Chapter 8: Chapter Outline
The following annotated chapter outline will help you review the major topics covered in this chapter.
Instructions: Review the outline to recall events and their relationships as presented in the chapter. Return to skim any sections that seem unfamiliar.
I. Opening Vignette | ||
A. Modern highways are being built across Africa and Asia . | ||
1. part of modern process of globalization | ||
2. but also evoke older patterns of global commerce | ||
B. The roots of economic globalization lie deep in the past. | ||
1. exchange of goods between people of different ecological zones is a major feature of human history | ||
2. at times, some societies have monopolized desirable products (like silk) | ||
3. long-distance trade became more important than ever in 500–1500 C.E. | ||
a. most trade was indirect | ||
b. creation of a network of communication and exchange across the Afro-Eurasian world; a separate web in parts of the Americas | ||
C. Why was trade significant? | ||
1. altered consumption | ||
2. encouraged specialization | ||
3. diminished economic self-sufficiency of local societies | ||
4. traders often became a distinct social group | ||
5. sometimes was a means of social mobility | ||
6. provided prestige goods for elites | ||
7. sometimes the wealth from trade motivated state creation | ||
8. religious ideas, technological innovations, plants and animals, and disease also spread along trade routes | ||
D. The network of long-distance commerce is a notable feature of the third-wave civilizations. | ||
II. Silk Roads: Exchange across Eurasia | ||
A. The Growth of the Silk Roads | ||
1. Eurasia is often divided into inner and outer zones with different ecologies | ||
a. outer Eurasia: relatively warm, well-watered ( China , India , Middle East, Mediterranean ) | ||
b. inner Eurasia: harsher, drier climate, much of it pastoral (eastern Russia , Central Asia ) | ||
c. steppe products were exchanged for agricultural products and manufactured goods | ||
2. creation of classical civilizations and imperial states in 500–1 B.C.E. included efforts to control pastoral peoples | ||
3. trading networks did best when large states provided security for trade | ||
a. in classical era, Roman and Chinese empires anchored commerce at western and eastern ends of Eurasia | ||
b. in seventh and eighth centuries, the Byzantine Empire , Abbasid dynasty, and Tang dynasty created a belt of strong states | ||
c. in thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Mongol Empire controlled almost the entirety of the Silk Roads | ||
B. Goods in Transit | ||
1. a vast array of goods traveled along the Silk Roads, often by camel | ||
a. mostly luxury goods for the elite | ||
b. high cost of transport did not allow movement of staple goods | ||
2. silk symbolized the Eurasian exchange system | ||
a. at first, China had a monopoly on silk technology | ||
b. by the sixth century C.E., other peoples produced silk | ||
c. silk was used as currency in Central Asia | ||
d. silk was a symbol of high status | ||
e. silk industry only developed in Western Europe in twelfth century | ||
3. volume of trade was small, but of economic and social importance | ||
a. peasants in the Yangzi River delta of southern China produced market goods (silk, paper, porcelain, etc.) instead of crops | ||
b. well-placed individuals could make enormous profits | ||
C. Cultures in Transit | ||
1. cultural transmission was more important than exchange of goods | ||
2. the case of Buddhism | ||
a. spread along Silk Roads through Central and East Asia | ||
b. had always appealed to merchants | ||
c. conversion was heavy in the oasis cities of Central Asia | ||
d. conversion was voluntary | ||
e. many Central Asian cities became centers of learning and commerce | ||
f. Buddhism spread much more slowly among Central Asian pastoralists | ||
g. in China , was the religion of foreign merchants or rulers for centuries | ||
h. Buddhism was transformed during its spread | ||
D. Disease in Transit | ||
1. the major population centers of the Afro-Eurasian world developed characteristic disease patterns and ways to deal with them | ||
2. long-distance trade meant exposure to unfamiliar diseases | ||
a. early case: great epidemic in Athens in 430–429 B.C.E. | ||
b. during the Roman and Han empires, smallpox and measles devastated both populations | ||
c. in 534–750 C.E., bubonic plague from India ravaged Mediterranean world | ||
3. the Black Death spread thanks to the Mongol Empire’s unification of much of Eurasia (thirteenth–fourteenth centuries) | ||
a. could have been bubonic plague, anthrax, or collection of epidemic diseases | ||
b. killed one-third of European population between 1346 and 1350 | ||
c. similar death toll in China and parts of the Islamic world | ||
d. Central Asian steppes were badly affected (undermined Mongol power) | ||
4. disease exchange gave Europeans an advantage when they reached the Western Hemisphere after 1500 | ||
III. Sea Roads: Exchange across the Indian Ocean | ||
A. The Mediterranean Sea was an avenue for commerce from the time of the Phoenicians. | ||
1. Venice was a center of commerce by 1000 C.E. | ||
2. controlled trade of imports from Asia | ||
3. linked Europe to the much greater trade network of the Indian Ocean | ||
B. The Indian Ocean network was the world’s most important until after 1500. | ||
1. trade grew from environmental and cultural diversity | ||
2. transportation was cheaper by sea than by land | ||
3. made transportation of bulk goods possible (textiles, pepper, timber, rice, sugar, wheat) | ||
4. commerce was possible thanks to monsoons (alternating wind currents) | ||
5. commerce was between towns, not states | ||
C. Weaving the Web of an Indian Ocean World | ||
1. Indian Ocean trade started in the age of the First Civilizations | ||
a. Indus Valley writing may have been stimulated by cuneiform | ||
b. ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians traded down the Red Sea | ||
c. Malay sailors reached Madagascar in the first millennium B.C.E. | ||
2. tempo of commerce increased in early centuries C.E. with greater understanding of monsoons | ||
a. merchants from Roman Empire settled in southern India and East African coast | ||
b. growing trade in eastern Indian Ocean and South China Sea | ||
3. fulcrum of trade was India | ||
4. two great encouragers for the Indian Ocean exchange: | ||
a. economic and political revival of China | ||
b. rise of Islam in seventh century C.E. | ||
D. Sea Roads as a Catalyst for Change: Southeast Asia and Srivijaya | ||
1. ocean commerce transformed Southeast Asia and East Africa | ||
a. trade stimulated political change | ||
b. introduction of foreign religious ideas | ||
2. Southeast Asia: location between China and India made it important | ||
a. Malay sailors opened an all-sea route between India and China through the Straits of Malacca ca. 350 C.E. | ||
b. led many small ports to compete to attract traders | ||
3. Malay kingdom of Srivijaya emerged from competition, dominated trade from 670 to 1025 C.E. | ||
a. gold, access to spices, and taxes on ships provided resources to create a state | ||
b. local belief: chiefs possessed magical powers | ||
c. also used Indian political ideas and Buddhism | ||
4. Sailendras kingdom (central Java) was also influenced by India | ||
a. massive building of Hindu and Buddhist centers (eighth–tenth centuries) | ||
b. shows Buddhist cultural grounding in Javanese custom | ||
5. temples in Burma , the Khmer state of Angkor , etc., show reach of Indian culture | ||
6. Islam penetrated later | ||
E. Sea Roads as a Catalyst for Change: East Africa and Swahili Civilization | ||
1. Swahili civilization of East Africa developed from blend of Bantu with commercial life of the Indian Ocean (especially Islamic) | ||
a. growing demand for East African products (gold, ivory, quartz, leopard skins, some slaves, iron, wood products) | ||
b. African merchant class developed, with towns and kingships | ||
2. Swahili civilization flourished along East African coast between 1000 and 1500 C.E. | ||
a. very urban, with cities of 15,000–18,000 people | ||
b. each city was politically independent, ruled by a king | ||
c. accumulated goods from the interior and traded for Asian goods | ||
d. sharp class distinctions | ||
3. most of trade was in Arab ships; Swahili craft traveled coastal waterways | ||
4. deep participation in the Indian Ocean world | ||
a. regular visits by Arab and Indian (perhaps Persian) merchants; some settled | ||
b. many ruling families claimed Arab or Persian origins | ||
c. Swahili was written in Arabic script, with Arabic loan words | ||
d. widespread conversion to Islam | ||
5. Islam and Swahili culture didn’t reach much beyond coast until the nineteenth century | ||
a. but Swahili region traded with the interior, had an impact | ||
b. trade with interior for gold led to emergence of Great Zimbabwe (flourished in 1250–1350 C.E.) | ||
IV. Sand Roads: Exchange across the Sahara | ||
A. Commercial Beginnings in West Africa | ||
1. trans-African trade was also based on environmental variation | ||
a. North Africa manufactured goods | ||
b. Sahara had copper and salt deposits, dates | ||
c. agricultural peoples further south grew crops, mined gold | ||
2. earliest trade in the region was among agricultural peoples in the Sudan | ||
a. emergence of urban clusters in the early centuries C.E. | ||
b. most famous was Jenne-jeno ( Niger Valley civilization) | ||
B. Gold, Salt, and Slaves: Trade and Empire in West Africa | ||
1. introduction of the camel in early centuries C.E. was a turning point | ||
a. camels can go 10 days without water | ||
b. made it possible to cross the Sahara | ||
2. regular trans-Saharan commerce by 300–400 C.E. | ||
3. merchants especially wanted gold from West Africa (along with ivory, kola nuts, slaves) | ||
4. the Sahara became a major international trade route | ||
a. huge caravans (as many as 5,000 camels) | ||
b. caravans traveled the desert for over 1,000 years | ||
5. trade encouraged new and larger political structures | ||
a. creation of a series of states in western and central Sudan between 500 and 1600 C.E., including Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Kanem, and Hausa city-states | ||
b. all were monarchies with elaborate court life and at least some administration and military forces | ||
c. all had a reputation for great riches | ||
6. slavery was present in West Africa | ||
a. at first, most slaves were women | ||
b. with development of civilization, male slaves were used as officials, porters, craftsmen, miners, agricultural laborers | ||
c. most slaves came from societies raided farther south | ||
d. some 5,500 slaves a year came from across the Sahara between 1100 and 1400 | ||
7. substantial urban/commercial centers (such as Koumbi-Saleh, Jenne, Timbuktu ) | ||
a. some became manufacturing centers | ||
b. Islam was established in towns | ||
V. An American Network: Commerce and Connection in the Western Hemisphere | ||
A. There was no sustained interaction between the Western and Eastern hemispheres before the voyages of Columbus . | ||
B. American trade networks were not as dense as Afro-Eurasian ones. | ||
1. important limitations: | ||
a. lack of domesticated large mammals, wheeled vehicles, large oceangoing ships | ||
b. geographical or environmental obstacles, including north/south orientation | ||
2. local and regional commerce flourished, but not long-distance trade | ||
3. cultural traditions did not spread as widely as in Eastern Hemisphere | ||
C. But there was a “loosely interactive web” from the Great Lakes to the Andes . | ||
1. cultural elements spread gradually | ||
2. evidence of at least indirect contact | ||
3. Cahokia was at center of a widespread trading network | ||
4. Chaco canyon culture also interacted with Mesoamerica | ||
5. Amazon and Orinoco river exchange networks | ||
6. Caribbean peoples conducted interisland trade | ||
7. Chincha people traded along Pacific coast of South America | ||
D. There was a major trade network in Mesoamerica . | ||
1. Maya and Teotihuacán traded by land | ||
2. Maya traded by sea on both coasts (with dugout canoes) | ||
3. Aztecs of fifteenth century had professional merchants (pochteca) | ||
E. There was a major state-run trade network in the Andes . | ||
VI. Reflections: Economic Globalization—Ancient and Modern | ||
A. The interconnections of the modern era have their roots in much earlier patterns. | ||
B. But premodern networks had important differences: | ||
1. most people still produced for their own consumption | ||
2. a much smaller range of goods was exchanged | ||
3. far fewer wageworkers | ||
4. trade was in luxury goods | ||
5. circuits of commerce were more limited | ||
6. had no single center; units were much more equivalent | ||
C. The world of third-wave civilizations was more balanced and multicentered than that of the modern era. | ||
1. relationships among major civilizations were much more equal | ||
2. perhaps the twenty-first century is returning to that pattern |