Unit 3: The Movement of
Goods & Peoples
Faith vs. Finance
“You cannot serve both God and money” ---Jesus, Matthew (6:24)
-Jews prohibit interest on loans to family & friends, but small interest can be charged on commercial loans
-Many Islamic mosques are constructed
with business properties adjacent to them & the rent supports the mosque
*As the Christian Church became wealthy, many disliked the departure from sworn poverty
*The large religions had to become flexible to accommodate spiritual & financial interests
Chapter 12: Establishing
World Trade Routes
Trade provides an index of economic
power and stimulates economic
growth because people produce
goods & services only if markets exist
for them
*Early long distance trade was limited to luxury items—silk, gold, spices--that combined high value with low bulk
*Before 1500, most trade was local
*In a free market economy there would be little or no government control or regulation over markets. The means of production are privately owned & prices are set by supply and demand
*Governments can promote or limit various kinds of production
& trade by taxing items at different rates
“Trade diasporas” (Networks of inter-connected commercial communities living & working in major trade cities)
conducted trade between diverse cultures as early as 1500 B.C.E.
-Far flung trade in Roman Empire was not conducted by Romans but by many different ethnic groups (Mainly Jews, Greek-speaking
Egyptians, and Arabs)
-Traders were marginal members of their host societies who brought
wealth to those societies
Trade in the Americas
Before 1500 C.E.
*Two trade networks developed with little traffic
between them
South: Incan trade network extended north and south along the Pacific and ran the
length of the Andes Mountains.
North: Area of Mexico dominated by Mayans then Aztecs.
Incan trade was heavily regulated by the
government.
Trade controlled by pochtecas,
guilds of
traders who gathered goods and military
intelligence for Aztec
Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa
West Africa
-Regular trans-Saharan trade made possible with domestication of camels
-Trans-Saharan trade connected W.Africa to Europe
-Three large empires--Ghana, Mali and Songhay--dominated trade in luxury goods
-Movement of goods divided into segments with different groups (often adapted to local environment) controlling each segment
- In the year 1350, the majority of gold in circulation in the Middle East came from West Africa
East Africa
-Early trade domination by Ethiopians ended by Arab traders with rise of Islam
-Ports were the meeting point of local overland trade and ocean trade to Arabia & India
-Swahili emerged as the commercial language of coastal areas
Jewish Traders
-Dispersion of Jews from Israel developed
trading communities that extended from Europe to China
Muslim Traders
-Dominated Indian Ocean trade after shift of Abbasid Caliph to Baghdad (762)
-Rise of Muslim sultanate in Delhi in 13th century extended Muslim influence through India to
Malaysia & Indonesia
-Islamic hajj (pilgrimage) encouraged trade
Both used their religion & ethnicity to establish trust for conducting
Asia’s Complex Trade Patterns
The Polynesians of the South Pacific
-Migrated from Asia 6,000 years ago
-Relied on single- and double-wide canoes to reach as far as Hawaii and New Zealand
-Had the capability to reach the Americas
-Were among the greatest sailors in history but primary focus was to locate new places in which to settle, not for the joys of exploration
Asia’s Complex Trade Patterns
Malay Sailors in South China Seaand Indian Ocean
Made 4 important sailing innovations: -Created cargo ships--jongs or junks -Balanced lug square sails
-Learned pattern of seasonal monsoon winds
-Used their technology to make regular trips as far as Madagascar which helped to
Sailors and Merchants of the Indian Ocean
-Indian Ocean was the major trade area (1000-1500)
-Emerging Arab dominance based on knowledge learned from conquest of trading cultures
-Control of eastern Indian Ocean trade passed to Indian Muslims in 13th century
-Muslims were active in area when European sailors arrived in the 15th century
China
International Trade
-China periodically engaged in ocean trade. Tang Dynasty increased trade
In South China Sea & Indian Ocean
-Ming Dynasty asserted sea power for a while then emphasized internal trade while
restricting access of foreigners in China
-Decision to cut off contact was costly to China as technological innovation stagnated and they became vulnerable to new rising powers
The Chinese government eventually banned all foreign travel. Prior to this the Chinese were world leaders in technology.
Why did China stop dispatching their own ships in
the Indian Ocean and only receive goods from Europeans (Portuguese in 1514)?
China
Internal Trade
-Chinese wealth based on population and territory
-Agricultural revolution boosted wealth during Song dynasty by allowing commoners to
produce goods to sell
-In 1024, paper money used for first time in the world
-Grand Canal improved for safe transport of goods from agricultural wealth of the south to the administrative centers of the north
-Mongols
inhabited the harsh plateaus of central Asia-Migrant people who shepherded their herds as they moved
-Mastered the art of warfare from horseback -Divided into warring
tribes
-Established the
largest land empire ever known
The “Pax Mongolica”
-“The Mongolian Peace”
- Asian silk routes had declined, but were
re-established under Mongols as
people were able to travel in relative security
-Ibn Battuta of Morocco
and Marco Polo of Venice traveled extensively
during this time and wrote vivid insights of the exotic trade routes
Chinggis (Genghis) Khan
-Born Temujin around 1162CE
-Became “universal ruler” by conquering and uniting all Mongol tribes by 1206
-Known for his brutality
-Promotion by merit in military, established
new legal code, adopted Chinese siege methods
The End of the Mongol Empire
-At peak it controlled all of China and almost all of Russia, Iran, Iraq, and central Asia
-Empire became too extensive & could not governed by horseback
-Mongols were absorbed into local populations -Empire divided into four parts after death of
Chinggis Khan; local people slowly drove Mongols out of each area
Plague and the Trade Routes
-Disease followed the trade routes including Black Death
-Plague weakened the Mongols and other regions it touched
-One-third of Europeans died from plague -China’s population went from 123 million in 1200 to 65 million in 1393
From Mongol to Ming: Dynastic Transition
-Kublai Khan established Mongol rule in China, 1279. Lasted until1368
-Mongol cruelty drove people from north to south China (where 90% of people lived)
-Revolts against cruelty helped Ming to power -Under Ming, China’s
population grew
sharply and territory expanded
-More Chinese began to move north
Legacies to the Present
1500 CE was a turning point in world trade patterns Up to this point, trade patterns connected with one
another but were not a single, unified system - most exchanges had been local
Muslim traders of the Indian Ocean & China dominated
long distance trading
Mesoamerican and Andean networks remained
separate
European traders sought to control trade from Europe
