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Commerce and Culture 500-1500

Commerce and Culture 500-1500. AP World History. Why Trade?. Different ecological zones = natural uneven distribution of goods and resources Early monopolization of certain goods Silk in China Spices in Southeast Asia I want what you have! Do you want what I have? Let’s trade!.

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Commerce and Culture 500-1500

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  1. Commerce and Culture500-1500 AP World History

  2. Why Trade? • Different ecological zones = natural uneven distribution of goods and resources • Early monopolization of certain goods • Silk in China • Spices in Southeast Asia • I want what you have! Do you want what I have? Let’s trade!

  3. Trade: 500-1500 • Long-distance trade developed • This trade shaped culture and society • Trade = mostly indirect • Chain of separate transactions • Goods traveled father than merchants

  4. Significance of Trade: Economic • Altered consumption • Ex: West Africans now able to get salt to flavor and preserve their food • Changed the day-to-day lives of individuals • Ex: trade specialization --> led to less self-sufficiency and more dependency

  5. Significance of Trade:Social • Traders became their own social group • Sometimes viewed suspiciously --> why are they making money without making the goods? • Trade became a means of social mobility • Money = land = power and status • Trade used by elite groups to distinguish themselves from commoners • Only they could afford luxury goods from far away like silk or ivory

  6. Significance of Trade:Political • Controlling and taxing trade motivated the creation of states and kingdoms • Wealth from trade sustained these states and kingdoms and facilitated their growth

  7. What Else Was “Traded”? • Religious ideas • Technological innovations • Disease-bearing germs • Plants and animals

  8. The Silk Roads

  9. The Silk Roads: Growth • Eurasia = often divided into inner and outer zones with different ecologies • Outer Eurasia = relatively warm and well-watered • China, India, Middle East, Mediterranean • Inner Eurasia = harsher, drier climate • Eastern Russia, Central Asia

  10. The Silk Roads: Growth • Result = steppe products traded for agricultural products and manufactured goods from inner Eurasia • Birth of the Silk Roads trade network Hides, furs, livestock, wool, amber, horses, saddles

  11. The Silk Roads: Growth • Construction of classical civilizations and empires added major players to this trade network • Persian Empire, Greek Empire, Roman Empire, Han dynasty, Gupta Empire • Result = Silk Roads continued to grow

  12. The Silk Roads: Goods • Most goods traded = luxury goods rather than staple goods • Destined for an elite and wealthy market • Only goods worth transporting with such high transportation costs

  13. The Silk Roads: Goods • Silk = major product in high demand • China had a silk monopoly until the 500s --> then others gained knowledge of silk production • Increased the supply of silk along the Silk Roads

  14. Silk Makes the WorldGo ‘Round • Used as currency in Central Asia • Became a symbol of high status in both China and the Byzantine Empire • Used in the expanding religions of Buddhism and Christianity • Ex: worn by Buddhist monks • Ex: silk altar covers in Christian churches

  15. The Silk Roads: Goods • Volume of trade = small • But social and economic impact of trade = big • Ex: peasant in China produced luxury goods instead of crops • Ex: merchants could make enormous profits

  16. The Silk Roads: Cultures • Major result of trade along the Silk Roads = the spread of Buddhism • From India to Central & East Asia • Spread by Indian traders and Buddhist monks

  17. The Silk Roads: Buddhism • Spread to oases cities in Central Asia • Voluntarily converted • Buddhism gave these small cities a link to the larger, wealthy, and prestigious civilization of India • Many of these cities became centers of learning and commerce Buddhist temple in Dunhuang (an oases city)

  18. The Silk Roads: Buddhism • Transformation of Buddhism • Original faith = shunned the material world • Now Buddhism = filled with wealthy monks, elaborate and expensive monasteries, and so on Buddhist monastery in China

  19. The Silk Roads: Buddhism • What type of Buddhism spread? MAHAYANA! • Buddha = a deity • Many bodhisattvas • Emphasis on compassion

  20. The Silk Roads: Diseases • Long-distance trade = resulted in exposure to unfamiliar diseases

  21. The Silk Roads: Disease • Athens (430-429 BCE) = widespread epidemic; killed 25% of the army • Roman & Han Empires = measles and smallpox devastated both populations • Mediterranean World (534-750 CE) = devastated by bubonic plague from India

  22. The Black Death • Spread due to the Mongol Empire’s unification of most of Eurasia (13th-14th centuries) • Could have been bubonic plague, anthrax, or collection of epidemic diseases • 1346-1350 = killed 1/3 of European population • Similar death toll in China & parts of Islamic world

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