Unit 3 An Age of Accelerating Connections 500

Unit 3: An Age of Accelerating Connections 500 – 1500 CE

Chapter 7 Commerce and Culture Must-Know Terms

Silk Roads Land-based trade routes that linked Eurasia

Silk Road

The Goods

Side Notes: v “The Silk Road” is a historically important international trade route between China and the Mediterranean. v Because China silk compromised a large proportion of the trade along this ancient road, in 1877, it was named the “silk road” by Ferdinand von Richthofen, a German geographer. It stuck!

Silk – its value v A luxury item (cloth) of great comfort and status v Was used as currency and as a means of accumulating wealth in Central Asia. v Became a symbol of high status in China and the Byzantine Empire

Black Death v May have been the bubonic plague, anthrax, or a collection of epidemic diseases v One of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 – 200 million people and peaking in Europe between 1346 -1353 v Name given to the massive epidemic that swept Eurasia in the 14 th c CE

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Indian Ocean Trading Network v The world’s largest sea-based system of communication and exchange before 1500 CE, the Indian Ocean commerce stretched from southern China to Eastern Africa and included not only the exchange of luxury and bulk goods but also the exchange of ideas and crops.

Up Close

Arabian Sea Water body east of the Arabian Peninsula and west of India Aka “Sea Roads” in the Indian Ocean Network

Persian Gulf Water body between the Arabian peninsula and Persia NE of modern day Saudi Arabia and SW of Iran

Red Sea v Water body between NE Africa, Israel, and the Arabian Peninsula v *Today the Suez Canal links the Mediterranean Sea to this water body

Bay of Bengal v Water body east of India – south of Bangladesh and west of SE Asia v A part of the Indian Ocean Trade Network v Featured “sea roads”

South China Sea v Water body east of China and Vietnam and west of the Philipines

Srivijaya (empire) A Malay kingdom that dominated the Straits of Malacca between 670 and 1025 CE; noted for its creation of a native/ Indian hybrid culture.

Srivijaya

Borobudur The largest Buddhist monument ever built; is a mountainous tenlevel monument with an elaborate carving program; probably built in the 9 th c CE by the Sailendras rulers of central Java; it is an outstanding example of cultural exchange and syncretism.

Borobudur: home to 100 s of Buddhist statues

Angkor Wat v The largest religious structure in the premodern world v Construction began on this temple which is located in modern Cambodia in the early 1100 s CE v Was built to express a Hindu understanding of the cosmos centered on a mythical Mt. Meru, the home of the gods in the Hindu tradition

Angkor Wat

Swahili civilization v An East African civilization that emerged in the 8 th century CE from a blending of Bantu, Islamic, and other Indian Ocean trade elements.

Great Zimbabwe v A powerful state in the African interior that apparently emerged from the growing trade in gold to the East African coast v Flourished between 1250 -1350 CE

Sand Roads A term used to describe the routes of the trans. Sahara trade in Africa

Ghana, Mali, Songhai v A series of important states that developed in western Africa in the period of 500 – 1600 CE in response to the economic opportunities of trans-Saharan trade (and especially control of gold production)

Trans-Saharan Slave Trade v A fairly small-scale trade that developed in the 12 th c C. E. , exporting West African slaves captured in raids across the Sahara for sale mostly as household servants.

American web v A term used to describe the network of trade that linked parts of the pre-Columbian Americas v Although less intense and complete than the Afro- Eurasian trade networks, this web nonetheless provided a means of exchange for luxury goods and ideas over large areas.

Thorfinn Karlsfeni v A well-born, wealthy merchant & seaman of Norweigan Viking background v Led an unsuccessful expedition to establish a colony on the coast of what is now Newfoundland, Canada, in the early 11 c CE. v “Viking voyager”

pochteca v Professional merchants among the Aztecs

This concludes chapter 7 vocabulary. Start parphrasing.