.
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • The most famous of the ships, the Greek trireme (from the Latin triremis—3 oars), had three tiers of oars operated by 170 rowers.
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • A mosaic of a Roman trireme from the Punic wars (battles with Carthage).
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • In contrast, sailing on the Indian Ocean had to take into account the strong seasonal monsoon winds that blew in one direction in the spring and the opposite direction during the fall. • Indian Ocean ships sailed without oars, and used the lateen sail (roughly triangular with squared off points).
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • Lateen sails were more maneuverable through strong winds.
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • The boats were small, with planks tied together with palm fiber. • Mediterranean sailors nailed their ships together.
Indian Ocean Maritime Trade • Mediterranean sailors usually stayed close to shore because they could not rely on winds to carry them over the open water. • The monsoon winds allowed Indian Ocean sailors to go for long distances across water.
Trade Routes Across the Sahara • Before the classical era, the vast Saharan desert of northern Africa formed a geographic barrier between the people of Sub-Saharan Africa and those that lived to its north and east.
Trade Routes Across the Sahara • The introduction of the camel to the area (probably in the 1st century BCE) made it possible to establish trade caravans across the desert.
Trade Routes Across the Sahara Camels probably came to the Sahara from Egypt (by way of Arabia), and effective camel saddles were developed to allow trade goods to be carried.
Trade Routes Across the Sahara Arabian or dromedary (Arabia or N. Africa). They are faster and can travel more miles in a day than the Bactrian camel. Good in deserts, flat land or rolling hills, they are not good on slippery surfaces.
Trade Routes Across the Sahara • Bactrian (Central Asia). • Bactrian camels are better suited for cold climates with rugged terrain. • They have shorter legs and stout bodies and they can walk over slippery surfaces that dromedary camels can't handle.
Trade Routes Across the Sahara A major incentive for the Saharan trade was the demand for desert salt, and traders from Sub-Saharan Africa brought forest products from the south like kola nuts and palm oil to be traded for salt.
Trade Routes Across the Sahara • Extensive trade routes connected different parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, so that the connection of Eastern Africa to the Indian Ocean trade meant that goods from much of Sub-Saharan Africa could make their way to Asia and the Mediterranean. • Many of these trade routes still function today.
The Incense Roads • There has been an Incense Trade Route for as long as there has been recorded history. As soon as the camel was domesticated, Arab tribes began carrying incense from southern Arabia to the civilizations scattered around the Mediterranean Sea. • By the time of King Solomon, the incense route was in full swing, and Solomon reaped rich rewards in the form of taxes from the incense passing into and through his kingdom.
The Incense Roads • The records of Babylon and Assyria all mention the incense trade but it wasn't until the Nabataean tribe of Arabs dominated the Incense Road that Europeans took notice. • Up until 24 BCE the Nabataeans moved large caravans of frankincense, myrrh and other incenses from southern Arabia and spices from India and beyond to the Mediterranean ports of Gaza and Alexandria.
The Incense Roads • The Nabataeans carved the famous building of Petra out of solid rock (located in today’s southern Jordan).
The Incense Roads • The Roman historian Pliny the Elder mentioned that the route took 62 days to traverse from one end of the Incense Road to the other. “Rest stops” were every 20-25 miles. • At its height, the Incense Roads moved over 3000 tons of incense each year. Thousands of camels and camel drivers were used. The profits were high, but so were the risks from thieves, sandstorms, and other threats.
The Incense Roads The legend of the three Magi (Kings or Wise Men) traveled along the Incense Roads to Bethlehem, bringing frankincense and myrrh.
The Incense Roads • Both frankincense and myrrh are derived from the gummy sap that oozes out of the Boswellia and Commiphora trees, when their bark is cut. • The leaking resin is allowed to harden and scraped off the trunk in tear-shaped droplets; it may then be used in its dried form or steamed to yield essential oils. • Both substances are edible and often chewed like gum.
