Commerce and Culture
500-1500
AP World History Notes
Chapter 8
Why Trade?
Different ecological zones = natural
uneven distribution of goods and
resources
Early monopolization of certain goods
Silk in China
Spices in Southeast Asia
I want what you have! Do you want
what I have? Let’s trade!
Trade: 500-1500
Long-distance trade developed
This trade shaped culture and society
Trade = mostly indirect
Chain of separate transactions
Goods traveled father than merchants
Significance of Trade:
Economic
Altered consumption
Ex: West Africans now able to get salt to
flavor and preserve their food
Changed the day-to-day lives of
individuals
Ex: trade specialization --> led to less selfsufficiency and more dependency
Significance of Trade:
Social
Traders became their own social group
Sometimes viewed suspiciously --> why are they
making money without making the goods?
Trade became a means of social mobility
Money = land = power and status
Trade used by elite groups to distinguish
themselves from commoners
Only they could afford luxury goods from far away
like silk or ivory
Significance of Trade:
Political
Controlling and taxing trade motivated
the creation of states and kingdoms
Wealth from trade sustained these
states and kingdoms and facilitated their
growth
What Else Was “Traded”?
Religious ideas
Technological innovations
Disease-bearing germs
Plants and animals
The Silk Roads
The Silk Roads: Growth
Eurasia = often divided into inner and
outer zones with different ecologies
Outer Eurasia = relatively warm and
well-watered
China, India, Middle East, Mediterranean
Inner Eurasia = harsher, drier climate
Eastern Russia, Central Asia
The Silk Roads: Growth
Result = steppe products traded for
agricultural products and manufactured
goods from inner Eurasia
Birth of the Silk Roads trade network
Hides, furs, livestock,
wool, amber, horses,
saddles
The Silk Roads: Growth
Construction of classical civilizations
and empires added major players to this
trade network
Persian Empire, Greek Empire, Roman
Empire, Han dynasty, Gupta Empire
Result = Silk Roads continued to grow
The Silk Roads: Goods
Most goods traded = luxury goods
rather than staple goods
Destined for an elite and wealthy
market
Only goods worth transporting with such
high transportation costs
The Silk Roads: Goods
Silk = major product in
high demand
China had a silk
monopoly until the 500s
--> then others gained
knowledge of silk
production
Increased the supply of
silk along the Silk Roads
Silk Makes the World
Go ‘Round
Used as currency in Central
Asia
Became a symbol of high status
in both China and the Byzantine
Empire
Used in the expanding religions
of Buddhism and Christianity
Ex: worn by Buddhist monks
Ex: silk altar covers in Christian
churches
The Silk Roads: Goods
Volume of trade = small
But social and economic impact of trade
= big
Ex: peasant in China produced luxury
goods instead of crops
Ex: merchants could make enormous
profits
The Silk Roads: Cultures
Major result of trade
along the Silk Roads =
the spread of Buddhism
From India to Central &
East Asia
Spread by Indian traders
and Buddhist monks
The Silk Roads: Buddhism
Spread to oases cities in
Central Asia
Buddhist temple in
Dunhuang (an oases
city)
Voluntarily converted
Buddhism gave these small
cities a link to the larger,
wealthy, and prestigious
civilization of India
Many of these cities
became centers of learning
and commerce
The Silk Roads: Buddhism
Transformation of
Buddhism
Original faith = shunned
the material world
Now Buddhism = filled
with wealthy monks,
elaborate and
expensive monasteries,
and so on
Buddhist monastery in
China
The Silk Roads: Buddhism
What type of
Buddhism spread?
MAHAYANA!
Buddha = a deity
Many bodhisattvas
Emphasis on
compassion
The Silk Roads: Diseases
Long-distance trade = resulted in
exposure to unfamiliar diseases
The Silk Roads: Disease
Athens (430-429 BCE) = widespread
epidemic; killed 25% of the army
Roman & Han Empires = measles and
smallpox devastated both populations
Mediterranean World (534-750 CE) =
devastated by bubonic plague from India
The Black Death
Spread due to the Mongol
Empire’s unification of most of
Eurasia (13th-14th centuries)
Could have been bubonic
plague, anthrax, or collection
of epidemic diseases
1346-1350 = killed 1/3 of
European population
Similar death toll in China &
parts of Islamic world