Chapter 7 Outlines

Step One—Read the Chapter and Take Notes As You Go
This outline reflects the major headings and subheadings in this chapter of your textbook. Use it to take notes as you read each section of the chapter. In your notes, try to restate the main idea of each section.

Chapter 7: Commerce and Culture, 500–1500
  I. Silk Roads: Exchange across Eurasia
  A. The Growth of the Silk Roads
    1. Inner and Outer Eurasia
    2. Pastoral people in motion
    3. Indirect connections between empires
  B. Goods in transit
    1. Luxury goods such as silk
    2. Women as producers and consumers
    3. China and other centers of silk production
  C. Cultures in Transit
    1. Buddhism on the road
    2. New forms of Buddhism: Mahayana
  D. Disease in Transit
    1. Smallpox and measles in Han and Rome
    2. Bubonic plague in Byzantium and elsewhere
    3. Mongols and the Black Death

  II. Sea Roads: Exchange across the Indian Ocean
  A. Weaving the Web of an Indian Ocean World
    1. Malay sailors in East Africa
    2. New technologies
    3. India as the fulcrum
    4. Impact of China
    5. Islam and trade
  B. Sea Roads as a Catalyst for Change: Southeast Asia
    1. Srivijaya, 670–1075
    2. Khmer kingdom of Angkor, 800–1300
    3. Borobudur and Angkor Wat
    4. “Indianization”
  C. Sea Roads as a Catalyst for Change: East Africa
    1. Swahili
    2. Rise of Islamic trade
    3. Lamu, Mombasa, Kilwa, and Sofala
    4. Cultural fusions
    5. Muslim Africans
    6. Great Zimbabwe

  III. Sand Roads: Exchange across the Sahara
  A. Commercial Beginnings in West Africa
    1. Environmental variation around the Sahara
    2. Sudanic West African trade and urban centers
  B. Gold, Salt, and Slaves: Trade and Empire in West Africa
    1. Camel caravans carrying gold and salt
    2. Wealthy empires based on trade
    3. Women in the workforce
    4. Slave trading
    5. Cosmopolitan cities

  IV. An American Network: Commerce and Connection in the Western Hemisphere
  A. Geographic barriers
  B. Regional trade networks
  C. Mayan and Aztec trade
  D. Incan roads

  V. Reflections: Economic Globalization—Ancient and Modern
  A. Luxury goods of the ancient world
  B. Mass consumption in the modern world
  C. Multi-polar ancient economy
  D. Western dominance in the modern economy