Order your essay today — written by real experts, guaranteed plagiarism-free, and ready to impress your professor!
Trace and discuss the connection of commerce and trade between the cultures of this unit and their effect on world history. Include the silk roads (sand and sea, too) the Islamic Empire, worlds of Christendom, China during the Ming Dynasty, and across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.
From 500 to 1500, Long distance trade and commerce connected peoples and cultures of various civilizations and created a large economic network that brought together the maritime trade of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea (Culture and Commerce 242). This connecting of varied civilizations was a critical process since it made sure collective learning embraced more men. Important exchanges took place in the Afro-Eurasia, the Pacific and the Americas. Long distance trader and empires facilitated the spread of food crops, germs, technologies and ideas, as well as the spread of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism (An age of Accelerating Connections 236).
The Silk Road trade connected out Eurasia and inner Eurasia. It flourished during the 8th century as Tang dynasty, Abbasid dynasty and Byzantine Empire established a continuous purveyor of powerful states across Eurasia. Silk Road commerce thrived since these strong states guaranteed security to travellers and merchants. The desire of ruling class and wealthy merchants for precious and luxury goods from distant regions of Eurasia connection network played major role in motivating and sustaining long distance trade and commerce. Small states and empires that profited from this trade and commerce helped sustain it. Merchants did benefit from Silk Road commerce by accumulating wealth. The commerce also transformed the lives of peasant farmers who abandoned crop production to specialize in the production of silk, porcelain, iron tools and lacquer wares. In Eurasia, silk acted as a currency and means of accumulating riches in Central Asia. In the Byzantine and China, silk became an emblem of high status. The Silk Road enabled people to exchange not only fable treasures and exotic goods but also to spread religious beliefs and ideas, literatures and new technologies. Silk became associated with spreading Christianity, Buddhism and Islam.
Sea-based trade in Indian Ocean paralleled the Silk Road commerce. The rise of Islam, the political and economic revival of china during Tang dynasty contributed to the thriving of Indian Ocean commerce (Commerce and Culture 252). In the Indian Ocean region, Islamic civilization had a great influence on interacted Swahili civilization. Islam was friendly and readily accepted in Swahili civilization. It supported commercial life. Swahili civilization became Islamic the Swahili people incorporated Islamic words into their language and allowed the building of mosques. The ruling class of Swahili cities began to relate their origins to Persian or Arab origins as means of elevating their prestige (Commerce and Culture 260). Trade along the Indian Ocean rose as Indian, Persian and Arab merchants sailed between Asia and Africa in pursuit of profits. The Arab, Persian and Indian merchants acted as intermediaries that linked china and east Africa. These merchants relied on monsoons to cross the Indian Ocean. Indian Ocean commerce stimulated political change as rulers of East Africa and Southeastern Asia used accumulated wealth to build city-states. Elements of Indian culture spread as far as Southeastern Asia. Trans-Saharan trade between the Great Sahara and North African region involved merchants from the North exchanging their glassware, cloth, slaves and weapon for gold, salt, kola nuts and oases with the people of Sahara. The introduction of camel during the Common Era gave Africa a commercial life (Commerce and Culture 261). The camel opened up West Africa to cross-cultural interaction and commerce and the region quickly became an international trade route. The camel was the main mode of transport across the Sahara. This Trans-Saharan trade in North and West Africa provided resources and incentives necessary for the development of strong political structures the city states of Hausa and empires of Songhai, Ghana, Mali, and Timbuktu. These Sudanic s………
