Snapshot Chart: Afro-Eurasian Trade Networks, 500-1500 C.E.
Silk Roads
Sea Roads
Sand Roads
Eurasia
Indian Ocean & Mediterranean Sea
North & West Africa
Location


Continent(s)
Body of Water
Geography of Route



Climate
Terrain
Physical features
Trading Partners
(major civs/empires that
interacted & exchanged
using this route)
Major Trade Goods
(What were the major trade
goods exchanged; indicate
civ. of origin for each good)
Other Exchanges
(Besides goods, what else of
note was exchanged b/t
peoples along this route?)


Outer Eurasia – warm, well-watered, suitable for
agriculture (China, India, Middle East, & the
Mediterranean)
Inner Eurasia – harsher, drier climate, terrain was
steppes, deserts & oases, much of it pastoral
(Eastern Russia & Central Asia)
Mainly a “relay trade” that included…

China (Tang in 7th & 8th c.)

Siberia & Central Asia

India

Middle East (Abbasid Dynasty in 7th & 8th c.)

Mediterranean Basin (Byzantium in 7th & 8th c.)

Mongol Empire (13th & 14th c.)
Luxury goods like…

Silk (China, later Korea, Japan, India & Persians)

Mirrors, porcelain, paper, gunpowder (China)

Furs, amber, copper vessels, tents, saddles, slaves
(Siberia & Central Asia)

Cotton textiles, precious stones, spices (India)

Dyes, dates, & almonds (Middle East)

Wool cloth, gold coins, silver (Mediterranean
basin)


Buddhism (Mahayana)
Diseases (smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, &
Black Death)
Modes of Transport
(How were goods & other
items transported along this
route?)



Caravans of camels & other pack animals

Both were sea routes
Indian Ocean is the warmest in the world
Indian Ocean commerce made possible by
monsoons (alternating wind currents) that
make traveling the Indian Ocean the safest
in the world
Commerce mostly between towns, not states

Mediterranean basin (Venice)

East Africa (Swahili city states)

Arabia

India

Southeast Asia (Srivijaya & Java)

China
Trans-oceanic trade was cheaper & could carry more
goods like…

Ceramics, glassware, wine, gold, olive oil
(Mediterranean)

Ivory, gold, slaves , iron goods,
tortoiseshells, quarz, leopard skins (E. Africa)

Frankincense myrrh, perfumes (Arabia)

Grain, ivory, precious stones, cotton textiles,
spices, timber, tortoiseshells (India)

Tin, sandalwood, cloves, nutmeg, mace (SE
Asia)

Silks, porcelain , tea (China)



Hinduism & Buddhism (SE Asia)
Islam (Middle East & E. Africa)
Chinese navigational technologies
Goods transported by ships that could accommodate
larger & heavier cargoes like…

Arab dhows

Chinese junks

Sahara Desert was vast and dry, sparsely
inhabited by largely pastoral & nomadic
peoples
Two regions in agricultural sub-Saharan
Africa
1) Savanna grasslands (grain crops)
2) Forest areas (root & tree crops)


North African Arabs
Sudanic states of West Africa (Ghana, Mali,
Songhay, Kanem, & Hausa states)


Gold, ivory, kola nuts, & slaves (W. Africa)
Salt, copper, cloth, horses, & guns (N. Africa)



Islam
Slaves
Ideas for new & larger political structures
(cities)
Camel caravans